Global Voices » Ammar Faheem

Pakistan: Salman Taseer's Tragic Assassination And The Blasphemy Law

Ammar Faheem — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:26:26 +0000

In one of the saddest moments of Pakistan's battered political history, the Governor of the Punjab, Mr. Salman Taseer was assassinated in cold blood by one his own body guards while leaving a Cafeteria in one of the up-town markets of Pakistan's Federal Capital - Islamabad.

Governor of the Punjab Salmaan Taseer. Image by Flickr user Salman Taseer. CC BY-NC-SA

Mr. Taseer was known for his unique style of politics, hard-hitting, bold and at times humorous. He was also known for his uncomfortable relationship with the elected provincial government of the PML-N. He touched upon issues nobody else would dare to speak about, the Blasphemy law being one of them.

The arrested bodyguard Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. Photo by Sajjad Ali Qureshi. Copyright Demotix.

The body guard, who belonged to the Police Elite Force and gave himself up, claims he did what he did because of what he considered blasphemous comments of the Governor regarding the infamous blasphemy law.

Kalsoom at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan broke the news with this sentence:

Pakistan lost a brave man today.

The governor was an active user of Social media tools such as Twitter and Flickr and found some support from the blogosphere in Pakistan which has already been abuzz, mostly in favour of the repeal of or modifications to the blasphemy law. One of his tweets on the Blasphemy law is quoted below:

“I was under huge pressure sure 2 cow down b4 rightest pressure on blasphemy.Refused. Even if Im the last man standing” [His Twitter Account can be viewed here]

Kalsoom adds in her post:

Taseer became increasingly vocal against the blasphemy laws after Aasia Bibi became the first Christian woman to be sentenced to death, allying “with rights activists, critics and several government officials in urging the government to repeal or revise” the legislation. His courage to stand up against the religious intolerance in the country was met with protests, and the NY Times reported that effigies of the Punjab Governor were burned in protests last Friday.

20/11/10 - Governor of the Punjab Salmaan Taseer visits Aasia Bibi, Christian woman condemned to death under the Blasphemy Law. Image by Flickr user Salman Taseer. CC BY-NC-SA

Some people were of the opinion that the Governor over-reacted to the Aasia Bibi case, a woman who is currently under trial on blasphemy charges, and went a touch too aggressive with the words and the tone he chose to express his anguish. But regardless of that, his comments focused more on the blasphemy “law” that is manipulated by some, usually powerful, people to victimize others.

Farhan Janjua, a Pakistani blogger, opined in a Twitter message:

“Mumtaz Qadri [the body guard who shot at the Governor] cheated with his profession and can NEVER be called an “Aashiq e Rasool” [Lover of the Prophet], he should NOT be forgiven..”

Arsalan Mir, a telecom blogger from Pakistan, rightly put it this way:

“It was never about blasphemy law. It was and is about its right implementation #Pakistan”

Twitter was in a state of shock as “Salman Taseer” was on the top of the list of topics trending worldwide. Twitter users and bloggers from Pakistan were almost unanimous in denouncing and condemning this cowardly act in the strongest possible terms.

Osama Bin Javaid blames the media for the murder of Salman Taseer;

Salman Taseer’s murder underlines the strong current of religious intolerance and hatred; which the media apparently plays up. Critics I’ve spoken to argue that whether its the URS celebrations or violent protests by the clergy; the media indiscriminately gives them airtime.

While many see it as an individual act, conspiracy theorists will not simply over-look the fact that Pakistan's history has brutal examples of political victimization and assassinations. This incident and its timing, where the ruling PPP has lost its numerical majority in the Parliament, is sure to raise a few eye-brows in Pakistan.

Let us face it, proposing changes to the blasphemy law in Pakistan is a tough ask. It is a topic that is extremely sensitive to the masses in Pakistan. An open and broad-minded understanding of how the law is being misused is lacking, so is the will on part of the politicians to bring positive and acceptable changes to it.

Huma Imtiaz writes:

Let me reiterate this: the Blasphemy Laws, in the form and shape that they are in today, are used as a tool for murder. For over 20 years, this law has led to the deaths of scores of people. Thousands have been persecuted under this law.

It may be noted here that Blasphemy is not an Islamic subject in this context, it being punishable in Judaism and Christianity as well, the issue is about its implementation in Pakistan.

