.
Yes, they got another one.
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was attacked and killed in a firing incident in Islamabad’s Kohsar market. Governor Taseer was leaving his residence when one of his guards shot him in the chest. The guard named Qadri, who apparently was part of Rawalpindi’s elite force, shot him 9 bullets in the chest (he was shot a total of 26 bullets). Qadri stated that he killed the governor because of his liberal views and his stand against blasphemy laws.
Governor Taseer is probably the highest profile victim of the blasphemy law. He was shot dead because he was brave, he believed that all citizens should be treated fairly and he died for holding that belief. He decided to support a poor Christian woman on death row and he was chastised, ridiculed and threatened for that. In the end, he was even killed for that. All the PPP ministers such as Khurshid Shah and Babar Awan who defended the law should be hauled along with all the maulanas who burned his effigies and issued fatwas against him for this brutal murder.
I am sitting in my office, unable to move, mourning his death in solitude. I never knew him personally and only communicated with him on twitter but I mourn his death because in a deeply rightist society, he was a voice of sanity. I mourn his death because he was one of us, Pakistanis who want similar rights for everyone irrespective of their religion, caste, gender and ethnicity.
Governor Taseer was an entrepreneur, a politician, a great wit and a positive man who believed in this country. Just a couple of hours before his death, he tweeted this:
Mera azm itna bulund hae Parae sholon se dar nahin.Mujhe dar hae tu atish e gul se hae Ye kahin chaman ko jala na dein
Salman may have believed in Pakistan, but after his brutal murder, I am truly hopeless about this country; he was shot dead because he was man enough to say what he believed in. Just like Salman Taseer, we too should wait for some lunatic to come and gun us down and win his stripes for 72 virgins in heaven.
Governor Taseer, may you rest in peace. You were a brave brave man and you will be remembered as one.
52 comments:
Tazeen, Well done, a timely blog.
I just want to add the link of a news for backgrounder: "Meanwhile, Almi Jamaat Ahle Sunnat in an emergency meeting has issued a fatwa (Edict), declaring Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer as ‘apostate’ for raising his voice to free blasphemy convict Asia and implementing the western conspiracy against the blasphemy laws in the country."
Link: http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?233808
Is really Muslim living in Pakistan?
Shame on bastard who failed to understand the religion of humanity.
Kia kaheen kuch naheen hai kahnay ko,,,,,,,,,,,,,,hai kia gham mila hai sahnay ko
Innalillahe wa inna elehe raji'oon.
Rest in Peace
Salmaan Taseer Shaheed.
Its really Sad to hear this, personally i never liked the person but the reason for which he was assassinated is highly condemnable. We really need to get rid of all these Mullahs and self proclaimed saviors of Islam. May God help us as a Nation.
khas kum jhan pak
Well put Tazeen.
Tazeen
great post
sending you 3 links from fb. These are pages created to support the act of taseer's killer. I have reported them to fb already. if you could possibly put them on your twitter thn at least we would be doing our bit. These pages must be immediately shut down:/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malik-mumtaz-hussain-qadri-son-of-pakistan/171308606244952#!/pages/Malik-mumtaz-hussain-qadri-son-of-pakistan/171308606244952?v=wall
http://www.facebook.com/Malik.Mumtaz.Qadri#!/Malik.Mumtaz.Qadri
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malik-Mumtaz-Hussain-Qadri-The-Guy-who-sent-Salman-Taseer-to-Jahannum/141956715860799?ref=ts
another sad sad day...the blame is to be shared equally by those who incited idiots by declaring him wajib-ul-qatl and the moronic news anchors(read mehr bokhari)who had the audacity to read out the fatwa.
those who called him shaheed and brave, actually contains the same mentality, he was a womenizer, drinker and all of above a foreign agent.
