The media’s role in Taseer’s murder

[pak-marine]

The media’s role in Taseer’s murder


It is quite likely that the tragic murder of Salmaan Taseer, much like the other violence around the blasphemy law, was the act of a lone wolf with acquiescence from co-workers. The security guard who shot the governor was not funded by a terrorist organisation or a political group; rather his motivations stemmed from a misguided conviction, a culmination of anger and hate and a clouded moral compass. Unfortunately the killer is not alone. He has millions of sympathisers, thousands of whom have expressed support through fan pages, tribute videos and SMSs.

This murder is a hate crime and nothing else. Let’s not grace attention to frivolous arguments which we would like to hear. The injustices in society, poverty, corruption and the lack of concern for the ‘awam’ by politicians had little to do with this act. What must be realised is that the public-servant-turned-killer hated the victim so much that he emptied over two dozen bullets into the governor. The smug smile on his face and his statements suggest that he firmly believes what he had done was right.

How did we get into such a situation? This hate has a long-term ingredient and an immediate cause. Intolerance has bred into our society for decades. One could point to reports such as the A H Nayyar Report which revealed that our curriculum promotes intolerance, or to the incompetence of our institutions which are unable to punish vigilantes or which prosecutes those who incite others to violence.
However the instant trigger must be kept in mind as well, which in this case is the information and views that the guard received. He was made to believe that Taseer was a blasphemer and that it was his duty to kill him. In reality Taseer did not say anything about the Holy Prophet (pbuh). The duty to award and execute punishments rests solely with the state. This is the reason Islam asks for four witnesses, for a competent qazi and the right of the defendant to argue his case.

The perception of the above false reality was the outcome of large sections of the media which acted irresponsibly. Many stories which do not merit to be consider news are played on the screens because they can be sensationalised. Over the past three odd years prime-time slots have been hijacked by political talk shows, hosts of which are constantly trying to make the politicians fight with each other and make fools of themselves. Through these Jerry Springer shows and Fox News-style reporting, the media has successfully created the perception that politicians are malicious, immoral and irreligious.

In their earnest to make a fool out Taseer, a particular talk show host on Samaa TV constantly traded accusations with him that put him on the defensive and gave the impression that he (Taseer) was somehow not being honest about his views on the blasphemy law. Add to this his press briefing with Aasia Bibi in jail and the common perception that he, a politician would never speak the truth, was reinforced. Soon, the average Pakistani must have begun thinking that Taseer was being defensive because he supported those who committed blasphemy. Sections of the media went a step further. They actively gave airtime to people who accused him of committing and this only confirmed the suspicion their irresponsibility had planted in the first place.'

The madness doesn’t stop here. Disproportionate coverage was given to clerics who declared it an obligation on Muslims to kill blasphemers and offered cash rewards. Instead of being impartial, and arguably for the sake of improving ratings in cut-throat competition, many journalists very visibly sided with these extremists. Eventually someone who had access to Taseer pulled the trigger.
Sadly, this won’t end here. The media will continue to irresponsibly televise violence and continue to project the narrative that politicians are the reason why the country is a mess. If drastic measures aren’t taken by responsible citizens and the government to rectify this trend and a clear sense of right and wrong isn’t established things will get worse.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2011.

 

[Karachiite]

I hate our media. They have only done bad for Pakistan. They successfully manipulated the minds of Pakistanis by making Musharraf look bad in 2007-2008. And now they are making the extremists look good.

 

[Omar1984]

Wrong section. Should be in Current Events section along with tons of other topics in that section of Taseer's death.

 

[Vassnti]

The media’s role in Taseer’s murder


It is quite likely that the tragic murder of Salmaan Taseer, much like the other violence around the blasphemy law, was the act of a lone wolf .

Sorry cow dung, Qadri has been reported as unstable for six years and had been declered a security risk unsuitable for protection of VIP's for at least 18 months.

Yet he was assigned to the one person in Paksitan most at risk from some one with Jihadist ideals. You asign a mongoose as body guard for a cobra you have to wonder who made that descision.

Add to that it was not just one clip but he fired a full clip, stoped , reloaded and fired a second and in all that time the other guards and police stood arround and did nothing?

Questions have been asked about why no policeman or guard apparently made an attempt to overpower the 26-year-old shooter.

“A former regional police officer had declared the constable a security risk 18 months ago and directed that he not be assigned VIP duty,” Warraich said.

“Telling colleagues about his (Qadri’s) intention, asking to be arrested alive and the silent spectator role of policemen deployed at the crime scene raise too many questions.”

www.dawn.com - Security Verification

Some one assigned an unstable guard to be with Taseer that day despite warning from the ISI and Police, find that man and you have the true murderer.

 

[sergente rehan]

Sinceraly all this is wrong bcz these type of actions bring up some questions about the security laps and what game is playing the hiden player, which will bring PPP now as a new governer. It's a big game.

Anyway death of an idiot has no importance for me. There are dozens of them in our politics! how much damage he have done to Pakistan till date? All that parties served with champagne etc and the charges were paid by pubblic of Pakistan.

If the media isn't giving enough coverge bcz people are just not interested in it!

