A journey of Hate and Intolerance

The news of the murder of Late Governer Salman Taseer by his guard in the country’s capital Islamabad came as a shock. It shook every intellectual who had a keen interest in the proceedings of the socio-political landscape of Pakistan and it was a particular blow to the relatively liberal mindset of the country.

Governor Taseer was allegedly killed due to his opposition of the country’s blasphemy laws and his visit to Pakistan’s first women convict to be given a death sentence. Today the unfortunate woman Asia Bibi awaits her fate in Sheikhupura jail. Asia Bibi’s case, which gained international media attention, was an accusation of blasphemy after an argument over drinking from the same water bucket while working in a field. Other women did not like it that Ms. Bibi, a non-Muslim, touched their drinking water. The labourers later complained to the local cleric that she made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed.

The blasphemy laws can be found in Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), section XV, Articles 295-298. Article 295(C) made it an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death to use any derogatory language about the prophet Muhammad. In 1991, the Federal Shari’a Court ruled that the punishment for this offense should be harsher, and Article 295(C) was amended to make the death penalty mandatory for individuals convicted of making derogatory remarks about the prophet.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are said to be incompatible with the International human rights standards as they impose undue restrictions to the freedom of expression, freedom of religion and minority rights. There is no clear definition of what constitutes blasphemy with minimum or no standards of requirements for evidence for conviction in the lower courts. Often, the original accusers do not even report the case to the police station themselves, instead this is left to the local cleric or someone from the community. which sometimes turns into a violent mob that burns down the whole village of the accused.

Asia is the first woman to given the death sentence. In the light of the increasing pressure on Pakistan by the international community, Late Governor Salman Taseer went to visit the accused lady in prison despite warnings from his legal advisors and rights advocates. The purpose of the visit was a mercy petition to the President to grant a pardon to the poor lady. This courageous step by the Late Governor cost him his life as he was shot by his own security squad member early January this year. To the surprise of many, the local media and most TV anchors along with the lawyers’ community applauded the step of the murderer, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, causing an outcry from the more liberal civil society groups throughout Pakistan. Some thought it was time to hold your horses. The religious minorities felt isolated and terrified. The Christian teacher next door whom I hardly spoke to came to hug me and share condolences saying, ‘whatever happened is sad.’

A country which relies heavily on foreign donors from Europe and the U.S finds it self at a crossroad once again. The recent events have proved that the extremist elements within the country have gone far beyond the control of the state authorities. Anyone can be shot in the streets in broad daylight if they find what you say or do abusive or unaligned to your cause. The Vatican City has pressed for granting a pardon to Asia Bibi and a similar statement has been passed by the European Parliament has recently passed a resolution demanding President Asif Ali Zardari.

The situation, as it is now, gets everyone wondering, as to what is going to happen in the country next. Every soul, who thought about Pakistan, got worried about the how these events will shape the future of Pakistan in coming days. How will Pakistan handle the massive infiltration of extremist into its institutions, which includes the security, educationa dn media sectors? Many civil society members expressed great concern over the Karachi protest of 40,000 Islamists over the arrest of Qadri, the assassin of Taseer and the lawyer community showering him with rose petals.

The clerics openly challenged the liberals of Pakistan that whosoever will show solidarity with the Salman Taseer or his family will meet the same fate. I personally was stunned with the courageous Pakistani women in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, who disregarded the death threats and openly condemned the acts of these religious leaders who kept on inciting hate and violence among their followers in mosques. I have seen some really nasty discussions and arguments on social media platforms and these women do not try to hide their identities or use pseudonyms when airing their views. I find it to be a very brave step. So, I decided to meet a few of these women to discuss what keeps them moving. How come they still see hope for a possible solution while many have declared it to be a lost cause or hopeless a situation. The clerics can incite anyone to kill, burn or harass anyone they want, no matter how strong or influential they are.

The struggle for equality gained momentum after a brief moment of silence. One would not expect women to spearhead movements of such sensitive nature but Pakistani women’s courage has proved to be remarkable at this hour if need. I visited the three major cities if the country namely Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad and wondered what compelled these women to put their lives at risk for what they do and stand for. Pakistan is between a valley and a water well as the local saying goes.