I would simply say one pig has gone the rest are in que InshAllah.
oh anon 2, why dont you sign in with your real name so I should know where to direct prayers for your maghfarat. theek hai Daddy was anonymous sperm donor but Mummy Daddy ney tau koi tau naam diya hoga aap ko.
the second best thing happened to Pakistan after the Benazir's death, the first best the murder of BB itself.
lets all join hands and pray that all of the bhutto family, zardaris, rehmans, shariefs, kairas, awans are put to the same fate...... for these are all the culprits of me and my country and its people.
thank you Mr. Qadri, for you are a hero for this country and you are braver then all who just sit here and do nothing.
well done guard same like him kill every person who trying to doing like him....!
Ammar khan
The surname says it best khan the eternal khocha with fried brains
Show some respect. A guy who stood for all the liberal secular values didnt deserve to die like this.
You ppl have absolutely no tolerance you show no remorse
Who do you think you are?
Pray for your own maghfarat dude.
Really do that
slap on all your 'liberal' faces, the facebook page dedicted to Qadri has now near 1k fans
Trust you people to screw your own country. He may or may not be a womaniser/alcohol addict or whatever you may wish to label him.
But. Above all, he was a good man. Atleast one who's more tolerant than all you dumbshits like ammar khan anon2 whoever.
I wont be surprised if it reaches 1 or 10 million within 24 hrs
Why do you think we are a doomed nation?
However i assure you and those 1 or 10 million wont even have a page dedicated to them once you lot die..
I really don't understand this dual standard from people like Mr. Anonymous you are saying that Mr. Killer have done a great job killed a person who was so called involved in blasphemy and he have 1k fans on facebook Mr. Anonymous shame on you if you are still using facebook facebook is the biggest blaspheming social network created by Zionist so I think you people are also involved in blasphemy!!! Please give serious thought to above.
Wonderful post, kudos to the blogger for wrapping up exactly what was on my mind after seeing such a shocking and tragic assassination.
I know Gov Taseer was a controversial figure in terms of his personal life but at the end of the day as a Pakistani politician he was a remarkable figure willing to lend his voice and position to the minorities who had and continue to have neither.
Govenor Taseer was a strong secular voice amidst the extremist, polarized and oppresive chaos that has become the nation of Pakistan. Although as an Indian some of his stances on India made me grit my teeth, as a non-Muslim who continues to have family living in Pakistan I realize that he must be applauded for his firm and public position on the blasphemy law.
In fact it was Taseer himself who clarified the inherent stupidity and inevitable manipulation of such a law in the hands of humans on one of his tweets. The Holy Qur'an says Allah will punish the blasphemous- therefore mankind thru such laws should not attempt to judge others and play God. To do so is disgusting and in fact, the real blasphemy. It's disheartening to see that extremists have taken his life in attempts to do exactly this.
Taseer family, I'm sorry for your sudden tragic loss- you are in my prayers
The secular voice of a nation that has been ridden with tragedy upon tragedy- you and your nation are in my prayers as well.
- a Secular, Similarly Reluctant Minded Neighbor
i dont care pakistanis die every day with no food to eat no water to drink no home to sleep in cus of sharabi basterds like salman taseer he lived a life of joy drinking sharab waching mujra thats all he did fuck pakistani politions pakistan zinda baad
Regardless of however mr Taseer was in his personal life and whatever his views about politics were, it is not right to kill another human being. The Prophet(s) did not order the killing of the people of Makkah who persecuted him for so many years therefore it is wrong to justify the murder of a human based on his political views. We as humans have no right to judge other people, that right is reserved for the Almighty.
What a shame to read some of the comments......justifying a murder so heinous, so brutal....i won't comment on his personal life. So called the custodians of the morality and of ISlam consider themselves as the custodian of the personal life....who the hell are they....you scums stop using this bull shit computer and go take your lotas namaz and quran to the jungle and serve God tum log tu insaan he nai he ...........bastards Fukin son of the Bitches the religious party and all the religious fanatics....
