The Troubled Heart of Pakistan
By: Matthew Kaminski,
The Wall Street Journalfor Th ursday January 6, 2011

On central Mall Road, Governor's House sits back across a wide lawn. The white colonnaded mansion built for British rulers of the Punjab, whose pasty portraits hang inside, feels like a refuge and a throwback. A few days before Christmas, I visited Salman Taseer there. Though ensconced in a quiet office with limited powers, the governor of Pakistan's largest and richest province was deep in battle with religious extremists beyond the house's high walls.

Wearing stylish glasses and hair slicked back, he looked a youthful 66. Taseer was a local tycoon with unabashedly liberal tastes. He was unusual, too, in his willingness to openly challenge Islamist dictates. "They want to hold the entire country hostage," he told me. Most Pakistanis agree with him, he added, since "they vote for secular parties."

In recent tweets and public statements, Taseer had called for parliament to AMEND Pakistan's law on blasphemy-a "black law" in his words--that MANDATES the death penalty for insulting Islam. In our conversation, he saw little room for compromise with fundamentalists who fare badly in elections and resort to violence. "These are not people you mollycoddle," he said. "These are killers."

So, evidently, they are. After lunch this Tuesday in the national capital, Islamabad, Salman Taseer was gunned down by one of his security guards. The assassin told witnesses that he was angry over the man's stance on blasphemy.

No politician had so prominently defended SECULAR values in Pakistan since Benazir Bhutto. The former premier, an ally of Taseer was herself' slain three years ago by terrorists allegedly sent from the Islamist hotbeds along the western border with Afghanistan. In a joint statement issued before his funeral at Governor's House yesterday, SOME 500 RELIGIOUS PAKISTANI LEADERS PRAISED HIS KILLER and urged Muslims NOT TO MOURN TASEER'S DEATH....
[Emphasis added].

Leading Pakistani Politician Killed
By Tom Wright, January 5, 2011

A leading politician from Pakistan's ruling party was gunned down in a wealthy neighborhood of Islamabad on Tuesday by a member of his security detail after speaking out AGAINST the country's controversial blasphemy laws, an assassination that highlights the nation's struggle to contain extremism even among those CLOSE TO THE CENTER OF POWER.

Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, Pakistan's most-populous province, and a member of the ruling Pakistan's People's Party, died after a member of his security team fired multiple shots into his car at a shopping complex, police said.

His attacker, Malik Muntaz Qadri, who surrendered to police, admitted he was angered by Mr. Taseer's OPPOSITION to the blasphemy laws, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told local television.

Mr. Taseer had become A LEADING OPPONENT in recent weeks of a court decision to sentence a 45-year-old Christian farm laborer, Asia Bibi, [a mother of five] to death for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.

The case attracted international attention. Mr. Taseer had attacked the court's decision and recently been urging supporters on Twitter TO TAKE TO THE STREETS IN PROTEST AGAINST THE BLASPHEMY LAWS. His opposition had been condemned by lslamist political parties.

But Mr. Taseer's assassination by a member of an ELITE police unit shows how religious extremism PERVADES even segments of society that are close to the center of power, a result of decades of official Islamization stretching back to Pakistan's founding in 1947 out of a newly independent India.

Islamist political groups had called for Mr. Tuseer's ouster as governor over his opposition to the blasphemy laws and saw in his stance a Western conspiracy to roll back Pakistan's religious edicts and turn the country into a secular democracy. One party issued an edict condemning Mr. Taseer for blasphemy.... [And, according to The Economist, issue of January 8, many mullahs had been using their pulpits all over Pakistan to call for the governor's death]

Pakistan's religious laws were tightened under the rule of Gen. Zia-ul-haq, a military dictator who oversaw an Islamization of the nation's institutions such as the army and judiciary in the 1980's.

Since then, Pakistani authorities have charged SCORES of minority groups under the laws.

In no cases have the death sentences been carried out, with courts commuting sentences on appeal. [But, according to The Economist, January 8, "32 people charged or convicted under the law have been murdered "]

Pakistan's secular politicians have largely FAILED to unite to combat religious extremism out of fear of sparking a backlash, and in some cases have even courted extremist groups, analysts say....

Ms. Bibi was accused in June 2009 by local village women in Sheikhupura, a district of Punjuab province, of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad, which under Pakistani law can carry the death penalty.

Ms. Bibi, who is in jail, says the women hated her because she was a Christian and had gotten in a fight over their refusal to drink water she had touched. She is appealing the court's November decision to impose a death sentence.

