Qadri’s sentence

We have more clarity and less chaos over the country’s controversial blasphemy law following the decision delivered on Wednesday by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. The decision upheld the death sentence for Mumtaz Qadri, the former police commando who had in January 2011 gunned down the then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer at the Kohsar Market in Islamabad. Qadri, who had been sentenced to death by the Islamabad High Court in March this year had appealed the verdict in April. His lawyers had argued that Qadri had been ‘provoked’ into taking the violent action he opted for, against a man he had been assigned to protect as bodyguard, because he was angered by Taseer’s criticism of the blasphemy law. They had also argued that a Muslim had a duty to kill a blasphemer. While taking up Qadri’s plea against the death penalty in May, the SC had framed a number of questions. The court asked if criticising the blasphemy law amounted to blasphemy; if Taseer had indeed committed blasphemy; if any individual had the right to kill another even if he believed blasphemy had been committed; what Qadri’s duties as Taseer’s guard were and if they were any mitigating circumstances warranting a lighter sentence for Qadri.
These critical questions were raised in a case that has sharply polarised the country. But as the debate reached its final stages, the apex court displayed the kind of legal clarity we so badly need in a nation that at times seems to be operating entirely without a radar to guide it. The bench held that criticising the blasphemy law cannot be considered blasphemy. This view on its own will come as a big relief to many – writers, activists and minority leaders among others – in a land where the blasphemy law is increasingly feared. And there is good reason for this fear. The court also noted there was no evidence that the late Taseer had committed blasphemy in all the video clips and press cuttings put before it, even if he had sought a repeal of the law. Just as significant were Justice Khosa’s remarks, as the verdict came in on Wednesday, that accepting that an individual had the right to act alone as an accuser, jury and executioner would amount to ushering in chaos. There should be no notion of victory or loss in this case. We must all just hope the law has won, and an attempt to defend murder defeated. In no country should a man be allowed to shoot another and then argue he should not face the penalty laid down by law. Perhaps some new space will open up to debate the misuse of the blasphemy law. But we will need to watch what comes next. Qadri is a hero for many, as we have already seen. Voices in his defence will be raised and the arguments over the right and wrong in this case will continue.