MY advice to you Anonymous …try spiting on the sky !
Well said ...
MY advice to you Anonymous …try spiting on the sky !
You said: “Qadri stated that he killed the governor because of his liberal views and his stand against blasphemy laws” liberal ??? the dead man had said … kaala Qanoon hai, zalim Qanoon hai … when asked by one of the journalists as to his newspaper portray female in indecent dresses he laughed and said I want to show the world there are beautiful women in Pakistan…
And Aleena did anon 2 step on your tail …?
be glad he didn't say pakistani women have beautiful skin, else his babe and two daughters would have thier skin exposed ...
Tazeen (or anyone else who reads this), do you mind translating those twitter lines into english?
I'm sorry to hear another good man has been killed. Honestly though, I did not know anything about him till I read your post and I probably am not going to hear anything about him again and that makes me more sad than the fact that he died - that he(and many like him) die without half the world ever having heard of him.
Why i need to spit of sky why not the fukin face of this mullayat
Seems like he dug his own grave..... Pretty freaky to be gunned down by your own body guard!
I am so upset after i heard the news.I am not an avid supporter of PPP or Mr Salman Taseer but after his death i am just thinking that where has the tolerance gone in our society.It was a gruesome way to die.I think the lunatic and the bloody maulvis who gave the fatwa for Mr Taseer's assassination should be shot in the same way.Apart from what i have said i also totally agree with Tazeen.
A tragedy for everyone in the world who values the freedom of speech, the value of being able to dissent against the majoritarian values, who values being able to speak one's mind.
ok so im a bit confused. I am totally uninterested in politics over here in england where i live, so politics in pakistan does not interest me whatsoever. My father has had ary digital on all day and i got into this story. Now what is it that actually happened? did the minister want the blasphemy laws to be done away with totally or did he want them to be altered to prevent misuse? there is a massive difference between the two. If anyone would like a calm serious discussion on this please contact me on rash 1 at mailcity.com
thanks and peace
Rashid
student of religion.
Well written Tazeen!
As a woman it makes me sick that a religious text such as Quran actually talks about a "72 Virgins" reward, for whatever type of work! I am an atheist myself...but find religious texts of the abrahmanic religions so unfairly skewed in favour of men, just makes my blood boil, but then what can be expected from a book that originated in 7th century heavily male centric arabia. I know i have gone on a tangent here, but my point is that when the most heinous crimes find validation in religious texts, then what do we do about those texts???
amaan im sorry but i'm goign to have to respectfully disagree with you. its not at all the fault of holy texts. the religious and fundamental texts of every religion teach essentially the same thign- peace, tolerance, fear of God and the underlyign message to do no harm to others. Its we humans who overtime find ways to manipulate the texts to validate whatever action we want.
I hate to speak ill of the dead- but regardless of what Mr. Taseer did in his personal life- GOD would have judged him. To kill him so brutally- 27 damn bullets- was unnecessary. its a man made created fatwa that validated his death. it was a man who shot him- at this point after so much manipulation and contortion of holy texts- its not the fault of the texts, but the fault of the people and society
Anhsor,
Yes, its man who commits the heinous crimes, but can the religious texts be totally ignored for their content.Its common knowledge that the Quran promises a reward of 72 virgins for martyrs...now just the very fact that there is a reward of 72 virgins. you find nothing wrong with that,in the context of a religious text.
If a mullah came to you or me, and showed us that verse, we would tell him to take a hike, but an illiterate person, who has only had madressah education will be convinced of the validity of the fruit of his martyrdom.
And this is just one example, Death is precribed in the quran for apostacy, now if tommorow a mulim chooses to simply become an atheist, a mullah can use the verse and ask a crazy fundamentalist to go kill the dude who chose to become an atheist.....so you find nothing wrong with the religious texts?
May Allah eliminate all ignorant and brutal fundamentalists from Pakistan who kill human beings wihtout knowing that killing is one of the biggest sins.
