“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
Today the Pakistani flag can fly high and today the Taseer name stands proud.
After almost five years in captivity, Shahbaz Taseer has been recovered, arriving in Lahore from Quetta Wednesday afternoon. His return to his loved ones was possible because here in Pakistan, in all ways terrible and wonderful, nothing is impossible.
The nightmare began with a slain leader. A stunned silence fell across the country on January 4, 2011, when the beloved then governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated by his own bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, for advocating desperately needed amendments to the country’s draconian blasphemy laws — one of the ugliest remnants of a dark Zia era. The mighty and compassionate voice for the voiceless was gone.
The silence was only to be broken by the chants and cheers of the Qadri-supporting radicals who filled the streets. In a country numbering 200 million, those tens of thousands of people in the streets seemed like everyone in the world.
Reeling from the magnitude of the loss, likeminded people struggled to adjust to the new landscape in Pakistan, where extremism reigned supreme, lorded its power over a nascent democracy.
Eight months later, on August 26th, Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped, and whisked out of Punjab. Reports of his whereabouts, rumours of who his captors were, how he was being treated and scores of conspiracy theories filled the next few years putting his loved ones in an unending cycle of agony. Media outlets, in an appalling display of lacking ethics, reported his release time and time again, or else replayed baseless conspiracies.
At the same time, the trial of Mumtaz Qadri dragged on, as the murderer’s lawyers appealed amidst a national climate of fear and intimidation.
The knife twisted each year, each barsi (death anniversary) on January 4th, an increasing number of determined individuals met in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad to reclaim their right to hope for a more just Pakistan. We stood there, holding candles for Shaheed Salmaan Taseer, imagining these lights would guide his son back home soon.
“Soon.”
This word was the way kind friends and strangers, wishing they weren’t so helpless, tried to help. It became the official word for a persevering hope. Forging a path to justice took time, almost five years… and suddenly it all happened at once.
In the fall of 2015, the Supreme Court with the brilliant Justice Khosa at the helm, upheld both the charge of terrorism and the requisite verdict of a death sentence for Qadri. The decision was wisely structured, dismantling the arguments put forth by Qadri’s legal team one by one. The Court found the governor did not commit blasphemy by urging a closer look at the laws. The Court found his coldblooded murder to be a radical vigilantism that must never be allowed to masquerade as justice in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The precedent was cemented for the ages.
Progressives, who have seen too many lawyers, witnesses, judges threatened or killed in the pursuit of justice, were amazed at the power of this legal victory. On February 29, Mumtaz Qadri was executed in an Adiala jail. It was a wiN for Pakistan’s conscience, but as Maheen Taseer — Shahbaz’s wife — stated, the only victory the family asks for is the safe return of Shahbaz Taseer.
And suddenly on March 8, he was on his way home.
The return of Shahbaz was never impossible to his mother, a woman of otherworldly strength and grace under fire. Nor was it impossible for his brother, who kept a waiting place for his elder sibling to resume working at his side. It was never impossible for his young sister, who spoke to him in her heart. And it was always the future his steadfast wife powerfully believed in, inspiring people around the world with the confidence of her love.
Governor Taseer never hid his beaming pride and love for Pakistan; he had faith we could do truly great things. He had given much for this country, ultimately sacrificing his life for the ideals of equality.
The Taseers had the courage to continue to live and work and exist in this country, facing dangers and endless worry. They continued to believe in the Pakistan of their dreams, and today it is their reality.
The war against terrorism continues to rage on outside our doors. Lives are lost in senseless violence, youth are robbed of bright futures when they are radicalised early, taught to hate the ideals of tolerance and compassion. We wish and wait for the state and establishment to do the right thing, and applaud when they do. Since the harrowing events of 2011, the Taseer family has become a symbol for Pakistan’s fight against extremism. The joy at having Shahbaz safely home is matched by Pakistanis happily returning to a place of hope.
May we have the courage to continue to believe in the light that slips in through the dark.
The writer is a freelance journalist, and she tweets at @sanaali_