Murder in a context

Everything that a person does is determined by his/her environment. Prevailing environment provides a context to our doings because nothing happens in a contextual vacuum. When the assassin Mumtaz Qadri, who now hymns na'at's in police custody, emptied two magazines of his official gun into the body of Salam Taseer, the context for this gory drama had been provided by the national media, and many others.

Some others tried to give it a post-murder context. Babar Awan called it a conspiracy against the government--a government which literally let the valiant Taseer down. It was no conspiracy; it was plain murder based on religious and sectarian hatred. Full Stop.

Rehman Malik says that he himself would shot dead, on the spot, if someone blasphemes. One is constrained to tell him: "Just shut up your gab, man!" It is akin to promote anarchy by emboldening lunatics who have already gone haywire. It is worse than inquisitions. If Interior Minister of a country promotes lynching by mob, how can we expect justice in such a society. I know that Rehman Malik wants to save his own skin by pampering to the rabid reactionaries.

The last time I checked Pakistan had a constitution and a warped legal system with (mal)functioning courts. Then, how and why he felt the need to shoot down a person on the spot without bring charges against him to a court of law?

Babar Awan, who has a knack for making a mad run for every high office, set his eyes on the vacant governor's house in Lahore even before Taseer's blood was wiped from the murder scene. It was shocking to see a sheepish mirth on his face while sitting with Asif Zardari in anticipation of being called to replace Taseer. But can he or anyone else in the ranks of the present-day PPP replace Taseer? They may fill his chair, but the void will be there.