MR. TASEER BECAME VOCAL IN DEFENDING HER, saying Mr. Zardari, the president, would overturn the decision if necessary. Mr. Taseer's supporters later placed wreaths on the spot where he died.
[Emphasis added].
Pakistan Killer Had Revealed Plans
By Zahid Hussain and Tom Wright
The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, January 6, 2011

The KILLER of a senior politician who spoke out against Pakistan's blasphemy laws HAD TOLD OTHERS about the PENDING attack but had STILL BEEN ASSIGNED TO GUARD his victim

The murder was widely LAUDED by Islamist groups and sympathizers, and news footage showed Malik Mumtaz Qadri, a member of an elite police force responsible for providing security to the country's top civilian leadership, getting a HERO's welcome and being SHOWERED WITH ROSE PETALS by supporters as he arrived at an Islamabad court Wednesday.

Mr. Qadri shot Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province, at a shopping complex in an upscale part of Islamabad Tuesday and later told police he was angered by Mr. Taseer's efforts to abrogate the country's strict blasphemy laws.

Officials familiar with the investigation said it appeared the murder was ABETTED by the OTHER security guards, raising concerns about the counir 's elite security services being penetrated by Islamic extremists.

Mr. Qadri had previously been REMOVED from a branch of the police dealing with counterterrorism due to concerns about his Islamist leanings, and had himself ASKED to guard Mr. Taseer, a senior police official said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Mr. Qadri informed other police officers of his plans, the official said. Police detained six other guards from Mr. Taseer's security detail and are investigating their possible involvement.

Officers responsible for Mr. Qadri's assignment were also detained for questioning over whether they allowed him to join Mr. Taseer's detail despite knowing of his association with radical Islamists.

Investigations are focusing on Mr. Qadri's links with Dawat-i-Islami, a radical Islamist group that has been at the forefront of protests in recent weeks against efforts to change the blasphemy laws, the police official said.

Mr. Taseer's death has exposed a deep fissure in Pakistan society between liberal politicians with Western lifestyles and religious leaders who hew to an Islamist view of the world and are GAINING influence. Some analysts speculated that the high-profile murder could be a part of a wider conspiracy to SILENCE LIBERAL VOICES.

In the past, there have been some cases where military personnel have been found aiding Islamists. At least two policemen have reportedly carried out suicide attacks, including an incident a few years ago in Karachi in which a policeman blew himself up at a Shiite mosque.

India has charged that officers of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, were involved in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Thousands of people gathered for Mr. Taseer's funeral in his native Lahore on Wednesday, including Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was close to Mr. Taseer, vowed to bring those responsible to justice. He didn't attend the funeral for security reasons.

The killing drew international condemnation. U. S. Hillary Clinton said in a statement, "His death is a great loss."

Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, said in an editorial. "The governor of Punjuab has been an outspoken critic of the blasphemy laws and he paid the ultimate price for his rejection of the cancer of intolerance that has aggressively eaten away at this country for over three decades now."

Islamists posted thousands of messages on Facebook in SUPPORT of Mr. Qadri. "Pray for the ascension of Qadri to heaven, " read one.

Many religious leaders, even those from so-called MODERATE groups, were ANGERED by Mr. Taseer's support in recent months of a 45-year-old Christian farm worker, Asia Bibi, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court in November for blasphemy for insulting lslam.

"EVERYBODY is in FAVOR of Mumtaz Qadri," said Raghib Hussain Naeemi, A LEADING CLERIC in Lahore, 'EVERYBODY is thinking that Salmaan Taseer was on the WRONG side. HE'S STANDING WITH THAT PERSON [BIBI] WHO COMMITTED BLASPHEMY."

The Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat, another religious group, said in a statement signed by more than 500 clerics that Mr. Qadri was a 'TRUE SOLDIER OF ISLAM," and warned Muslims NOT to mourn Mr. Taseer's death. "It is a warning to ALL intellectuals and politicians who want to CHANGE Islamic laws," the statement said.

Jamaat-e-Istami, one of Pakistan's MAIN Islamist POLITICAL parties, also said the assassination was justified.

"IF the government had REMOVED him from the governorship, there wouldn't have been the NEED for someone to SHOOT him," it said in a statement....

CLERICS HAVE OPENLY CALLED FOR MS. BIBI'S DEATH in recent weeks, with one putting a $6,000 bounty on her head. She remains in jail and is appealing her sentence, saying women in her village who reported her to authorities were motivated by hatred of her Christian beliefs and were attempting to settle scores.

Other segments of society, including TALK-SHOW HOSTS, HAVE ALSO JUSTIFIED  MR. TASEER'S KILLING

After appearing in court Wednesday, Mr. Qadri was remanded into custody but has yet to be charged, the Associated Press reported....
[Emphasis added].