 

[pak-marine]

I’m a media man, shackle me please
13 hours ago


The time for change has come. Please just arrest me if necessary PPP, but do something! Make an example of someone, anyone! Show us that you stand by the values you preach and make the citizens of this country accountable for their actions.

If you do not have the guts to round up, arrest and make a public example of every one of those hooligans who danced on the streets, posing for photo-ops with burning effigies of late Governor Salmaan Taseer, then at least arrest me and my ilk; throw away the key if one of us so much as whispers the word wajibul qatl in a public sphere.

Fine my publisher for allowing such remarks to be passed. Register a case. Give PEMRA the opportunity to do its job and shut down the entire media organisation if necessary. Ban all religious debate in the media, be it positive or negative, for the sake of this country in crisis. Just do it. If not now, when another one of your remaining liberal, progressive voices has been gunned down, then when?

If you don’t have the clout or the support of our institutions to arrest members of the clergy or religio-political parties, surely you have enough power to be able to take out their rabid, support group spewing hate on prime time TV and in print, don’t you? Are you even aware of the laws, rules and regulations which the media must follow? Are you aware that being the government means you can actually ‘govern,’ which includes redressing or even establishing a brand new set of regulations regarding religious debate and/or incitement to violence via the print or electronic medium? Let the media call them ‘draconian, black laws’ and let ‘civil society’ howl about freedom of speech – how else does one deal with a pit full of blood sucking vampires?

I implore you, please take me and my fellow journalists and media personalities out and shoot us like dogs in the desert and leave our corpses to rot if need be. Be bold, be fascist, be militant, be brave – choose any path to ensuring a lock down on the madness that is ‘the media boom’ but stop side-stepping what needs to be done in this twisted field we have dubbed journalism. Tackle what you have the power to right now, and work your way up through every rotten institution in our country. I will support you in this endeavor, and you will have my vote in the future, but you must stop speaking and start acting.

 

[pak-marine]

Taseer’s assassination: The legal basis for incitement to murder

What role did clerics and talk-show hosts play in contributing towards incitement to kill Taseer?

KARACHI: In the weeks preceding the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, there was a frenzy of activity against him. Rallies were held, his effigies were burned and fatwas were issued, declaring him a ‘blasphemer’. One man had even offered to pay a bounty of Rs20 million for anyone who would kill Taseer. Religious political parties, including the Fazlur Rehman faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, had joined in the chorus against Taseer. Its secretary-general Maulana Abdur Ghafoor Haideri had reportedly termed Taseer a ‘blasphemer’, equating his opposition to the blasphemy law with the act of committing blasphemy.

The self-confessed assassin of Taseer, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri publicly admitted that he killed Taseer because he termed the blasphemy law a ‘black law’ while the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has credited the role of religious clerics in influencing Qadri’s act .

While the man who offered a reward for Taseer’s murder has been arrested, people like MNA Sherry Rehman are still being threatened. A pamphlet distributed by the Tanzeem-e-Islami in Karachi on Friday, which advertises a rally on January 9, mentions Rehman’s role in submitting a private member bill proposing amendments to the blasphemy law and states that such an act has “provoked the religious honour of Pakistan’s Muslims”.

Rehman was reportedly given a 16-member security detail but there are only a couple of policemen stationed outside her residence.

Many have also pointed to the role of television talk show hosts who accused Taseer of carrying out a pro-western agenda and said that because of a fatwa against him, he was no longer valid to hold public office. The participants of one talk show, televised live a few hours after Taseer’s assassination, seemed to condone the murder by saying the late governor’s statements against the blasphemy law and support of Aasia Bibi was wrong.

The creators of this environment that preceded Taseer’s assassination by a member of the Elite Force squad can be charged, according to senior lawyer Khwaja Naveed.

While Pakistan does not have a law about incitement to murder??, the Pakistan Penal Code does have a section about abetment (section 5) which has been used in many cases to prosecute people on the basis of oral and circumstantial evidence. For example, the person who allowed Qadri to be on Taseer’s security detail, knowing he planned to assassinate him, could be proven as having abetted the act of murder.

Similarly, if Qadri names anyone as having directly instigated him to commit the murder, they could also be prosecuted as abettors.

However, while a direct link between these is essential, it is also possible to prove incitement. For example, where TV talk show hosts are concerned, a case can be built on the basis of their programmes where they made statements that created an atmosphere that was conducive to Taseer’s murder.

The Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997 covers these areas. For example, Section 6 states that terrorism means the use or threat of action where “the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a religious, sectarian or ethnic cause”.

Actions of terrorism include: “Involves the doing of anything that is likely to cause death or endangers a person’s life” and “incites hatred and contempt on religious, sectarian or ethnic basis to stir up violence or cause internal disturbance.”

The ATA also includes the ‘prohibition of acts intended or likely to stir up sectarian hatred’ which comprise the use of threatening words, abuses and behaviour, the distribution of written and visual material that could incite sectarian hatred as well as possession of written and visual material with the intent of distribution and display. The Pakistan Penal Code also includes punishments for defamation and criminal intimidation.

According to Naveed, “A parallel can be drawn to the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl; where an environment was created and calls were made for him to be killed. The common factor is that both Pearl and Taseer were killed by religious extremists.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2011.