Salmaan Taseer Assasination in The Name of Religion

Enquiring about this incident I realized how skeptical the society’s percipience was. Murder of any kind is unacceptable. It is the most hideous of crimes known to man. However, murdering in the name of religion takes the crime to a whole new twisted and sick level. It exposes the delicacy of religion and how it can be used to indoctrinate individuals into absurd surrender to laws that, they believe, are superior to basic principles of humanity.

Taseer’s assassination was a classic example of this. Taseer had the fortitude to stand up for a woman from a religious minority, who was imprisoned because of a particular law. This said law, the blasphemy law as commonly known, is a small drop in the ever expanding ocean of fundamentalism in Pakistan. Aasia Bibi. Belonging to a village near Sheikhupura in Punjab, where hers was the only Christian family, she got into an argument over drinking water at work. Her fellow Muslim workers did not approve of a Christian drinking from the same cup as them. Emotions soared, her co-workers targeted her religion and she targeted theirs. First the local cleric and then the police was involved, and soon Aasia was imprisoned. Because Pakistan’s Sharia system considers a non-Muslim’s testimony to carry half the weight of a Muslim’s, she had difficulty defending herself in court and was finally sentenced to death by a judge in Sheikhupura; thus becoming the first woman in our history condemned to death on blasphemy charges. As expected, protests ensued across the country. The religious-right in the country displayed its ever-present knack for savagery, demanding that Aasia be hanged and even offering a bounty for anyone who would kill her. Some foamed at their mouths, beards wet with saliva, Arabic accents strong and eyes red. Others shook their heads in disgust and spoke up.

Salmaan Taseer was one of them. What did he get in return? death from 27 bullets – by his own guard. Blasphemy is a very sensitive and controversial issue of our country Pakistan due to which after the killing of Salman Taseer people had different opinions, many people were hinting Qadri to be a hero, a religious messiah and were contending against his imprisonment. Even some of the judiciary was respecting his decision but on the other hand to some people his actions were dire. Seeing that I was lost in thought, my grandmother automatically knew what my mind was hung up on. She spoke with a determined voice,“my child, no matter how much of a delicate issue this blasphemy law is, we must amend it, we must change the laws to support and promote religious and legal issues and rights of the minorities living in Pakistan.“Blasphemy is such a sensitive topic in our country. Finding out that angry mobs had killed many people accused of insulting Islam in the Muslim majority countries I decided something’s are better left the way they are. The law in our country doesn’t define blasphemy but stipulates that the penalty is death.