I seriously want to puke after reading these comments, these assholes who wouldn't know their brains from their own behinds.
I've said it before, I'll say it again.
Fuck down with mullahism.
"True Muslim" you just said it yourself either you don't know what true muslim means or you don't know the meaning of fundamentalist ... go back and findout the meaning of foundation, you can not be a muslim if you fundamentalist
Hopelessness I share with you.
I've been feeling so helpless since yesterday.
And we, the secular brigade, cant protest for shit even if our lives depended on that.
I just do know what will happen ! I don't.
Mr. Anonymous
"Islam" means to enter into peace and thats what all the people like you are trying to take away from us.
My dear Tazeen
I had come to present you my wishes.
I wish you one happy New Year and a good health. To you of course and to all those who you love and of course in Pakistan drunk with freedom.
You always have so much courage to denounce the misdeeds of the radical Islamists. I admire you.
But I worry always so much for you. Kept silent not about fear of being the victim of these reactionary monks? I beg you. be careful.
When I read some of the comments of your post, I am horrified by the remarks of certain fundamentalists.
I notice however that moderate Muslim in the world does not show its indignation against the atrocities and the thoughts of these uncultivated and rough men.
God blessed you
I kiss you
If I had any hope left in this nation, it died yesterday when a man who dared to speak out against a flawed law, dared to differ with the majority, was gunned down...and then his death was celebrated by most of the Pakistani people.
Spica,
Mera azm itna bulund hae
Parae sholon se dar nahin.
Mujhe dar hae tu atish e gul se hae
Ye kahin chaman ko jala na dein
My determination is so strong;
That I am not afraid of sparks lit by others;
If am I am afraid, it is only of of the sparks in the flowers themselves;
Lest they set fire to my entire garden.
It is a couplet from the well known Indian Urdu poet and film lyricist Shakil Badayuni (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakeel_Badayuni)
An old, defenceless man is killed by one of those charged with protecting him. By pumping in more than twenty bullets.
Most civilised societies would call such a cold blooded murderer a "namakharam" - a traitor. A coward. But these mullahs and their apologists (which tragically, seems to include a large number of Pakistani Punjabis) find the assassin's actions heroic!
The mainstream Urdu newspaper Jang runs banner headlines praising the assassin! And saying that the victim does not deserve an Islamic burial!
There is a serious disconnect here. If Pakistani civil society (can you call it that? - I wonder) still doesn't see that it is hurtling downhill and the brakes are failing, what can one call it except insanity?
Policies of convenience right since the formation of Pakistan were the seed. Sundry leaders in uniform and politicians watered the seed. Zia perfected its nurturing and elevated it into state policy. Pakistan is now reaping the whirlwind.
No amount of blaming America, India, Jews, Ahmadis, Shias, will hide the fact that shortsighted "leaders" have unleashed the perfect genie, which will, unfortunately, not go back into the bottle on its own. If at all Pakistan is serious about confronting the genie it will have to be fought. Possibly with more blood.
Yet, if it is not fought, Pakistan will turn into another wasteland like Afghanistan is today.
Who will bite the bullet? Or is it all over already?
It was so sad to see on the television yesterday when lawyers were showering flowers and kisses on the murderer. God please take our nation to the right path.
People like Salman Taseer are professional politicians.
They have no ideology; they have no vision. The only reason they are in politics is to get the perks and privileges and benefits of power.
Pakistan needs a revolution, precisely against people like Salman Taseer who have just sucked this country dry, who have destroyed this country and destroyed the potential in this country by engaging in meaningless politics - this politics of musical chairs.
We should ask him and his supporters one question. What leader is he following? Everyone has known for the past ten years that Asif Ali Zardari is corrupt.
What moral thought process is going through his mind when he follows people like that?
Can someone please answer this question:
If it is wrong to take the law into your own hands, if a person is considered innocent until proven guilty, if it is wrong to take a life.
