The payment of blood money to the heirs of Raymond Davis victims by the Government to avert a major disruption between Pakistan and USA has an uncanny resemblance to a case in Muslim history. The case pertained to murder of Harmzan and his daughter by Abdullah son of Hazrat Umar-i-Farooq (R.A) in the wake of the assassination of second Caliph. Abdullah rightly suspected Harmzan, an Iranian General who had accepted Islam as the planner of murder of his father.
Hazrat Usman (R.A) was confronted with the decision of Abdullahs twin murders and it was the sagacity of Hazrat Usman (RA) that averted a major split between two factions of Muslims by the paying of blood money to heirs of Harmzan from his own pocket. In our case, President Zardari ought to have paid the blood money from his own pocket even if it was to be reimbursed by the US Government later. After all, it was the ultimate responsibility of President as the head of the state to have pre-empted the issue of visas to a potential murderer and the State of Pakistan should not have been burdened with the heavy payment of blood money given that its economy is already in dire straits.
MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
