Pakistan Minister for Religious Minorities Killed
For those who do not keep close tabs on Pakistani current events, a lot has been happening the last couple months in the conflict between religious conservatives and Islamic extremists and the more progressive crowd in Pakistan. While not an expert, it seems to me the game is currently going to the extremists, which should be a big concern for Americans given the amount of money we are contributing to the country and its strategic role in our current war efforts.
Last Wednesday, March 2nd, Pakistan's Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was gun downed and killed in front of a house in Islamabad. Later in the day, the Pakistan Taliban accepted responsibility for the attack. Bhatti was a Christian and an outspoken critic of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws. On January 4th, Salman Taseer, the Governor of the Punjab Province was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards -- he was also an outspoken critic of the anti-blasphemy laws. Both Taseer and Bhatti were members of the Pakistan People's Party (as was Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated by extremists in 2007).
The laws are not particularly complicated and in general make it a crime to defile the Koran, defame the Prophet (PBUH), destroy or defile a religious object or place, or make any derogatory remarks or representations of Muslim holy personages. Interestingly, the same set of laws also make it a crime to, "by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities” shall be fined and punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to five years."
Recent news headlines in Pakistan have featured stories about a Christian woman being sentenced to death for comments she allegedly made about the Prophet during an argument with a Muslim neighbor and the arrest of a U.S. Embassy employee who shot two men trying to rob him in Lahore. There has been no end to the press reporting, demonstrations, and riots in the streets in Pakistan about these two issues or the more general idea of doing away with (or at least toning down) the anti-blasphemy laws. Curiously, in all my visits to Pakistan, I have never heard of riots, demonstrations or vitriolic Friday sermons about the absolutely disgusting behavior of Islamic extremist terrorists in Pakistan who have killed hundreds of women and children over the past year during suicide bombings on volleyball games, mosques, girls schools, police dormitories, and other targets. I find the passion and concern of the Pakistani people admirable, I just don't understand why they don't express the same rage towards terrorists who kill innocents as they do on less critical issues.
For those who do not keep close tabs on Pakistani current events, a lot has been happening the last couple months in the conflict between religious conservatives and Islamic extremists and the more progressive crowd in Pakistan. While not an expert, it seems to me the game is currently going to the extremists, which should be a big concern for Americans given the amount of money we are contributing to the country and its strategic role in our current war efforts.
Last Wednesday, March 2nd, Pakistan's Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was gun downed and killed in front of a house in Islamabad. Later in the day, the Pakistan Taliban accepted responsibility for the attack. Bhatti was a Christian and an outspoken critic of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws. On January 4th, Salman Taseer, the Governor of the Punjab Province was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards -- he was also an outspoken critic of the anti-blasphemy laws. Both Taseer and Bhatti were members of the Pakistan People's Party (as was Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated by extremists in 2007).
The laws are not particularly complicated and in general make it a crime to defile the Koran, defame the Prophet (PBUH), destroy or defile a religious object or place, or make any derogatory remarks or representations of Muslim holy personages. Interestingly, the same set of laws also make it a crime to, "by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities” shall be fined and punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to five years."
Recent news headlines in Pakistan have featured stories about a Christian woman being sentenced to death for comments she allegedly made about the Prophet during an argument with a Muslim neighbor and the arrest of a U.S. Embassy employee who shot two men trying to rob him in Lahore. There has been no end to the press reporting, demonstrations, and riots in the streets in Pakistan about these two issues or the more general idea of doing away with (or at least toning down) the anti-blasphemy laws. Curiously, in all my visits to Pakistan, I have never heard of riots, demonstrations or vitriolic Friday sermons about the absolutely disgusting behavior of Islamic extremist terrorists in Pakistan who have killed hundreds of women and children over the past year during suicide bombings on volleyball games, mosques, girls schools, police dormitories, and other targets. I find the passion and concern of the Pakistani people admirable, I just don't understand why they don't express the same rage towards terrorists who kill innocents as they do on less critical issues.
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