Sadly, what was witnessed today was cold-blooded murder which can simply not be justified in any way, in any form or by any religion in the world. The incident also reflects growing intolerance in the Pakistani society and the alarming influence unqualified ‘Mullahs' exercise on immature and naive minds.

Never ending and inconclusive investigations will now begin, as has always been the case. We can only hope justice wins this time and sense prevails. The Pakistan government, on its part, is running short on time. Terrorism and home-grown extremism needs to be routed out and dealt with an iron fist.

Shahid at Tārikh-nāma ends his post with this phrase:

As a coward, I can only blog about him. For what it’s worth, let’s celebrate what he stood up for, and what was responsible for his brazen assassination at the hands of not one man, but an entire nation.

Fiber To The Home Services in Pakistan

Ammar Faheem — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:29:32 +0000

An Infrastructure uplift, perhaps? Pakistan was the first in South Asia to launch an FTTH service. This article in Telecomistan reviews the industry and the challenges faced in Pakistan.

A Quiet Independence Day for Pakistan

Ammar Faheem — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:07:24 +0000

Given all the pain and gloom that surrounds the life of an ordinary Pakistani today, it is no surprise that this year's independence day (14th of August) was a quiet affair; somber expressions of joy and government events were limited to things like a formal flag hoisting in the morning.

Floods in Pakistan have displaced around 2 million people by now and there seems to be no let up in nature's display of brute force. Currently there is another spell of rains and another round of floods adding to the misery of Pakistani's across the country.

Pakistan Flag. Image by Flickr user takebackpakistan. CC BY-NC-ND

Bloggers have used various ways to express their feelings for their homeland. Farrukh Zafar, a blogger from Karachi, highlights the achievements of Pakistani's at the international level:

In every 40 Pakistanis, 39 whine today about Pakistan’s worst law and order situation, the flood disaster, the plane crash, the fake degrees of its politicians, the shameless acts of thePresident, the declining performance of Pakistan cricket team and so on. BUT I WILL NOT.

… Then came August and a team from the Lahore Grammar School (LGS) 55-Main Gulberg, popularly known as LGS Kabana from Pakistan, won the NASA-affiliated Space Settlement Design Competition held in the United States of America! …

More at: ‘I Told You to Respect Pakistan'

Xainab, on a slightly depressed note, writes in her blog about why her Independence day celebrations have changed:

How can we celebrate independence, I wonder, when we've done nothing to deserve it? How can we rejoice in the motherland when she lies before us ravaged and broken? How can we pat ourselves on the back when we're anything but proud Pakistanis? How can we go watch the lights when all around us there seems to be nothing but darkness? How can we sing songs and be merry, when we live every moment in fear of the next disaster?

Talking of hope and solidarity on this independence day, Sakina Younis writes at Pro-Pakistan.com:

Let’s do as much as we can in our capacity and prove to the world that we are truly the progeny of that generation of people who understood virtues of sacrifice, hope, brotherhood & solidarity. We are Pakistanis, we live in a land that was born on the premise of faith and determination. Struggle is not a new concept for us.

More at: Yaum-e-Azadi 2010

The idea behind this post is not to add to the despair and problems of an average Pakistani. The idea is to highlight that given all the problems that surround a Pakistani, this nation is still strong enough to bounce back. People still have hope. People still have faith in themselves. They have always and they have again stood up to this national disaster.

Pakistan is indeed the land of the pure, only if it was governed and managed properly, our independence day would have been merrier, happier!

Pakistan: Mobile Operators Respond to Flood Relief Calls

Ammar Faheem — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:09:51 +0000

There are a number of international mobile operators in Pakistan who are responding to flood relief requirements. Telecomistan blog highlights that approximately PKR 238 million in funds have been pledged by three Mobile Operators as donation.

Pakistan: A Humanitarian Crisis

Ammar Faheem — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:56:30 +0000

River Swat, Kalam, Photo from Flickr by Farooq Nasir, used under a creative commons license

Pakistan has been hit by a severe humanitarian crisis as a result of the military onslaught against the Taliban insurgency. The valley of Swat is in Pakistan’s Malakand division, a beautiful valley often dubbed as another heaven on planet earth. It used to be a prominent tourist resort before it was struck by militancy and extremism of the local Taliban.

It is being reported that over one million (some reports even suggest that figure stands at near 2 million) people have fled their homes from various areas in the Malakand division and FATA including Buner, Dir and Swat. These “Internally Displaced People” (IDPs) are seeking refuge in other areas of Pakistan. Temporary camps have been established in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) where registered IDPs are provided food and shelter.

