Good Bye Salman Taseer

2011 has started with a sad note. Governor Punjab Salman Taseer was gunned down by one of his own security personnel during a trip to Islamabad. This assassination will be unique as the killer handed himself over to the authorities while the motive for his action is also crystal clear.

It is undoubtedly a great set back to the already crimping security situation in Pakistan. Taseer , a veteran entrepreneur and politician was in hot waters recently for making comments against blasphemy law in Pakistan. Just a few days earlier different religious parties concluded country wide strike in favor of the law and issued fatwa against Taseer. Undoubtedly the killer had this thing in mind before embarking on this mission.

Being a novice in religious affair, I won’t comment on the fatwa but one thing I must say is that this episode has damaged us internally pretty bad. The lack of intolerance is evident from this episode. Instead of taking hardliner stance against Taseer, the religious parties should have moved in a better direction to handle this matter. The day of judgment is promised to us as a day when every deed will be taken to task , so why certain segments have decided to take matters into their own hands? This shows how religious extremism is infiltrating every segment of our society.

Media also played a negative role by exploiting this issue instead of getting clarification from all the stake holders. Scholars should have invited Taseer for debate on this issue instead of provoking masses.

To end, its good to see all political parties condemning this episode, keeping their differences aside. Undoubtedly, Taseer’s death has rocked many who see extremist getting influential day by day.