So much is happening in the political arena at this time that any detour into another territory would seem unwarranted. The Senate elections this weekend had a star billing. There was a lot of suspense about the deals that are made in the dark corners of our otherwise grand edifice of parliament.
We have arrived at a turning point in a perilous journey. In another climax this week, the Sharif brothers have altered the script a bit. And in Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has taken a bold initiative in offering the Afghan Taliban peace talks without any precondition. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has continued to generate exciting headlines.
With all this, my attention has been distracted by a series of separate incidents that, I feel, are interconnected. It is surprising that they have almost overlapped. So, ignoring the reckless gladiators of the Pakistani politics, let me begin with a glimpse of the Colosseum of Rome.
There was this image on social media of the Colosseum bathed in red light. This happened on Saturday last week, eight days ago, to highlight persecution of Christians in some countries. Pope Francis met the family of Pakistan’s Aasia Bibi, sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws. The pope had a private audience with the husband and daughter of Aasia Bibi.
Also on Saturday last week, Sajid Masih, a Christian youth, jumped from the fourth floor of the FIA Punjab Headquarters in Lahore to apparently escape police torture. In a video statement made from his hospital bed, he made some horrific revelations. I am not able to reproduce the allegations that he made. His arrest was connected to the arrest of his cousin Patras Masih, who was charged under the blasphemy laws. Some sections of the media did cover this story and the civil society staged its protest. But there was no evidence of any major concern on the part of the high government officials.
Another reminder of how our minorities feel persecuted and insecure is that Friday, March 2, was the anniversary of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti in Islamabad in 2011. He was then the federal minister for minorities during the PPP government. Bhatti, the only Christian in the cabinet, was a critic of blasphemy laws and his killers, who had sprayed his car with bullets, left leaflets signed “Taliban al-Qaida, Punjab [sic]”.
Many of us can recall the sense of fear and horror that had engulfed the nation around those days because Bhatti’s murder had come just two months after the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, also in Islamabad, by his own guard, Mumtaz Qadri. Taseer was the governor of Punjab and a senior leader of the PPP. After Taseer’s murder on January 4, the government had completely lost its nerve and was unable to even have a ‘fateha’ for him in parliament or any other formal gathering. It was under the shadow of this ignominious retreat against the onslaught of the extremists that Shahbaz Bhatti was killed.
Salmaan Taseer’s murder stands out as a parable in the context of how dark passions of hate and intolerance have held sway in Pakistan over any disposition towards sanity or the mere maintenance of law and order. In Mumtaz Qadri’s eyes, Taseer had desired a change in the blasphemy law and this was sufficient justification for him to kill the very person he was duty-bound to protect.
We know the entire story and its ramifications. So much has happened since those early months of 2011. So much has changed. Or, perhaps, nothing has. In that sense, here is an issue that has a bearing on why Pakistan was created and what its destiny is supposed to be. Come to think of it, the decision to place Pakistan on a terror-financing watchlist may also have a connection with this syndrome. The point is that Pakistani society is irredeemably caught up in a vortex of extremism, intolerance and obscurantism.
As I have suggested, so much has happened since early 2011. A war has been fought against terrorism and the enemy is said to have been defeated. The massacre of our schoolchildren in Peshawar in December 2014 had to be a turning point in light of the unspeakable tragedy the nation had to suffer. Hence, we had the National Action Plan to deal with violent extremism and fanaticism.
But the situation has not really improved when we look at the incidents of intolerance, bigotry and hatred. And this brings me to the lynching of Mashal Khan on the campus of Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan in April last year. It has acquired relevance this week because on Tuesday, the Abbottabad circuit bench of the Peshawar High Court suspended the three-year jail term awarded to 25 convicts in the lynching case and ordered their release on bail.
We must remember that while Mashal Khan was alleged to have committed blasphemy, a proper investigation conducted after his death revealed that he was falsely implicated. In fact, he was a bright and inquisitive young man with a progressive bent of mind. The manner in which Mashal’s father has fought for justice is an inspiring story.
Incidentally, 26 others who were accused in the case were already acquitted by the anti-terrorism court in its judgment of February 7. The trial was conducted in Haripur Jail. Ali Imran, the man who had shot Mashal, was awarded death sentence and five other accused were given multiple terms of life imprisonment.
What is shocking is that the 26 people who were initially acquitted were received in some kind of a celebration by a large number of their supporters. Now the 25 who were given a jail term of three years are also free even though there were video recordings of the barbaric episode and individuals in the unruly mob can be identified.
Again, the murder on a university campus had shaken the nation and high-level meetings were held to deal with the radicalisation of the educated youth. Again, nothing appears to have changed on the ground. At least no beginnings are seen to have been made in any direction. Consequently, there is more of the same and the terror that Salmaan Taseer’s murder had spread is still palpable.
Will the measures that have been dictated by the Financial Action Task Force to avoid the possibility of Pakistan being put on the ‘black list’ have an indirect impact on the prevalence of bigotry, hatred and extremism at the popular level in our society? It seems unlikely because our rulers are unwilling to take on the fanatics.
The writer is a senior journalist.
Email: ghazi_salahuddinhotmail.com