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Salman Taseer Killing- A Postmortem

By Syed Ali Mujtaba

14 January, 2011
Countercurrents.org

The killing of 66 years old Pakistan’s Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, on January 4, 2011, in Islamabad, by his bodyguard has sparked off a huge debate in South Asia. This has ramification beyond Pakistan’s politics and society and there are several issues that’s being debated.

The first and foremost issue is whether the killing was a fight between moderates and radicals in Pakistan and between those who support and oppose bringing Islamic laws in that country.

The second issue is, whether the dastardly killing has more to do with religion or due to political compulsions. The political veneer that cloaks the killing is also being debated.

Lastly, the killing of a Muslim by fellow Muslim has raised the eyebrows whether Islam is tolerant enough to grapple with dissent and how the followers of the Islamic faith can conduct themselves in wake of religious criticism in multi religious and cultural societies.

The killer of Salman Tasser was not from any radical or Talibanic Muslim group of Pakistan but one who subscribed to the Barelvi school of thought. This school subscribes to syncretic tradition and view Islamic faith in combination of local customs and traditions. It is amazing that even the subscriber of moderate thought was provoked enough to execute a murder.

The second point that it was a fight between those who support and oppose bringing Islamic laws in Pakistan looks more plausible explanation. This is because Tasser was opposed to the Islamic laws and visited one Aasia Bibi, a Christian lady, sentenced to death on blasphemy charges, and locked up in a in a district-level prison in Pakistan. This act of Taseer was to show solidarity towards minorities in Pakistan and to register protest against the regressive laws in country. Little he realized, his action incensed many souls and this included his own bodyguard to train his gun against him.

Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was a Shia Muslim, briefly married Indian columnist Talvin Singh and got divorced. He belonged to the Pakistan People's Party's (PPP), the ruling coalition at the center, and was made Governor of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province. The state government of Punjab province is ruled by the opposition party at the center, Pakistan Muslim League-(Nawaz).

The idea behind appointment of Salman Tasser as Governor, was to increase the electoral base of the PPP in Punjab, that has large minorities population ie; Hindus Christians, Shias, Ahmadias. The PPP wanted to reach out to the minorities much to the chagrin of the PML-(N) that too did the same.

Soon after his appointment as the governor of Punjab, Tasser started troubling the provincial government through his political activism and media statements. He started behaving like a supra constitutional authority undermining the powers of the elected PML-N government. The state government made vociferous demand to remove him but since the Governor belonged to the ruling coalition at center, dislodging him was an improbable proposition.

The case of Aasia Bibi provided an opportunity to grind many axes. Salman Taseer went beyond his traditional protocol and political authority to meet the condemned prisoner in the jail. The idea behind the visit was to raise questions on the blasphemy law in Pakistan and thereby rub the religious fanatics on the wrong side. This was also a poly to raise the religious temperature and polarize the society between moderates and extremists in Punjab. Once that happens, PPP can be projected as the and champion of the minorities in Pakistan. It was also to build a good image of the PPP in the western media, fighting Muslim fanatics.

So, Taseer did that was briefed him by his party high command. He raised the issue of blasphemy law to embarrass the PML-N government in Punjab. He did not realize that opposing the blasphemy law, he may polarize the society and stoke the religious passion of many of many radicals and non radical as well, providing them enough ammunition cannon to build a Talibanized society in Pakistan.

If the PPP was really interested in the release of Aasia Bibi, it could have asked Taseer to work towards forming an all religious party committee headed by clerics of all major religious organization and reinvestigate her case. Such committee could have recommended the release of the accused and even suggested to tone down the controversial laws.

Tasser did not do all this nor cared to analyze the fall out of his controversial conduct. The divisive politics he played as a Governor polarized the society so much so that even a person with moderate orientation lost his mental balance and took a pot shot on him.

This takes us to the big question, was the killing of Salman Taseer a political act or it was hyper reaction of a religious lunatic. There was definitely a lot of political grouse against Salman Taseer but the actual motivation to kill him did not stemmed from the political quarters, the religious incenses was the main flash point of his murder.

If that is so, then the bigger question follows; whether Islam is tolerant enough to grapple with dissent and how the followers of the Islamic faith can conduct themselves in wake of religious criticism in multi religious multi cultural societies?

The answer to this is very simple. The Islamic holy book Quran, is full of instances that propagates the idea of pluralism, multi cultural, multi religious nature of nations of societies in the world. It asks the follower of its faith to believe in the principle of coexistence. There are many holy verses that clearly states; “for you, your religion, for me mine.” “I (i.e. Allah) could have created the entire world with people belonging to Islamic faith but have not done so,” states another verse. Similarly, there are many other instances where Islam recognizes dissent and criticism against the religion and wants its followers to conduct themselves as the Prophet of Islam has led them by example.

The case in point is of a Jew lady, who did not like the Prophet of Islam or his ideology. Each day, she waited for the messenger of peace to pass through a particular way in the city of Mecca. When the Prophet approached, she used to throw heap of garbage and rubbish on him dirtying his cloths. The Messenger of Islam never reacted to such insult nor uttered a word against the lady and walked past the lady in a somber way. One day, when the lady did not show up to throw the filth, the Prophet became anxious and inquired the whereabouts of the lady. He came to know that lady was not keeping well, he paid a visit to her house and inquired abut her health and prayed for her speedy recovery.

This story clearly lays the guideline to the followers of the Islamic faith how to conduct in wake of religious criticism and behave in a multi religious and cultural society. The killers of Salman Tasser, one who sported a beard and the one who had announced booty on his head, are perhaps are ignorant Muslims who have little knowledge about the essence of their faith. Had they really known their religion well, Salman Tasser may still have been alive today.

Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at [email protected]


 




 


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