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Salman Taseer murder: In Pakistan, liberalism and tolerance remain secret vices of the metropolitan rich
Dean Nelson
The murder of Salman Taseer, the feisty governor of Punjab province, marks yet another grim new year for Pakistan and a depressing reminder of its limited tolerance. He was shot dead by one of his own personal police bodyguards, apparently, because he had called for the countrys much-abused blasphemy laws to be scrapped after a Christian woman was sentenced to death. Members of the countrys minorities are vulnerable to blasphemy accusations in neighbourhood and business disputes with members of the Muslim majority.
Although he had defied death threats over his campaign, we do not yet know if it was his killers real motivation the governor had many enemies and was notorious for publicly humiliating those he disagreed with.
To outsiders like me he was fresh air in Pakistani politics because he waged his campaigns openly and ferociously. He was both liberal and intolerant, a bully and a wit, and fiercely loyal to his Pakistan Peoples Party leadership: he seemed to me a Pakistani John Prescott or John Reid, a proper political bruiser.
He had, in his time, been tortured in the notorious Lahore Fort under dictator General Zia, and was later thrashed by guards loyal to his bitter rival Nawaz Sharif when he was chief minister of Punjab in 1988. When he was appointed governor of Punjab by President Musharraf following the PPPs 2008 election victory, he had his revenge on the Sharifs, mocking them on an almost daily basis.
His decision to champion repeal of the blasphemy laws was not universally popular among his PPP colleagues, and his prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, rejected his call for reform. The Governments survival was, and remains, under serious threat, and the last thing it wanted was a new front against the religious parties.
His murder is part of the looped story of Pakistan: all apparently progressive leaders claim to confront intolerant and discriminatory laws, but nearly all yield before the threats and anger of the Islamic parties and sectarian maulvis.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who publicly admitted a love of whisky and faced down a crowd declaring but I dont drink the peoples blood, later banned the sale of alcohol under pressure from Islamic conservatives. His daughter, Benazir, failed in two terms of government to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, under which rape victims are guilty of adultery if they cannot produce four male witnesses to their ordeal. Her government later championed the rise to power of the Afghan Taliban.
The world is not flat, as Thomas Friedman claims, and nor is it getting flatter. It is, in many places in Asia and Africa, becoming more contoured with deeper, darker valleys, like Pakistan, where liberalism and tolerance remain secret vices of the metropolitan rich.
I salute Taseers reckless bravery in trying to take it beyond Lahore and Karachis luxury farmhouses to the poor minorities who need it most. His murder draws a thick line for those who share his commitment and dares them to cross it.
I hope millions do, but Im sure it wont happen. Pakistan may never be more liberal than this.
Salman Taseer murder: In Pakistan, liberalism and tolerance remain secret vices of the metropolitan rich – Telegraph Blogs
Dean Nelson
The murder of Salman Taseer, the feisty governor of Punjab province, marks yet another grim new year for Pakistan and a depressing reminder of its limited tolerance. He was shot dead by one of his own personal police bodyguards, apparently, because he had called for the countrys much-abused blasphemy laws to be scrapped after a Christian woman was sentenced to death. Members of the countrys minorities are vulnerable to blasphemy accusations in neighbourhood and business disputes with members of the Muslim majority.
Although he had defied death threats over his campaign, we do not yet know if it was his killers real motivation the governor had many enemies and was notorious for publicly humiliating those he disagreed with.
To outsiders like me he was fresh air in Pakistani politics because he waged his campaigns openly and ferociously. He was both liberal and intolerant, a bully and a wit, and fiercely loyal to his Pakistan Peoples Party leadership: he seemed to me a Pakistani John Prescott or John Reid, a proper political bruiser.
He had, in his time, been tortured in the notorious Lahore Fort under dictator General Zia, and was later thrashed by guards loyal to his bitter rival Nawaz Sharif when he was chief minister of Punjab in 1988. When he was appointed governor of Punjab by President Musharraf following the PPPs 2008 election victory, he had his revenge on the Sharifs, mocking them on an almost daily basis.
His decision to champion repeal of the blasphemy laws was not universally popular among his PPP colleagues, and his prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, rejected his call for reform. The Governments survival was, and remains, under serious threat, and the last thing it wanted was a new front against the religious parties.
His murder is part of the looped story of Pakistan: all apparently progressive leaders claim to confront intolerant and discriminatory laws, but nearly all yield before the threats and anger of the Islamic parties and sectarian maulvis.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who publicly admitted a love of whisky and faced down a crowd declaring but I dont drink the peoples blood, later banned the sale of alcohol under pressure from Islamic conservatives. His daughter, Benazir, failed in two terms of government to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, under which rape victims are guilty of adultery if they cannot produce four male witnesses to their ordeal. Her government later championed the rise to power of the Afghan Taliban.
The world is not flat, as Thomas Friedman claims, and nor is it getting flatter. It is, in many places in Asia and Africa, becoming more contoured with deeper, darker valleys, like Pakistan, where liberalism and tolerance remain secret vices of the metropolitan rich.
I salute Taseers reckless bravery in trying to take it beyond Lahore and Karachis luxury farmhouses to the poor minorities who need it most. His murder draws a thick line for those who share his commitment and dares them to cross it.
I hope millions do, but Im sure it wont happen. Pakistan may never be more liberal than this.
Salman Taseer murder: In Pakistan, liberalism and tolerance remain secret vices of the metropolitan rich – Telegraph Blogs