The crisis is huge. The problems seem impossible to overcome. But Pakistan as a nation has always proved its resilience and unity in testing times. In this regard, a massive relief effort has been launched by many organizations and individuals. The Pakistani Blogosphere is also taking a leading role to provide relief to our Pakistani brothers and sisters in distress.

In this regard, a weblog has been setup titled “Internally Displaced People in Pakistan” which mentions:

“The primary purpose is to track the estimates and the real-time data that is cited by international organizations, such as the UN, as well as the government agencies (NDMA and others) to determine and communicate the scale of the problem.”

The crisis is being labeled as the worst-ever in Pakistan’s history and I believe it is one of the biggest challenges faced by the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) led government in Pakistan. It is also a challenge for the ANP that leads the provincial government in the NWFP.

The Pakistani Spectator has posted a list of organizations and bank accounts to which donations may be sent, including the Edhi trust, Al-Khidmat, PTI and others.

A detailed list of organizations and individuals who are working on the cause has been at Chowrangi.com and they sent out an appeal to everyone, saying:

“This is an appeal to all individuals, organizations, charities and NGOs in general and nationals of Pakistan in particular, whether resident or expat, to come forward and help by extending financial, technical and moral support to hundreds of thousands, feared to be displaced in Swat Crisis. If nothing else, please spread the word.”

Fauzia Minallah, an active civil worker from Islamabad has sent an email to “Rise of Pakistan”, saying:

“According to some news reports there are nearly 50,000 IDPs in Islamabad. Civil Society Islamabad, visited 4 locations identified by out of these only one was an informal camp with approximately 40 tents near the Katchi Abadi in G 7/1. The IDPs are not registered in Islamabad and unless they are registered it is difficult to identitify deserving and genuine IDPs.
…
Their problem is the sudden increase in rents by the locals. They are vulnerable to exploitation by individuals and dodgy NGOs. Despite all these problems atleast there is a roof over their heads. They need to be registered during summer break these families can spend the hot summer months in schools…”

The above blog post also features several photographs of the IDP’s.

Dr. Awab Alvi, popularly known as the Teeth Maestro on the blogosphere is leading a collection drive and plans to head for the relief camps soon. He informs:

“I plan to lead a team to the affected areas hopefully to depart from Karachi on the 18th of May 2009 to take the collected donation items personally into the region of Mardan and physically distribute the items only to the needy and suffering.

We are interested in anything that you can contribute. We are hoping to pre-pack the collected items into small handy packages so as to distribute items to each individual person. The small packages will help us avoid hoarders who made even the 2005 Earthquake a business.”

On the other hand, some problems, irresponsible behavior and hindrances in relief efforts have been reported as well.

Kashif Aziz at Chowrangi.com reports that a refugee camp was being uprooted in Islamabad:

“Amongst huge governmental claims of relief and support activities for the IDPs of Swat, reality on the ground is quite different. However, the advancements in media and citizen journalism has made it difficult for the Ministers and their gangs to cover up their blunders and drawing-room statements.

On one hand the displaced people of Swat, Buner, Dir and adjacent areas are trying to cope up with harsh living conditions out of their comfort zones, on the other they are being exploited and manipulated by opportunists. One such incident occurred right in the capital, Islamabad.”

At the PakistanIDP, it has been reported that National Database and Registration Authority, NADRA, is charging people for registration and for the issuance of new ID cards to those who have lost or misplaced them while fleeing their areas:

“NADRA is charging Rs.50 for folks who lost/misplaced or had their cards destroyed in the process of fleeing their homes. The provincial government, district government, civil society and individual citizens are doing all they can to feed, house and clothe these IDPs.

The federal government charges them Rs.50 for their Identification Cards. Call your MNA, Senator, Uncle, or Auntie, call anybody and everybody you can, and tell them how outrageous this is. NADRA should stick to making money on contracts from foreign governments (as it does when it mass produces machine readable passports for other countries). This software house financed by the taxpayer should not be charging IDPs for a document that is a human and constitutional right in Pakistan.”

The situation is tough. And time is running out. I would like to urge the global community to come forward and help the IDPs. This is a severe humanitarian crisis at hand and the risk of the spread of disease is imminent. The Pakistan army is battling the enemy within; an enemy that many in Pakistan believe was pampered and brought up by the West against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 80’s. We, the global community, can do it together and make this world a better, peaceful place to live for everyone.