As the shock of the Punjab Governors assassination gives way to awe for the dark side of Islam in Pakistan, society finally sees what it is up against. It is always difficult to find words that honour our martyrs but one would imagine that the free-thinking people of Pakistan would have acquired a thick skin after having witnessed so much bloodshed in the name of God and Country. Just when you could have said we have seen it all, the assassination of the Governor of the Punjab shows us we can still be schooled by the corruptors of Islam who would confer divine status upon the fallible legal instruments of tyrants and corrupt rulers.
Lets just say that if sentiments supporting entrenchment of blasphemy laws are not just a ruse to target the only stalwart of the Peoples Party in the Punjab, it appears our mullahs have issued a stern gagging order against us. Whether or not my good friend Sodium Pentothal manages to get the truth out of the assassins, intolerance is clearly gaining sway in Pakistan. Not only do we find ourselves at the mercy of the very people paid to protect us, generations of brainwashing and Talibanisation has bred fanatics like Mumtaz Qadri who dare to exact such a heavy toll on society.
For the common man, Governor Taseer was more than just a husband, father, businessman or politician. In his official capacity, he will be remembered most for bringing some sense to an increasingly errant and whimsical administration as it muddles its way through these hard times. As the stack of love letters exchanged between the Governor House and the Chief Ministers Secretariat would show, his office performed a formidable balancing act in the Provinceand these boots dont fill easily. With the swearing in of the new Governor, how relations play out is anybodys guess but its certain they will not be as amusing or as transparent as under Governor Taseer.
More fascinating than governmental relations is to witness a new wave of debate on civil liberties ever since the travesty occurred. In the aftermath of the assassination, we see how important it is to coalesce against threats to our liberties and to purge intolerance from within us. And the movement has already started in the media and cyberspace which are abuzz with the not-so-silent revolution vociferously speaking out against intolerance and the corruption of religion. If the printing ink or electrons ever spill into the streets in an organised manner, change would come swiftly and rather easily.
It turns out that Central Punjab is known for cultivating mullahs as well as onions on its fertile soil. While I like onions as much as the next guy, something needs to be done before another manic mullah takes up some mindless mission. The geographical spread certainly makes for a promising intervention to save our country if anyone were ever looking for surgical precision. Maybe people like my dear Shah Saab are going to put their ability to take up arms against a sea of troubles to good use. Decidedly proud of his ability to shoot up to a hundred bullets from all manner of firearms without having to reload, Shah Saab and others like him show us how society has no shortage of gun-toting vigilantes should the need ever arise.
But before we start fighting intolerance with intolerance, it is essential to start talking to people around us to break the fundamentalist mindset being propagated in mosques and seminaries of the region. For many of us, this will involve engaging with the common man to spread awareness of pure Islam in a pure Pakistan. We therefore have to reach out not only to low income classes like our gardener or the rickshaw driver, we must also tackle the intolerance growing in our own hearts, homes and communities. Although outreach, advocacy and public awareness are critical steps to reforming our society, pansies with placards are simply not going to cut it anymore.
As civil society puts on its angry face, the ramifications of the assassination would run the gamut from peaceful protests to hardcore militant action against (or by) misguided mullahs. What becomes quickly evident is that only God and the angels have the luxury of being observers in Pakistan and there is no more room or time for an impartial civil society to sit on the fence and pass futile comments while watching icky talk shows. It is therefore imperative that we assume responsibility for our own destiny before we are overcome by the forces of evil that surround us. While dialogue and debate will be the precursors to the social transformation we need, there should be no doubt that Molotov cocktails, lynch mobs or distributed denial of service attacks will take precedence when action against intolerance needs to speak louder than words.
The writer is a consultant on public policy.
