Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid

We are a very sick people as a nation.

Rest in peace Governor Salman Taseer. I do not know what kind of a person you were and I do not care because it was between you and God but I do know that you have been wronged.

Did you hear that Maulana sahib of Jamiat e Ulama e Pakistan (JUP) Sahibzada something said that no lover of the Prophet would be upset on the Governor's death? He said that people are distributing sweets! From the people who actually are distributing sweets to the people who say that no one should go to offer his funeral prayers... to the FaceBook pages where the killer is being hailed as a hero... to the commentators who say that US and West will grieve over this murder but will not say a word regarding death of muslims all over the world... I say what amazing utterances. We Pakistanis are unbelievable.

Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was murdered by his own security guard on the grounds that he called the Blasphemy Laws as Black Laws. Salman Taseer was in the center of controversy when he supported Ms. Aasia Masih, a christian woman who was sentenced to death by a lower court under Blasphemy Law. Amazingly, till date, no one is clear what actually happened that resulted in case being lodged with Police under Blasphemy Law. The abuse of this law is so much that people settle scores with others under this law as recently happened when a medical representative accused a hindu doctor of disrespecting Prophet Muhammad when the doctor threw his visiting card in dustbin. The medical representative's name was Muhammad! Imagine the ridiculousness.

Then there is certain element of religious-political parties who seem to know no bounds when it comes to exploiting the issue. They were in fore-front of condemning Salman Taseer for siding with the accused christian woman. Imagine the insanity that had started with this case when an imam of a very famous mosque of Peshawar called for the head of this woman! Another guy in Punjab had set a reward of Rs. 2 million for anyone killing Salman Taseer!

After Salman Taseer pleaded for Ms. Aasias' case, the religious forces joined hands in raising hue and cry all over Pakistan because according to them the Governor had abused the Prophet!  He never did as he said this law was exploited and thus termed it Black Law. Last night, Mr. Farid Paracha of Jamaat e Islami was parroting a commonly given argument that repealing the Blasphemy Law would create anarchy and lives would not be safe. He was saying this even though the Law had not been repealed (Govt. had even given assurances) and a muslim still lost his life! not to mention the fact that he was a Governor what to talk of ordinary low-life minorites!

Blasphemy Laws were a man made product - a creation of a military dictator who used the name of Islam and ruled for 9 years on this country. The abuse of this law is rampant and no sane person can argue that the system provides for a fair chance to the accused. They have got nothing to do with the sanctity of esteemed religious personalities but a tool for settling scores. These people cannot accept changes in the constitution  as done by Pervaiz Musharraf because he was a military dictator but would readily agree with Blasphemy and Hadood Laws that were too introduced by a miltary dictator but under the guise of Islam. 

We are living in a very different Pakistan that is totally against the freedom of expression when it comes to religion. Even muslims are not safe in this country where people are fretting over religious minorities. We are a nation divided on ethnic and sectarian basis and love to hate each other. The society is mullah-driven where they can do anything but cannot be questioned because the they are the custodians of faith! No wonder Taliban find enough succor in this society of ours.

To refer again to that JUP guy who said every Prophet lover would not mourn this death, I say I do mourn his death even though I am a Prophet lover! My Prophet was not like that! He had faced extreme abuse and all of his family had to face exile but he overtook Mecca without a fight! He prayed for the people of Taa'if when he had stones hurled at him for preaching.

Frankly I am next in line as I have been criticizing the Blasphemy Law all along. I hope that his ghastly murder will put in focus the extreme negative consequences of abuse of this law in which not just minorities but even muslims themselves are not safe. Take a stand my dear Pakistanis and condemn this as much as you can for any hope of a sane Pakistan in the future.


God really help us. But I guess He wont spend His time on losers.

Related Post
- For All Those Who Are Celebrating Death
- Prophet Muhammad Vs Ghazi Ilam Din

6 comments:

Barooq said...

Look at who are the soldiers on our side man.
You and I, anonymous bloggers...

We are doomed

Majaz said...

But how ?

What do we DO?

Nasir said...

Prophet Lover! Ghamdi in a recent TV appearance said that when you say you are Ashiq of Rusool, you never know when it turn in a Junon. I think he has a valid point and people like you should never call it Ihsq or Love. Maybe stop somewhere before that, respect is a much proper word.

PostMan said...

Poor Ghamidi. He has been banished from this country. Now he is in Dubai.

Nasir said...

BTW i will now again write the same question that i wrote in my blog and which you tried to argue against. It has been around 1.5 years since that post. Lets see how you respond now "Can you trust Muslims?"

At that time it was a Muslim in US army and now it is a Muslim guard of Pakistani Governor. On top of that you must now have heard how Zardari is planning to have US special forces as his guards.

PostMan said...

Unfortunately my reply would be the same after 1.5 years of your post. The title of your post and the conclusion it draws are wrong :) You can see the act of Qadri and the support for his act but you cant see the condemnation from 'muslims'.

And you really expect me to comment on Zardari's acts?