Starting my exploration from Lahore, where I met Bushra Sultana of SAFMA who had to cancel her conference on ‘Women and Extremism’ due to the untimely death of Taseer. In an informal discussion, she shared concerns about the level of distrust which cropped abruptly between employees in the same organization, “We do not know if we can trust our drivers, cooks or guards anymore. We have no way of knowing how they are being influenced by the current state of affairs. “Due to the threats, no one was willing to attend the reference arranged for the governor, and we as a nation are moving towards polarity,” her tone dripped with apprehension.

While trying to get in touch with other women who were very vocal about their views and opposed the exaltation of Qadri on various networks like twitter, I was invited to a reference by Beena Sarwar, a journalist spearheading the campaign demanding justice for Salman Taseer. The event was organized by the platform of ‘Citizens for Democracy’ an umbrella network of individuals and organizations from political, social, corporate and legal entities. Since I had not visited Karachi since 2008, and that too for a brief visit, I asked Beena to confirm the address I had to be at for the reference. She instructed me to meet her at the Karachi Arts Council. I called her again a few hours before the event for confirmation and was told that the event has been moved to PMA House due to security threats. “The Arts Council people refused to hold the event at the last moment as they said they were receiving threats from extremist elements to not hold any sort of event for Taseer.” she told me later. “We could not even inform people at the last minute about this change but still, we have a turn out of about 500 people.

The Christians I met at Karachi’s Abbasi Shaheed hospital felt that the late governor had exposed the Christian community to riskier situation. The country is not prepared to deal with the vigilantism. Beena is of the opinion that this is no time for the minorities to keep quiet. “They can either keep on suffering in silence or join us in the fight to end this madness.”

Marvi Sirmed, an Islamabad based activist and journalist and has openly aired her views in print and electronic media for her disapproval of the act by the elite force guard. I was to meet her in the local hotel but the plans had to change due to her security advice, so we met in her Islamabad office.

Separate from mainstream view, Marvi blames the religion itself has never been the problem but the politicizing of religion has been, which is now rooted deeply into the system for the violence and intolerance. She says that the middle class educated population who spent tremendous amount of their time on facebook, and were previously thought to be blissfully apathetic to the Islamization procees, have turned out to be more toxic. “They are the people who changed their profile pictures on facebook to that of Qadri’s. That battle from within if going to be the toughest one which has been infused into our general social fabric. They are not extremists, they are Islamists, the religiously charged.” Speaking of possible ways to move forward, she admitted that it is a much tougher battle than before and regarded the battle to repeal or amend the blasphemy laws a symbolic one. “When we will win the blasphemy law battle, then the real war begins.” she said. “We need to take Pakistan back by having greater presence in the Urdu print media and social networking platforms, as the amount of contribution we have so far is not enough.” she added.

Marvi said the current level of intolerance in the country is also due to the failure of the civil society to collaborate with the politicos and the electoral mandate of Pakistan. She emphasized on the need to collaborate with the West and she thinks that the West needs to be more vocal about it. “We were maligned by the West when we raised our voices against the Afghan Jihad,” she recalled, “and the west needs to realize that we have a common enemy with the west and we need to work together.”

Talking about how things can be shaped with her efforts, Marvi is a person who has not stopped hoping. My daughter, in whom I see our future generations give me hope. I have been threatened to be killed several times, even on local TV shows, and the fact that I am not killed yet, it gives me hope!”

Coming back to Lahore, I met another set of civil society activists from the Christain community who has been collecting data on the people who are accused of blasphemy laws since 1986, most of which lacked the evidence to be convicted. Most of the leaders from the religious minority have kept an extremely low profile for security reasons.

Salman Taseer’s death has opened the eyes of many and emphasized on the need to unite for Pakistan and its survival. The divide is drifting further if all the stakeholders do not unite for addressing the issue of radicalization, vigilantism and further ‘Islamization’ of the state and its institutions remain declining in pluralistic ideals. The death of Salman Taseer had demoralized the minorities more than the liberal elite of Pakistan in my opinion. The current call for unity from different sectors against extreme behaviours should not be disregarded as insignificant. The repeal of the blasphemy law may not be the solution at present, but more so, it is of fundamental importance to win back the population whom the governments have lost out to repeated security lapse (bombings), power cuts and corruption. The current lapses have given the extremist elements the edge to flourish and gain popularity in a much wider masses than originally perceived and it is crucial for the civil society to play a part in a way that would create lasting impact.