The Qadri trial

I have a lurking fear that the sympathy showered upon Mumtaz Qadri – the convicted killer of the late Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer – is symptomatic of the extreme and literal interpretation of religion prevalent in our society at large.
The fact that Qadri in his appeal against his conviction in the IHC is represented by a former LHC chief justice along with another retired judge of the same high court should tell us plenty about the mindset of our educated and professional middle-class. What to talk of the mindset of the extremist fringe. A bevy of lawyers also aided the two retired judges. On the other side, it seems that Salmaan Taseer’s family has not hired an independent lawyer, or could not hire one. Hence the entire burden of defending the death sentence passed against Qadri rests on the shoulders of the public prosecutor. There are reports that the government is finding it difficult to find lawyers to argue the case against Qadri.
Akbar Jan Marwat
Islamabad