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Blasphemy Backlash

Extremists may target other moderate Pakistani leaders in the wake of

Punjab governor's killing.

Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, wearing a garland, shouts "We are ready to sacrifice ourlife for the prestige of the Prophet Muhammad" after appearing in court in Islamabad.

Within hours of the slaying of Punjab Gov. Salmaan Taseer by Malik Mumtaz HussainQadri, people who supported it had built a social-media shrine to the assassin, lavishingpraise on him on Facebook. Those who dare to insult our prophet Muhammad MUSTbe killed All he [Qadri] did was in good faith, read one post. The comment washardly shocking given the fury Taseer had aroused in Pakistan by daring to advocatereform of the Muslim republics strict blasphemy law, which punishes such insults with

death.

When Qadri shot Taseer at close range in Islamabad on Tuesday, he silenced one ofPakistans strongest and most strident voices confronting Islamic extremism in astrategic country that seems to be at war with itself. It is rare for a Pakistani politician topublicly and frequently take on the religious right and Islamists linked to armed militantgroups. But what brought wrath down on him was his championing of the cause of

Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islamsprophet, and proposing liberalizing the blasphemy law adopted during the regime ofPresident Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s.

Taseers assassination seemed almost inevitable. A Taliban commander in SouthWaziristan told NEWSWEEK that the governor would have been assassinated even ifhe had not been shot by Qadri, a newly assigned member of his own security detail.

After Taseer [supported] a woman guilty of using bad words for Prophet Muhammadand blasphemy, Taseer was going to be killed anyway, very soon, said the official, whouses the nickname Abu-Jihad. And he lauded Qadri: The guard who killed Taseershould try to escape after shooting [him] to Taliban territory, and we would love to kisshis holy hands [and] gun trigger finger.

If Abu-Jihad is to be believed, Taseers killing may launch a wave of attacks againstother like-minded Pakistanis. The blasphemy case did not end with Taseer's murder,

he told NEWSWEEK by phone. Blasphemy punishment will continue. We have seenhuge anger among ordinary Pakistanis and Taliban and they have included [angeragainst] numbers of people including media men, and a woman in Parliament, [who]were [leaders] in the advocacy of the blasphemy case and defending the guilty woman.Sheri Rahman, a member of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party and former minister ofinformation in the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, has been a sponsor of ablasphemy-law amendment bill.

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As the presidentially appointed governor of Pakistans most populous and influentialprovince, Punjab, Taseer was constantly at war with the provinces two most powerfulpoliticians, Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, and Sharifs younger brotherShahbaz, the provinces elected chief minister. Taseer never tired of pointing out whathe called the Sharifs hypocrisy. He charged them with supporting the extremist forces

that the brothers had said they opposed.

Early this year he invited a group of foreign reporters to a lunch at Punjab House, theelegant building sitting on a hill overlooking Islamabad, and denounced Shahbaz Shariffor publicly campaigning alongside a known leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba, a notorious andviolent anti-Shia organization that has been tied to assassinations and bombings of Shiamosques. This past November at a reception at Punjab House, he again decried theSharifs tolerance of, and refusal to move against, extremist groups that he chargedwere proliferating in the province under the brothers rule.

Taseers stance on the blasphemy issue brought the revulsion of the religious right,

which successfully mobilized large street protests last month in favor of the law and thedeath sentence. He also was inundated with death threats, which the Sharifs apparentlyignored. His death at the hands of one of his own protectors is not terribly surprising. InPakistan there seems to be no way to ensure that a politicians bodyguards will actuallyprotect him or her. Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto once told a NEWSWEEKreporter that ex-president Pervez Musharraf privately advised her that he could notguarantee her safetynor provide a fully reliable bodyguard. He even suggested thatshe recruit Blackwater. Bhutto was assassinated in 2007.

Taseers assassination is another blow to the besieged Zardari governmentthe loss ofone of the presidents most influential and vocal supporters in a key province. Zardariand his prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, are already reeling from the recentdefection of two erstwhile political allies and the demands of the Sharif brothers that theadministration either clean up its corrupt and inefficient ways or face a call by the Sharif-led opposition for a parliamentary no-confidence vote. Even though the governmentmay survive by taking on other partners, it has been grievously wounded and does notseem to have the strength to pursue the necessary economic reforms, to impose newtaxes, and to redouble the fight along the border and in Punjab against armed extremistgroups.

Thousands of mourners attended Taseers funeral on Wednesday under extremely tightsecurity in Lahore, Punjabs capital, which is widely viewed as Pakistans mostprogressive city. With his violent death, it remains to be seen whether other moderatepoliticians and Islamic religious leaders will muster the courage to continue hiscampaign for a more tolerant Pakistan. Washingtons rocky alliance with Pakistan in thewar against Islamic extremism in the region may depend on it.