Then WHY do you people support the operations in the north, why do you support the Ariel bombings and killing of innocent people who are only suspected or accused of being terrorist.
All because they don't think like you?
Who is the extremist here then?
ہمیں آخر اپنے ملک میں دو فیصد سے بھی کم غیر مُسلموں سے اتنا خوف کیوں آتا ہے؟ آخر ہمیں اُس مہربان نبّی کی عزت کے نام پر گلے کاٹنے کا اِتنا شوق کیوں ہے جِس نے ایک قتل کو ساری انسانیت کا قتل قرار دیا تھا۔ آخر غازی عِلم دین شہید کو غازی اور شہید کہہ کر اپنے کونسے ڈر کو چھپا رہے ہیں اور اپنے اندر چھپے کس مجاہد کو دلاسا دے رہے ہیں؟
آخر ہم روزہ رکھنے سے لے کر سورج گرہن کے اسباب جانے کے لیے مفتی منیب الرحمٰن کے پاس کیوں بھاگے بھاگے جاتے ہیں؟
آخر ہمیں کس نے یقین دلایا کہ قوم کی بیٹی ڈاکٹر عافیہ کو بچانے کے لیے قوم کی بیٹی آسیہ کا سر تن سے جدا کرنا ضروری ہے؟
اُسی اِسلام آباد شہر میں جہاں سلمان تاثیر کا قتل ہوا صِرف دو ہفتے پہلے ناموسِ رسالت کانفرنس میں کون کون شامل تھا۔ کیا اُس میں وہ لوگ شامل نہیں تھے جن کے پارٹی منشور میں ہر شیعہ، احمدی، ہندو، یہودی کو قتل کرنے کا عندیہ نہیں دیا گیا۔
PART 1
I should first start off offering my condolences to the family of the victim.
Second,I am not Pakistani and ended up here through various blogs. I will admit that my ignorance to all things Pakistan probably does not give me a right to comment, but I will comment anyway and hope that someone will read this comment and think to themselves how what they've said, what they've done impacts something as a whole--the something in this case is Islam.
I've been doing a lot of research about Islam. In the beginning I was attracted to Islam because of what a couple of Muslims have said about it. Beautiful. But then I kept ending up on various blogs(how I got here today)and I can't help but notice such horrible disgusting things. Calling for deaths in the name of God and your Prophet Muhammad-when he himself was one of the most revered, humane and gentle,persons in the history of the world?
How can Pakistanis(or some at least)sit and scream death and destruction to another human being when their religion-the religion that the country is founded upon basically-actually teaches the opposite? I don't quite understand this mentality. And I must be honest, it is the attitudes and words of these anon posters here and all over the internet that are tainting Islam for me and many others. We're scared. We see and hear about the "beauty" and "peace", but then it is washed away with so much evil that you don't want to be associated with it.
I've only met a few Pakistanis in my life. Each from different backgrounds and statuses if you will. Each one of them was so intelligent. It is common knowledge here in my country that Pakistanis have an intellect level to be admired. I believe this to be true but am always shocked when I see a people that have so much to offer for not only themselves, but the world and Islam, acting like racists, prejudice, fools.
To the posters who are spewing forth hatred and all those who live by hatred,I ask you to stop for a moment and think about this, how much talk there is of the west and its people and how awful you think they are. Think to yourselves-with this attitude you currently have-how are you any different than the "infidels?" Because you are Muslim and have Islam? Well dear people, are you portraying Islam properly with this attitude and actions? Do you have any idea that what you say and do, not only affects the perception of YOU, but your country and religion? It does.
If I come here and see this then why would I want to be a Muslim like you? If I, in the state I am today-modest,kind,respectful,accepting of all people no matter who they are and loves God-want to change into someone like you? How would it benefit me on the day of judgment when I stand before God and say I changed who I was to become a Muslim like you? I changed my speech and started spewing hatred, I became racists, I rallied for the ignorant and ill informed and started praying and calling for death to another human being or anyone who wasn't like me and did what I do. I wonder how this would benefit me?I don't think that it would.
