on January 4, 2011, a brave dissenting voice fighting for a more tolerant and humane Pakistan was brutally silenced by a wretched product of the same twisted forces of hate and bigotry he fearlessly stood up to, and was striving to curtail. The killing of Taseer was not an ordinary murder as it involved a fight against a wrongly conceived ideology. The subsequent proceedings of the Taseer murder case showed the critical situation in Pakistan regarding the misuse of man-made law. However, the top court of Pakistan clarified the misperception pertaining to the blasphemy laws by awarding death sentence to a fanatic like Mumtaz Qadri. The SC had observed that criticising the blasphemy laws does not amount to committing blasphemy. Mumtaz Qadri faced trial for assassinating the former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer for allegedly committing blasphemy. Taseer was shot dead in broad daylight after he had criticised the blasphemy laws and visiting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy.
This particular case highlighted the abuse and misuse of the blasphemy laws. Blasphemy is a sensitive issue. In a state where a majority of the masses are illiterate, many have a poor understanding of the laws of the land. Mostly, laws are exploited according to the whims of the powerful. The misuse of the blasphemy law is rampant in our society. Often, mere assumptions are enough to kill a person in the name of religion. The blasphemy laws were made stringent during the regime of General Zia ul Haq in 1986. Around 1,194 people have been charged under these laws since then. In many cases, the laws have been misused to settle personal scores or grab properties. In a number of cases, the accused were killed before they could even defend themselves in the courts. There are numerous examples where the members of the minority community were brutalised through mob violence after the levelling of baseless blasphemy charges. Not only minorities, the victims include Muslims too. Those who support reforming these laws face severe criticism and are even attacked due to the wrong interpretation of Islamic teachings. This was the reason that the accused killed the governor in a crowded marketplace in Islamabad because he opposed his victim’s public criticism of the blasphemy law. If people took the authority to punish alleged or actual blasphemers into their own hands, a trend will start which will be dangerous for society. More terrible was the fact that Governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassin Mumtaz Qadri was successful in winning the support of people with extremist thoughts. The propaganda was seeded in the minds that Salmaan Taseer had committed blasphemy while the fact is quite the opposite. The only fault of the Governor was that he had raised his voice for a poor Christian woman Aasia Bibi who was convicted of blasphemy. After lengthy court proceedings, finally justice was served and the country’s top court gave a decree that resulted in the execution of Mumtaz Qadri. On 29th February 2016, the wretched murderer of Governor Salman Taseer was executed at Adiala Jail, thereby bringing a sordid saga to a belated end as justice finally prevailed. This particular case has proved a litmus test for the judiciary and society to set a precedent for bringing an end to the misuse of blasphemy laws.
However, while Qadri’s life has ended, the threat of his ‘legacy’ remains as champions of the killer continue to fan the flames in society after his deserved execution. There still is a long way to go before Pakistan becomes a tolerant and vibrant country Salman Taseer envisioned when he set out on his campaign.