Governor Salman Taseer
On Tuesday, January 4, 2011, Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistan's influential Punjab province, was assassinated for leading a recent public campaign to amend the controversial blasphemy laws of Pakistan. Governor Taseer was killed in the Kohsar market of Islamabad, the federal capital of Pakistan. According to a report on the website of The Express Tribune daily, the attacker was "a member of Rawalpindi's elite security force and part of the governor's convoy."[1] Rawalpindi is the twin city of Islamabad and the headquarters of the Pakistani Army. The 26-year-old attacker, initially identified by his first name as Qadri, was arrested.
Image of the attacker who killed Governor Salman Taseer
In recent decades, Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws have come under international criticism after numerous cases have been filed against members of minority communities such as Ahmadi Muslims, Christians, and Hindus for allegedly committing acts of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad and Islam. Most recently, the case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five children, attracted international scrutiny after she was sentenced to death under Article 295-C, one of the several blasphemy-related laws in Pakistan that carries the death penalty.
Concerned that the blasphemy laws are creating a negative image of Pakistan internationally, Governor Salman Taseer and lawmaker Sherry Rehman, both from the ruling Pakistan's People's Party (PPP), steered a public political and legislative campaign for amending the blasphemy laws despite open threats to their lives by religious organizations in Pakistan. Sherry Rehman, the former Information and Broadcasting Minister of Pakistan, is currently a member of the National Assembly (the lower house of Pakistani parliament). She too has received threats to her life for supporting legislation aimed at amending the controversial laws.
The PPP-led government had indicated that it will amend the blasphemy laws to ensure that they are not misused against the members of the minority communities. However, notwithstanding the personal risk taken by Salman Taseer and Sherry Rehman, the Pakistani government later succumbed to the mounting pressure from religious organizations, formally telling the parliament that it does not intend to amend the blasphemy laws.
Lawmaker Sherry Rehman also faces threats to life
Within perhaps minutes of Governor Salman Taseer's assassination, a webpage devoted to Qadri, the attacker, was created on the social networking site Facebook. The Facebook page gives the assassin's full name as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. A snapshot of the Facebook page is given below, with 498 members liking it in first few minutes.
On Friday, December 31, 2010, religious organizations across Pakistan organized mass protests against any likely moves by secular activists to amend the controversial blasphemy laws of Pakistan. The country-wide protests of December 31, 2010, were organized in almost all Pakistani towns and cities by the religious organizations to demonstrate their unified opposition to any likely move by the secular government to amend the blasphemy laws. Following are images of the protests, as they appeared in the Pakistani newspapers of January 1, 2011:
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the city of Rawalpindi, protesters set fire to tires to express their opposition to any change in the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Rawalpindi, a twin city of Islamabad, the clerics protest against any attempt to amend the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, children dressed in Kafan (shroud wrapped on dead bodies before burial) protest.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
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In Quetta, protesters demand death penalty for those who favor changes in the blasphemy laws of Pakistan.
Image courtesy: Roznama Jasarat
In the town of Dera Ghazi Khan, Barelvi clerics take out a public protest rally to express their defense of blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Jasarat
In Karachi, members of the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat organize a conference against any move to amend the blasphemy laws. Various clerics, including Allama Riaz Hussain, Shah Turabul Haq, Haji Haneef Taiyab, Allama Abrar Rehmani and Maulana Khalilur Rehman addressed the conference.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In Lahore, the cultural city of Pakistan, shops are closed to express support for the controversial blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Hyderabad, protesters express their love for Prophet Muhammad and demand death penalty for those favoring changes in the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Jang
A protest rally organized by the Sunni Ittehad Council (a group of anti-Taliban Barelvi clerics), passes through the M. A. Jinnah road of Karachi.
Image courtesy: Roznama Jang
Shops are closed in Karachi in protest against any likely move to amend the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Kunri in Sindh province, clerics protest against any amendment in the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, people protest against proposed changes in the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Hyderabad, Sunni Ittehad Council organizes a protest rally.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Hyderabad, shops are closed to express support for the blasphemy protests called by the Tehreek-e-Namoos-e-Risalat (Movement for Defending the Prophet's Honor).
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Hyderabad, the protests burn the effigy of Governor Salman Taseer, who has led a public demand for amending the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Jang
A road in Karachi bears a deserted look following the strike call by the religious organizations.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the religious organizations express support for the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In the town of Gharo in the Thatta district of Sindh province, people protest on the call of the religious organizations to defend the blasphemy laws.
Image courtesy: Roznama Ummat
In Karachi, protesters march through the M.A. Jinnah road.
[1] www.tribune.com.pk (Pakistan), January 4, 2010.
