Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Ghazi Mumtaz Qadri

The insane murder of Late Salman Taseer, was not enough of a shameful surprise this week. There was more in store for all of us. The blood of the slain leader had barely dried and there came an edict from 500 or so clerics advising people not to show remorse or sorrow for the departed soul. People were advised not to attend the funeral of Mr. Taseer and any one who attended his funeral was going to be fair game for the "Ghazis" like Mr. Qadri.

May the soul of Mr. Taseer rest in everlasting peace. Ameen. Personally, I did not agree with some of his politics in the province of Punjab. That's the beauty of democracy, not all of us agree on everything. We all have our positions and leanings. We can engage in a dialogue and either resolve our differences or at least agree to disagree amicably. My hat is off to him for his bold stance on Asiya Bibi's case. Of course his conviction was commendable and even though he knew the peril, he stood firm.

In our deeply misguided society, where a murderer is celebrated as a hero and has a facebook following honoring his heinous crime, any thing can be expected and quite possible. Our slain leader, was not even buried and people were referring to his personal life and criticising his lifestyle.

To add insult to the injury, when the accused Mr. Qadri, was brought to the Islamabad Court, he was welcomed by some lawyers who showered rose petals on him. If that was not enough, our valiant soldiers of law, chanted slogans in favour of Mr. Qadri. Arguably, in a free society, all have a right to express an opinion. But the legal fraternity has an obligation to uphold and respect the law and the basic writ of the law. The accused of course has committed the crime in front of witnesses and confessed to such an atrocious act. Here our legal fraternity, was siding with the wrong guy. Understood that this was just a fraction of the legal counsels, but it is definitely wrong. These were the same lawyers, who were supported by the people in droves, when General Musharraf's was crushing their movement to restore the Chief Justice.
But like many things in our nation, that are upside down, this callous and insensitive behaviour will be remembered for time to come. Have you noticed that we yell the loudest on things that we are absolutely clueless about. The question(s) that I want to raise in the end are:

A) How could a person who attacks an unarmed person become a Ghazi?
B) How could a person, who uses deception to kill another person become a Ghazi?
C) How could a person who dis obeys his duty and hit someone potentially from the back, become a Ghazi?
D) How could someone, who should be chastised becomes a hero and a Ghazi?

I am a totally ignorant person, when it comes to the faith, but I know one thing for sure, if my Prophet PBUH was with us, he would not call characters like the accused a Ghazi. My conviction stems from the historical events where Prophet PBUH was abused, ridiculed and even showered with filth by the non believers and he was the Messenger of Almighty. If he did not order his companions to kill any of those people in retaliation, then who the heck are these clerics to pass such judgments. Lopsided isn't it.

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