I know I have taken my comment way off topic, but I hope that I have at least made someone think for a moment. This murder that happened-that has nothing to do with me, my beliefs, or my country -has opened up my world. Maybe I am naive. Maybe I am just a mere imbecile when it comes to matters concerning Pakistanis or Muslims? But I can tell you this, seeing this death on the news, seeing these comments and the people standing up and praising a murderer, is frightening and really is making me second guess any move I should make towards calling myself one of you(muslim). If I must change who I am today in order to be like this, I am not sure I can do it.in fact,I know that I can't!
PART 2
The ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan? That name demands respect.That name implores you to stand up and listen. That name alone would make someone of that land proud to be a part of it. but I am not sure the people who are doing such atrocious acts see that they're actually causing the opposite to happen. Otherwise, the whole world would be bowing to the feet of Pakistan. People the world over would want to emulate Pakistan. There would not be a country that could match it in terms of religion and honor and its people.
With a name like that, founded on a religion such as that, why not?
Such a shame that is not the case though. So sad that instead, some of the inhabitants of The ISLAMIC Republic of Pakistan have lost sight of Islam in so many ways. I will try very hard to keep this separated from the real Islam, but it will be hard.
Jinnah must be turning over in his grave.
I will end this with something I picked up along the way in my search of Islam.forgive me for not having the exact words,but it goes something like this
God will not change a people until they change themselves
If only....
I was just reading a translation of Surh Baqar and was quite amazed at how concise and clear the laws are on marriage, managing finances as well as dealing with 'nonbelievers'. It is a religous text so obviously it condemns them for their lack of faith but absolutely nowhere it implies or advocates unprovoked jihad,infact the words are to the effect that there is no coersion in Islam, God with deal with them himself, do not restrict your charity only to beleivers.
Although Salman Tasseer'r death is a huge tragedy, the real issue is a completly unjust society where the oppressor continues to opress and the victim suffers unendingly. Can you blame the guard for thnking Mr Taseer the devil incarnate when witnessing Mr Taseer's life style and comparing it to his own state of affairs. It is very hard to have tolerance and patience on an empty stomach.
!#$@^%%$&#^@##$^%#$@&^
Ayesha,
How do you know that the murderer was a poor hungry weak man?
There are many oppressors in Pakistan government, politicians, police, most of those in power, so why single out Salman Taseer? Junai Jamshed, the filthy rich tv mullah, could have been a target then also? But he wasnt. There is nothing to suggest the murderer fired 27 bullets into ST based on an empty stomach.
There was however and still is great amount of support for the murderer, because he killed a man whose views were different than the mullahs and who sought justice for all by arguging against the blasphemy laws. The lawyers and mullahs threatened anybody paying Fatiha prayers for him.
There was equal if not more amount of support of Osama Bin Laden and Fatiha prayer paid, not by unstable lunatics or illiterates, but rather well educated lawyers who viewed OBL a hero. A true fighter for Islam.
There is not excusing this murder.It was a premeditated and carefully carried out murder. Clearly those around ST that day supposed to protect him, let him down by allowing a mad murderer come close to ST.
The murder signals one thing only:
If we dont like what you are saying, we will twist it around so that it sounds like you are against Islam and then we will have you slaughtered even in broad daylight in front of witnesses.
Don't be a coward. See it for what it is. This is murder and if people objected to ST's views or actions, they should go to courts and accuse him there. Thats what civilized people do.
Pakistan is not a homogenous society. There are issues and people should be able to discuss or voice their concerns and views freely without fearing getting murdered.
Tazeen, I landed on your blog by chance but you really sound like a brave young lady. Its cool to see headstrong people like yourself who dare speak. Keep it up.
Post a Comment