Sherry Rahman is next on hit list

 By Nadeem Syed 

After the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer fears are now rising about the safety of Pakistan People's Party lawmaker and former Information Minister Sherry Rahman. Taseer was murdered for speaking out against Pakistan's blasphemy law and Rehman has proposed a Private Member's Bill in Parliament seeking to soften the law.

However, leaders belonging to the Pakistan People's Party have described Taseer's assassination as a political murder and not an act of religious extremism by a lone fanatic. In an FIR, Taseer's son Shehryar too alleged that the assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, had murdered Taseer with the cooperation of religious and political groups. He said that his father had his own points of view on important issues because of which he had received several threats from both religious and political groups.

The 66-year-old liberal politician and one of Pakistan's strongest voices against religious extremism, was shot dead for opposing the country's blasphemy law. But PPP leaders believe that the murder could be part of a wider plot. Investigators are now probing whether Qadri, a Sunni Muslim of the Barelvi sect, acted alone or whether it was part of a larger conspiracy as being claimed by the PPP.

Taseer was murdered for speaking out against Pakistan's blasphemy law and Rehman has proposed a Private Member's Bill seeking to soften the law.

The investigators are of the opinion that the other security guards' failure to stop their colleague strengthens the suspicion that the murder was an act of conspiracy. According to preliminary investigations, the killer fired the bullets in three phases. But surprisingly, the other guards standing beside the governor did not try to overpower their colleague. "This shows that the guards had an idea about Qadri's intention," a senior police official said.

Qadri was in fact considered a security threat by his seniors for his extremist views. An officer had even recommended that he should not be deputed to guard important people. "But Qadri was posted out of the Rawalpindi police's special branch 18 months ago, despite a report by then Regional Police Officer, Nasir Khan Durrani describing him as a security threat," a senior police official told this newspaper.

In fact, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, a junior Cabinet minister from the PPP, the party to which Taseer belonged, said, "The people behind this assassination should be exposed immediately... There was a serious security lapse."

PPP Law Minister Babar Awan criticised the "huge criminal security failure".

Interior Minister Rehman Malik alluded to a wider conspiracy to destabilise Pakistan, which is on the front line of the US-led war on Al Qaeda. "We know how much money is being pumped in and if we don't act wisely it will explode like a bomb and we won't be able to face the consequences," Malik said. Analysts say that the assassination by a police commando underscored how deeply religious extremism has penetrated society. It came just days after businesses across Pakistan closed down to protest against any softening of the blasphemy law. "Religious extremism has penetrated so deep that it has gone into the state system," said analyst Hasan Askari.

Source: Sunday Guardian, Pakistan

URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/sherry-rahman-next-hit-list/d/3933