Daily Times

In order to reach a correlative unanimity, on a debatable issue, it’s significant to have a universal approach. Unfortunately when it comes to one of the most pressing issue we face today as Muslims and as Pakistanis is ‘extremism’, labeled and tagged by the world. Yet we are still busy wasting our energies incategorising anyone and everyone who is different. This attitude in turn converts the solvable issues into controversial ones. One of the main stumbling blocks for the progression of various Muslim societies is a very threat of questioning religious conventionality hence jeopardising religious integrity. The blasphemy law is one of such examples how our myopic behaviour has hindered any progress that might have been possible.

Salman Taseer, 26th Governor of Punjab, was an affirmed liberal, vocal opponent of extremism and a courageous supporter of minorities. He had been an outspoken critic of what that does not provide equal protection to all. An innocent Christian, Muslim women spat while working in the fields together took the shape of national display of intolerance, for whichhe stood for clemency and asked mercy for the alleged 45 year old Christian, mother of 5, that earned him 27 bullets. The callousness for the minorities horrifying, it is not devotion to the religion, its ruthlessness.

The blasphemy law is apart of Pakistan Penal Code which was introduced in 1827 by British Government to protect religious feelings of various communities of South Asia and it did not discriminate between religions. This law was further intensified during Zia’s regime. But in Pakistan protection of every sect and religious sensibilities is not in question, rather only of majority who control the law.Governor Taseer’s life was claimed in the name of blasphemy law, though he only condemned prejudice and invited the back lash of rigid religious clerics. His murder was commended by many, this shows how we as a nation have distorted the essence of our religion and glorified even the brutality. A reasonable mind must shudder at the thought of killing a human just because he thinks differently.

Salman Taseer was born to an affluent family of intellectuals. His father Dr. Mohammad Dinn Taseer was a close friend of DrallamaIqbal and is believed to be one of the first to obtain a PhD in English literature. His mother, BilqisTaseer, an Englishwoman, was the sister of writer AlysFaiz. Taseer was an astute businessman and set up accountancy and consultancy firms. He established First Capital Securities Corporation (FCSC),founded a payphone network (World Call)and owned English news and first children channels in Pakistan. He was also the publisher of English newspaper Daily Times. It’s a shame that such an insightful and ingenious individual had to go before his time, prayers for his departed soul and hope for a forbearing Pakistan.