KARACHI, Jan 18: Speakers at a memorial reference for the assassinated Punjab Governor Salman Taseer held on Tuesday urged progressives and civil society organisations to rise above party politics and forge unity to restore sanity to public discourse that extremists have spoiled by killing people for their liberal views and unleashing violence in society.

The memorial reference, which was originally planned to be held at the Arts Council of Pakistan, was finally organised by the Citizens For Democracy at the PMA House after what the organisers described as a sudden shift in the attitude of the Arts Council management that “withdrew” the permission given for the programme allegedly under pressure from right-wing forces.

The speakers appealed to all political parties to organise similar meetings for the slain governor in all major cities to send a clear message to extremists that they could not dictate their terms by force.

Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was murdered by his guard allegedly for expressing sympathy with a Christian woman, who had been convicted and sentenced to death under the blasphemy law, and stating that the law needed to be reviewed.

While condemning the assassination, the speakers expressed their shock over the fact that some members of Rawalpindi's legal fraternity had showered rose petals on the suspected killer and attempted to glorify his act.

Pakistan People's Party Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab said that while the killing of Mr Taseer had shocked the world, the attitude of some people, particularly some religious parties, was equally shocking to the nation. They were glorifying the act of murder and trying to turn a killer — who had pumped over 27 bullets in the body of a person he was supposed to protect — into a hero.

This murder had exposed a fault line in society, Ms Wahab said, adding that liberal forces would have to counter and overcome the problem by joining hands. She said they would have to mobilise the masses and spread awareness by exposing the vested interests misusing the name of religion to achieve their goal.

A former lawmaker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Kunwar Khalid Yunus, said that the present situation in the country was similar to what was faced by Europe some 500 years back. He said that during the Reformation, saner elements had joined hands and launched a mass movement to purge society of people using religion for power. He said it was time the progressive forces joined hands to counter the extremist forces.

Adviser to the chief minister Kaiser Bengali said he was happy to see a large number of young faces in the audience that showed their liberal and progressive mindset. He said that the religious parties and extremist forces were misusing the name of religion to gain power. He urged the liberal forces to forge unity to counter extremism.

Rights activist Iqbal Haider, a former federal law minister, said that the extremist forces had sent a message to the liberal forces by killing Mr Taseer, but the extremists should know that the liberals and progressive elements could not be forced to bow down.

Advocate Akhtar Hussain said: “General Ziaul Haq had introduced these laws to prolong his illegal rule.”

He also said that the Shariat Court through its recent decision had challenged the sovereignty of parliament but it was unfortunate that a majority of the parliamentarians were not raising their voice on the issue.

Nasir Mansoor of the Labour Party Pakistan said that religion and state affairs should be separated as had been done in Europe over five centuries ago that paved the way for progress. He was of the view that the country could not progress if it did not follow the time-tested European model.

Father Thomas Gulfam said that in a majority of the cases, it was later found that the blasphemy law had been misused to settle personal scores.

Amarnath, Mansoor Raza, Rahat Saeed, Mohsin Saeed, Asif Buledi, Amar Sindhu, Jan Mohammad Buledi, Fareed Awan, Ramzan Memon, Zania Shoukat and others also spoke.

A resolution condemning the murder of Salman Taseer and seeking exemplary punishment, as prescribed by the law, for the killer was also adopted at the meeting.

The speakers also expressed concern over the fact that the Arts Council and the Karachi Press Club allegedly did not allow the event organisers to hold the memorial reference on their premises after which they had to change the venue.

By Our Staff Reporter

RANGERS personnel wearing masks lead a convoy of the paramilitary force's vehicles as they move into the Faqeer Colony area to conduct a door-to-door search operation on Tuesday morning.

SUSPECTS rounded up in the Orangi crackdown being driven away in a Rangers truck on Tuesday.—PPI