Salman Taseer was a Pakistani politician who did some good in the world:
– He was one of the most prominent liberal politicians in the country and a close associate of Asif Ali Zardari, who was then the president.
– Known to be an outspoken critic of the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, arguing that they discriminated against religious minorities, and sought liberal reforms.
– He had called for a pardon for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in 2010 for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
For this Taseer was murdered in 2011 by Mumtaz Qadri, one of his own bodyguards. Qadri shot Taseer 28 times.
Qadri was tried for the murder, found guilty, and sentenced to death. On Monday he was executed in Rawalpindi.
Some British Muslims are very unhappy. And I don’t mean death penalty opponents. Death is fine when dealt to the deserving. Saleem merited the ultimate price. Qadri did not.
Just look at Bradford imam Muhammed Asim Hussain hailing Qadri the “martyr”, “true servant of Allah”, and “lion” on Monday:
A dark day in the history of Pakistan; the day Ghazi Mumtaz was wrongfully executed and martyred in the way of Allah, when he did what he did in honour of the Prophet.
Allah raise the ranks of this true servant of Allah and lion of the Ahl ul-Sunnah wal Jama’at. Allah guide the leadership in our Muslim countries. Ameen.
That post has garnered almost 4,000 “likes”.
Later on Monday Hussain underlined his point with this post:
Hussain has form in this area. Last year he strongly backed a rally for Aafia Siddiqui, also known as “Lady al-Qaeda”. She is a convicted attempted murderer and crude antisemite.
His fellow speakers at that event included Yvonne Ridley, the convert to extremism who has led the campaign of lies for Aafia Siddiqui, the antisemite Lord Ahmed, and Bradford East Labour MP Imran Hussain.
Asim Hussain’s support for Mumtaz Qadri was discussed on the BBC Asian Network earlier this week. From five minutes in here. There were furious calls for the authorities and mosques to take action.
Those calls should not fall on deaf ears. I fear they may well do just that.