A Governor shot down by his own guard, murdered in broad daylight in the Federal Capital. Justice was far from being served; rather a murderer was celebrated, declared a national hero. I can only imagine the horrific image of our nation portrayed to the world, where the failing of a voice of reason is celebrated by the victorious cries of the extremists. Five years have passed since Salman Taseer was killed, and yet the blasphemy law remains in place.
The road in these five years has been bumpy. Yes, very few people have ever been convicted under this law, but minorities live under a constant state of fear with its dark shadow cast over them. The law is interpreted as the masses will, and in the extremist mindset, this law gives the people to right to be judge, jury and executioner. Even in the case of Asia Bibi, the general consensus was to get her punished, and make ‘her pay for her blasphemy’. Because of the sensitive nature of the blasphemy law, the government plain out refuses to say anything about it. The law needs to be refined, and its contours need to be defined. Due to a lack of structure and body, this piece of the constitution is misconstrued and used by people for their own benefit and privileges. Everyone knows there’s much wrong with this, but very few have the courage to modify anything. The one man that dared to support a woman being tried under this law paid the ultimate price for doing so.
Somewhere along the line, we as a nation let those with extreme ideals sway public opinion and influence national debates in their favor. This meant that discussion on all laws based on Islamic ideas was called off because how are we to question Islam, the very religion that encourages questioning! God forbid we try to understand the Divine message. The situation in Pakistan only went downhill from here. Asia Bibi is just one example in an immense ocean of cases where minorities are persecuted under the way too loosely defined blasphemy law.
Understandably, those in power were pushed even further to keep their silence. Not a lot of those in powers have stood up to the mullahs and religious clerics. Rather they seem to do everything in their power to keep them happy and content, sometimes even including them in government.
Salman Taseer is this way poses a great example of a man who tried to fight the good fight. He inspired a nation to question these laws and to stand for what is right. He lent a voice to the voiceless and gave power to the liberals in Pakistan to stand for what they believe in.
Although much has not changed concerning blasphemy in Pakistan, at least, the nation can take relief in the fact that people like Mumtaz Qadri are not entertained in the high courts of the land but rather are given their full punishment under the law.
It will take time and courage to structure the blasphemy law as well as to control the power of religious extremism in the national dialogue. I am not saying religion as a whole needs to be removed but rather that the voices of reason and those of deep Islamic understanding need to be highlighted over the voices of the suppressive extreme. For Pakistan to prosper, it needs to strike the right balance between both extremes (conservative and liberal) and right its tilted way towards the conservative end.
