LAHORE – Former information minister Sherry Rehman, who has faced a tide of opposition from extremists and the religious right because of her opposition to blasphemy laws, told Newsweek magazine in an interview that it unnerved her opponents that she was well-versed about Islam and made her argument on the basis of the Holy Quran and sayings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
“That call to emotion, ‘if you’re not with us, then you’re not really a good Muslim,’ instils fear in many hearts,” said Sherry. “It has rattled the religious right that many of us have read chapter and verse of the Quran, as well as the sayings of the Prophet, and we make our arguments in parliament and on television on the basis of that.”
Rehman said in the interview that Pakistan had to be more tolerant because everyday issues were sweeping up people’s lives, and these issues were structured in inequalities that were getting more and more aggravated and deep. “When that happens, your passions inflame much easier. It’s not as if Pakistan does not have major structural and economic problems, and we really need to focus on those in the days ahead,” she said.
Rehman, who had met slain minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti at the National Assembly a week before his assassination, said he was understandably very upset and frustrated. “He said he was going to go to Lahore and address issues of religious intolerance at public meetings, but the Raymond Davis issue had added to the flames in the street,” she said. “He knew that blasphemy and anti-Americanism have become one deliberate and unfortunate conflation, and that was not good for anyone,” she added.
Rehman has been attacked – or has been at the centre of terrorist attacks – previously. “Those kinds of experiences, the kind of fire you walk through, sharpen your resolve to at least stay centered,” Rehman said in the interview with the magazine.
She said it was former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who had persuaded her to join her Pakistan People’s Party. “One day she rang me in London and said, ‘Sherry, have you registered your vote?’ I said, ‘Of course. Do I look like a non-voter to you?'” When they met in London, Bhutto asked her to accept a party seat in the Senate. “She was a force of nature. How could you ever say anything but yes to her?” said Sherry.
Sherry praised the affirmative-action initiative that assured women 60 reserved seats in parliament. “I think it revolutionised the discourse. It’s women who always tackle the difficult, head-on challenges – always the women,” she said. “In the last assembly I was constantly battling women’s issues. The main work I do is national security. That doesn’t usually draw this kind of controversy; it’s safe work,” she said in the interview.
After she resigned from office in March 2009 (in protest against the government’s disruption of TV channels critical of it), she was also removed as her party’s information secretary. Now, after the recent assassinations, the party has pulled together. “The PPP is still the most tolerant party for women and minorities, and at times when Pakistan faces serious crises, we stand by each other,” said Sherry, who enjoys security cover provided by the government.
Rehman was opposed to suggestions that she go abroad for her own safety. “It already bothers me that I’m not at the rallies and the vigils. The least I can do is not walk away from this,” she said in the magazine interview. “What is a life worth living? What is there left for me to protect forever? If I go away, I’ll always be anxious about what I did, what is happening at home, and what I left behind,” she added.
Talking about blasphemy laws in the interview, Sherry said the question was not of constitutionalism or secularism, but of having laws that conformed to the Quran. “Injustice is not something we need to show tolerance for,” she said. The narrative of lost hope, she said, was a tired one.
“We will not be able to turn back the tide of militancy with only military means. Extremism will have to be challenged now, especially when it takes a murderous turn. Pakistan must not be allowed to turn into a country where a person is killed for their beliefs. This is not who we are, either as citizens or Muslims,” she said.
