I dont know where to begin. How can one talk of justice in an environment where a large number of people have become the dispensers of rulings over and above the court and its due process? As far as I know (and I know very little), the concept of the institution of the judiciary is present within the Islamic system; a system where the Qazi comes to a decision after listening to every partys viewpoint. If the wrongdoing is of a criminal nature, then government officials present the criminal in court and explain the nature of his crime and bring forth witnesses and evidentiary support to prove the guilt of the criminal whereas the defendant also has the right to prove his innocence. Then it is up to the Qazi decide whether the defendant is guilty or if the accusations leveled against him are false. If the case concerns civil law, then both adversarial parties present themselves to the Qazi and explain their viewpoint after which it is entirely up to the Qazi to decide who the transgressor is. But when there is no litigation, no witnesses or evidence; the defendant was never given a chance to explain himself and someone who had never seen or talked to the defendant decides to declare the defendant liable to be murdered and then marks him with bullets; how can one talk of justice there?
There is a blasphemy law in place in the country. One member of the parliament felt that the law has been misused sometimes. To prevent the possibility of the law being misused, a private bill was tabled to amend it; a bill that had the support of none of the parties. There was no chance of the bill being passed. But the chance of not even bringing the bill under discussion was present; which is why a protest was started against the bill to object to any possible amendment. What was the point of protesting an amendment that had not even an outside chance of being passed?
Furthermore, this is the Parliament of Pakistan. All its members have taken an oath to protect the Constitution of Pakistan. By that oath, they are bound to not make any laws that are repugnant to Islam. Almost 98 percent of the members are Muslims. How can then one imagine that they would pass a law that is against the beliefs and wishes of Muslims? Hence, there was no possibility of an amendment bill being discussed or of the Parliament of passing any anti-Islamic law. Then what was the need of creating this environment of animosity and protest?
If this question is brought under discussion in detail, it will then no longer be fit for print. But I will definitely commit the audacity of inquiring that if Salmaan Taseer had indeed committed a crime, why wasnt an FIR lodged against him as per the operative law of the land? If that couldnt be done, then the independent judiciary of Pakistan could have been appealed to start court proceedings against him so that it could be proved in court whether Salmaan Taseer was guilty or not and deserving of the death penalty or not. This didnt happen either. On the contrary, there were statements and fatwas on the media. One man even announced that he would reward the murder of Salmaan Taseer with 2 or 3 crore rupees. Even though he could have fulfilled his wishes by following the law. The only burden on him would have been to prove the crime.
Another point to ponder: How just is it to instigate a campaign against someone who has not been proven guilty? Is it fair to incite the hatred of the public through statements and analysis on the media? Nobody can deny the reality that anyone who recites the Kalima loves the person of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) so much that it is almost impossible for them to bear the slightest impudence directed against him. When such sensitive emotions are involved, caution becomes a must. But the requisite vigilance was not exercised.
What happened was this: A few people made accusations against Taseer. The accusations were fuelled through propaganda and consequently, a man riddled him with bullets and declared that I have punished him. A lot of people accepted this statement, chanted slogans in the killers favour and showered him with petals. If this is the way to mete out the punishment, why was there a need to make a law in the first place? Why indeed was there a need for a movement to protect the law? If this is the way things are to be done i.e. an accusation followed by somebody killing the accused, then this is what should be implemented.
Pakistani societys fast-paced descent into extremism is also pushing it into greater isolation at the international level. The act that we applaud and shower with flowers was condemned in no uncertain terms by the Secretary General of the OIC. While expressing his condolence to Pakistans government and public and the bereaved family of Salmaan Taseer he said the murder of Salmaan Taseer was against the spirit of Islam and its teachings. It is obvious that we will not pay heed to such statements. A lot of our scholars even deem rising sectarianism as according to Islam and equate secularism with disbelief. This is why we disregard the Muslims of Turkey and Bangaldesh. Even though, their combined numbers exceed the entire populace of Pakistan and the public of both these countries are infused with a great respect for their religion. These countries are known for their beautiful mosques which are populated by people praying. Yet we consider these countries un-Islamic because they live under secular constitutions.
The non-Muslim world is not concerned with our matters. But they are concerned about the security of our nuclear assets in the face of growing extremism. How can a security system be trusted if a person reaches the highest levels of security and then uses his arms for killing someone rather than executing this duty? According to many reports, the associates of the killer were aware of his intentions. If so many guards on a high security detail did nothing about such a violation of official duty, then some lunatic assigned to the security of atomic assets could also do something like this. The questions about our security system are inevitable. And when the world will question us, we better have an answer or should be ready to face the consequences. The tragedy of Salmaan Taseer will raise a lot of questions for our society and state both.
The writer is one of Pakistans most widely read columnists.
