And this is a country with nuclear weapons.

Islamists Rally for Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws

By ZAHID HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD—Tens of thousands of Islamists rallied Sunday in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi in support of the nation's controversial blasphemy laws, and clerics threatened to kill anyone who challenged them.

Security was tightened around the house of Sherry Rehman, a former federal minister, who was threatened with death by radical clerics for moving a bill in the parliament last month to amend the blasphemy laws, which currently sentence to death anyone found guilty of insulting Islam.

The blasphemy laws have been in the spotlight since the murder last week of Salmaan Taseer, governor of Punjab province and a critic of the laws, who was shot by a member of his security detail. The shooter, Mumtaz Qadri, later said he killed Mr. Taseer because of the politician's opposition to the laws. Mr. Taseer was a member of the Pakistan People's Party, which runs the governing coalition, and was close to President Asif Ali Zardari.

The killing highlighted the extent to which extremist Islam has permeated Pakistan's middle class and those close to the political elite even as the country grapples with an insurgency from the Pakistan Taliban and other violent Islamist groups. And it has deepened the polarization between moderate and radical Muslims throughout Pakistan. Radical clerics have seized the opportunity to whip up a campaign against moderate and progressive politicians, intellectuals and journalists.

Speakers at the Karachi rally sought to justify Mr. Taseer's assassination, saying the killer fulfilled his obligation as a Muslim. "We will defend the assassin in the court," declared Fazalur Rehman, the leader of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam, a radical Islamic group that recently quit the coalition government after one of its ministers was sacked after publicly accusing a cabinet colleague of corruption.

The rally was organized by an alliance of hard-line Islamic groups including Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which allegedly is a front for the outlawed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Lashkar-e-Taiba is accused of masterminding the November 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, which left more than 160 dead. Many demonstrators Sunday carried portraits of Mr. Qadri, who killed Mr. Taseer in a fashionable shopping district of Islamabad. Mr. Qadri has been hailed by Islamists as a great Islamic warrior.

Mr. Taseer had provoked the ire of radical clerics for publicly supporting a Christian woman who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Islam's prophet. The controversial laws have often been used against Christians and other non-Muslim communities, something that Ms. Rehman is seeking to prevent with a private bill she introduced last month.

A cleric of the Sultan Mosque in Karachi in his sermon on Friday called Ms. Rehman an "infidel" for suggesting changes in the blasphemy laws. A pamphlet signed by several Islamic clerics named her for supporting blasphemy. And some hard-line clerics have issued a "fatwa" demanding death to Ms. Rehman, a senior member of parliament of the Pakistan People's Party.

Ms. Rehman said she is under pressure from the administration to leave the country until the situation calms down. "I am not going anywhere and [will] face the threat," she said in a telephone interview.

Is it really a surprise? It's Pakistan...

(01-09-2011 12:40 PM)CountryRedHawk Wrote:  Is it really a surprise? It's Pakistan...

State Sponsored Murder and Assassination in Pakistan is not a surprise. But the Arizona Assassinations make you unhinged?

It's not a state sponsored assassination, and it's not right in Pakistan either. Gov. Taseer spoke out against a bad law, and paid the price for it. The masses are practically worshipping his assassin... it's pathetic, but, to be fair, assassinations are far more common in Pakistan. The political situation there has always been extremely volitile. It's what happens when you get fringe extremists(and yes, that happens here too) onto someone...

(01-09-2011 12:59 PM)CountryRedHawk Wrote:  It's not a state sponsored assassination, and it's not right in Pakistan either. Gov. Taseer spoke out against a bad law, and paid the price for it. The masses are practically worshipping his assassin... it's pathetic, but, to be fair, assassinations are far more common in Pakistan. The political situation there has always been extremely volitile. It's what happens when you get fringe extremists(and yes, that happens here too) onto someone...

Not State Sponsored? The Blasphemy Laws do not allow for the death penalty?

Governor Taseer wasn't tried, or convicted under the blasphemy law. He was assassinated by his bodyguard, for speaking out against the blasphemy law. That means it isn't state sponsored. Oh, and by the way, if memory serves, the blasphemy law is a part of Pakistan's seperate Sharia Court system... yes, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has two different civilian court systems, like most semi-secular Islamic nations.

The man was assassinated for being a Western-leaning, leftist intellectual, and a secularist. The government of Pakistan didn't sanction it, though, to be fair, they also aren't going to go against the masses and lose power over it either.

(01-09-2011 12:40 PM)CountryRedHawk Wrote:  Is it really a surprise? It's Pakistan...

No, it's Muslim. Pakistan is just a name for a country.

I think it's formal name is "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" or some form of that.

(01-09-2011 02:57 PM)CountryRedHawk Wrote:  I think it's formal name is "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" or some form of that.

I'm saying the name of the country, or the country itself, isn't to blame. It's the people, and those people are Muslim. The religion is the reason. I don't know why certain people tend to tap dance around this issue. Damn man, call a spade a spade. You're a gay guy. Can you honestly say there's nothing different between Islam and Christianity? Where would you rather live? Islam is incompatible with freedom. Christianity, and nations that are majority Christian, are some of the freest nations on Earth. Which is attacked by the left? One would think, logically, it would be Islam. It's COMPLETELY the opposite and makes absolutely NO sense to me. DU is filled with the biggest gaggle of Muslim supporting morons I've ever seen in my life.

I've never lived in a Muslim country, but I'm pretty sure if I did, it'd end up pretty fierce. I'm Just sayin'.


(and yes, I actually do agree, however a few Muslim majority nations are trying, and if it weren't for Israel, the Palestinians and Syria, we'd still have a Christian majority country in the Middle East. Damnit. But, in general I agree...)

I don't see a way for Muslims to moderate. It's neither in their teachings nor in their Qu'ran. Christians were created out of moderation and peace, which is what the New Testament is about, and yes, I know there have been many, many violent instances by Christians, but comparing what they'd done to the new Testament doesn't compute. They acted in total disrespect to the New Testament of Christ's teachings. Jews, who follow the Torah, moderated out of necessity, IMO due to numbers. Muslims? Well, they're 1.6-1.8 billion strong and there's nothing in their text that's about moderation, unless it's to deceive their enemies. I.e. us.