Condemnable as all assassinations are, they differ in the manner in which they describe the underlying social narrative and the way people react to them in drawing moral conclusions about them. Salmaan Taseer’s shooting in broad daylight in the shopping area of a ‘posh’ neighbourhood in Islamabad, close to his private residence, by a policeman assigned to protect his life has a rather eerie resemblance to the near-fatal attempt on the life of a US Congresswoman and the killing of innocent bystanders, including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge, in front of a popular supermarket in Tucson, Arizona the same week. Although the political and economic perspectives of the two incidents are vastly different and a comparison may even seem absurd, they do invite attention to some common dilemmas in modern political discourse in the context of political behaviour, ideological differences, social divides, tolerance and law enforcement.
Mr Taseer, who was the governor of the country’s largest province, took official protocol lightly and treated the threat to his own life as a controversial politician casually, often with disdainful bravado. As Governor of Punjab – a province where Pakistan’s two major political dynasties have been jockeying for power since the demise of General Zia, he became a controversial and confrontational figure, taking sides with the PPP and Zardari vis-à-vis the PML-N and the Sharifs. He was an outspoken politician who was ready to stick his neck out for issues on which the PPP leadership hesitated to take a clear stand. Some believed he was made to play the bad cop role by Mr Zardari. As a result, he created more enemies than friends in the political arena, where his clout was based on his wealth and business success rather than on grassroots.
More recently, he earned the ire of the clergy and fundamentalist elements when he espoused the case of a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was sentenced for having violated the blasphemy law. He visited her in prison to assure her that he would try to get the death sentence pardoned by the president. He also pledged to get the blasphemy law amended, so that it would not be misused and to remove deep-seated fear and insecurity among the minorities, especially Christians. For this he was maligned by those indoctrinated by the uninitiated mullahs, many of whom issued fatwas (edicts) to kill him. Unfortunately, his own political party did not come to his rescue and left him to the wolves; some in his own party openly sided with the mullahs.
Mr Taseer often frequented his favourite restaurant in Islamabad and felt at home with the bonhomie and ambiance of the upscale market where many foreigners and well-to-do Pakistanis come for leisurely shopping, browsing books and handicrafts and having coffee, meals and sheesha (water-pipe used for smoking). It is a quiet and friendly place in Islamabad, till now safe from the crosshairs of terrorists.
The tragedy in Arizona involved a Democratic Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head by a young community college student with a history of serious mental problems. Ms Giffords, wife of a US astronaut, is a strong supporter of President Obama’s healthcare, immigration and other legislative programmes that the Republican Right, led by presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, is dead against. The espousal of these causes made Giffords and her congressional district a target.
Although Ms Giffords survived with critical injuries to her head, the assailant killed six people, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl, by pumping 29 bullets into the crowd, compared to the 27 fired by the Pakistani policeman into Mr Taseer’s body. The attack could have been even more devastating had several victims not overwhelmed the suspect as he tried to reload his gun. In contrast, the five other policemen, who were part of the security posse for Governor Taseer, sat idly by and did nothing to overpower the assailant.
Unlike Taseer, who was a liberal maverick and twittered his unconventional views on politics and religion, Giffords is a moderate and centrist politician. A former Republican, she was elected as a Democrat to Congress in 2007. In a strongly pro-gun state, she has been a long-time gun owner and has argued against placing more restrictions on firearms purchase. She also moderated her stance on immigration by advocating tougher policing of the US-Mexico border, which runs for 114 miles along her district.
The two attacks, carried out by two lone individuals, belonging to aberrant subcultures of their society – apparently unaffiliated with any terrorist network, though undoubtedly influenced by extremist rhetoric – cannot be attributed to their distinctive social and political environment alone. They can be understood in terms of a common climate of intolerance, which the media, law enforcement, religion, extremism, isolation and poverty have all played a significant role in promoting.
Both incidents have occurred in the backdrop of extreme polarisation in the societies of both countries. In the US, this polarisation has accentuated after the 2008 financial crisis and the Obama administration’s efforts – admittedly inadequate – to rescue the economy by fiscal and monetary stimuli, which are proving increasingly ineffective. The rise of the Tea Party Movement and the Democrats’ defeat in the mid-term elections have made the lame-duck Obama administration even more ineffective, and the right-wing media, led by Fox News and radio talk hosts Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck, has further fuelled the political divide.
In Pakistan, the polarisation dates back to General Zia’s rule when he used religion as an instrument for the legitimisation of his rule in the 1980s and deliberately promoted an alliance between the army and clergy, through the intelligence services, which has dominated the political scene. More disturbingly, the state’s abdication of responsibility in education and health and its increasingly poor performance in managing the economy, resulting in high inflation, poverty and unemployment has created a situation in which the poor are being driven to increasingly desperate options, including resorting to violence and succumbing to militant rhetoric, as well as suicides.
While polarisation in the US can perhaps be defused by returning to more civility in political discourse, as pleaded by President Obama in his emotional speech in Arizona, the same in Pakistan will be much more difficult to achieve. It will take far more serious efforts to rebuild – not merely heal – the fabric of society, polity and economy than the current ruling elite seems disposed to undertake.
The writer can be reached at [email protected]