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Crisis Brings Us All Together

Slain Punjabi governor preached tolerance but fell victim to extremism.

Salmaan Taseer speaks to the media after a National Assembly session in Islamabad in March2009.

Extremism associated with Pakistans controversial blasphemy law appeared to claim anothervictim Tuesday, when the governor of the countrys wealthiest and most politically powerfulprovince was gunned down in Islamabad by a 26-year-old member of his own security detail.Salmaan Taseer, governor of Punjab, was shot at close range by a newly assigned guard whotold authorities and the media he was angry about Taseers criticism of Pakistans law againstblasphemy, considered the most draconian of any Muslim-majority country. The law prescribeslife imprisonment for anyone who defiles the Quran, and death for a person who defames orinsults the Prophet Muhammad. In recent weeks Taseer had called for the pardon of a Christianwoman sentenced to death last year for allegedly insulting the prophet. Pakistan has notactually executed anyone for blasphemy, but more than two dozen people have been killedthrough vigilantism, not that unusual in a country where a mere accusation of blasphemy canlead to riots.

The Punjabi capital, Lahore, was in lockdown, and Pakistani authorities are said to beinvestigating whether there were others behind Taseers assassination. The killing comes as thecountry is sliding into a political crisis brought on by the withdrawal of a key ally from the rulingcoalition led by the Pakistan Peoples Party. Taseer, who was 66, was a close ally of PakistaniPresident Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the last majorpolitical figure in Pakistan to be assassinated, in 2007. In an interview his daughter, Pakistaniwriter Shehrbano Taseer, did for NEWSWEEK PAKISTAN this past November, the governordiscussed terrorism, the floods that recently devastated his country, and good governance,

among other topics. Here are excerpts:

[There were] some 6 million Pakistanis still displaced by the floods. Are you satisfiedwith the response to the crisis?

Whenever Pakistan faces a crisis, it brings us all together. There are many unsung heroes in allof this whom people dont even know about. The local response has been huge. In the Punjab,90 percent of the displaced have gone back, and there are very few camps left. The responseby the Pakistan government has been amazing, and Im talking only of the Punjab. There is nohunger in the Punjab, no starvation. Yes, because the press has a short attention span, this isnot a story anymore. Were in the middle of rehabilitation work, which is challenging and willtake a long time. Were helping people rebuild houses quickly and with as much government

support as possible before winter sets in.

Pakistan has had four finance ministers in the last two years. As a businessman, doesthis trouble you, and is this good governance?

The problem with constituency politics is that often people who are elected are not qualified totake on these sophisticated assignments. In our country, the people who are elected are mostlyfrom rural areas and are not qualified to be finance ministers. We have to select technicalpeople, but then, because its a political assignment also, it turns out some of them are not

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political enough. So its a tough call. We want a clear, strong, definite finance policy that isbusiness-friendly. Yet were in a country with so many poor people that you cant always dotrickle-down economics here. So weve got the Benazir Income Support Program, which hasbeen hailed by the World Bank; weve raised salaries of government employees; given workersshares in state-owned companies; reinstated thousands of people who had been fired onpolitical grounds. These are the sort of compassionate, people-friendly policies which

democratically elected governments have to pursue. You cant tell people, Sorry, we cant giveyou money, but wait four years until we set up industries and start seeing dividends. Now,when it comes to the question of running the government, we have to accommodate ourcoalition partners ... Weve given the opposition respect and the same rights as our members.Good governance is not just a profit-and-loss account; its also a political and social profit-and-loss account. On that score, the PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] has done a fantastic job.

Is the federal government in any danger of being ousted?

When [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton was here, she told me there are many lobbiesIndian,Israeliwho oppose Pakistan, and that the U.S.s selling point has been the fact that theres ademocratic government in place in Pakistan. Before this, people had the idea that Muslim

countries are either only monarchies or dictatorships, but Pakistan has moved from a quasi-military government to democracy. In the process, [former president] Gen. Pervez Musharrafwas not hounded out of office or physically eliminated; he was politically pressured intoresigning. And the PPP has got its coalition partners onto one platform. At a time when we arefighting terror, to get everyone togethereven those who are not willing to talk to each otheriscommendable. When you talk of this government going, whats going to replace it? Anarchy?Chaos? Thats all youll get. We want the whole five-year process to continue and then handover to another democratically elected government. This way the political process isstrengthened, and it is understood that the only way of changing a government is throughelections, not through journalistic and judicial coups dtat and by TV anchors predicting theend. Its great that were tolerating these kinds of people.

What is your biggest concern?

I worry about terrorism. The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), which is in government in thePunjab, has old linkages with and a natural affinity for extremist organizations like Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Khatm-e-Nubuwwat, and so many others. Lets face it: terroristsneed logistical support from withinsomebody funds them, somebody guides them, andsomebody looks after themand that support is coming from the Punjab. Some 48 terroristshave been released by an antiterrorism court recently because they could not be prosecuted, orrather, there was a failure to prosecute them. This is disgraceful. If the Punjab government wassolidly against the militants, this would not have happened. You cant have your law minister[Rana Sanaullah] going around in police jeeps with Ahmed Ludhianvi [of the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba], whose agenda is to declare Shias infidels and close down their places of worship, and

then say you want harmony in this province. You cant have the chief minister, who is also thehome minister, standing at [Lahore mosque] Jamia Naeemia pleading with the Taliban to pleasenot launch attacks in the Punjab because he shares the same thinking against the U.S. as theydo. What message does this send out to the local magistrate and police officer? There has to bezero tolerance toward militants, and the only way you can have this is if the government istotally committed Dealing with the militants has to be no holds barred. Their lives should bemade hell; they should be prosecuted, and sent to hell where they belong.

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How widespread is the terrorist problem in Punjab?

There are no training camps in the Punjab, but you cant allow Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to run riot, to go around unimpeded recruiting men to their cause. We had never heardof the Punjabi Taliban before, but now we hear it so often. We need to prosecute these peoplethrough the special courts that are working directly under the chief minister and law minister of

the province. Heres the strange thing: the five Americans who were caught in Sargodha, theywere prosecuted and sentenced for intent to kill. Why were these men prosecuted successfully?It was because they had no links here. [The American students had traveled to Pakistan afterallegedly making contact with an Islamic extremist on the Internet.] This case shows that whenthe government really want to prosecute someone, they can.