MUMTAZ Qadri is an unrepentant murderer who killed Salmaan Taseer, then governor of Punjab, in cold blood for the vilest of reasons.

The Supreme Court has done the right and brave thing by upholding Mr Qadri’s murder conviction — and reinstating his conviction under anti-terrorism laws that the Islamabad High Court had wrongly set aside.

Four and a half years on from one of the most shocking events in this country’s history, justice has been done and been seen to be done.

Now, Qadri should live out the rest of his natural life in a prison — and jail authorities should take measures to ensure that the special treatment allegedly afforded to him no longer continues. This paper is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and Mumtaz Qadri is no exception.

It is enough punishment for an individual to spend the rest of his life in prison, cut off from the rest of society; there are no cogent reasons for why the state should take an individual’s life.

In truth, there should never have been any doubt about Qadri’s conviction. The very fact that there were doubts points to the political and social realities on the margins of the country today.

The Islamabad High Court judgement upholding Qadri’s murder conviction, but setting aside the anti-terror conviction exemplified the problems surrounding the case.

The Punjab governor was murdered to try and suppress for all time any debate about the controversial applications of the country’s blasphemy laws. In assassinating Salmaan Taseer, the murderer, Mumtaz Qadri, was attempting to intimidate and silence the country itself.

The assassination was the very definition of terrorism — a national political motive rooted in a very perverse understanding of religion. Had the so-called Qadri exception that the Islamabad High Court had seemingly endorsed been allowed to stand, defence teams around the country would have invoked them in the case of sectarian attacks and the murder of non-Muslims.

The Supreme Court has corrected that potential historic wrong and it is hoped the detailed judgement will elucidate on how and why what Qadri did constituted terrorism.

To truly honour Salmaan Taseer’s memory, however, the country’s blasphemy laws need to be revisited. No rational individual can suggest that the law is not seriously abused and has a flawed construction when it comes to blasphemy.

Disproportionately, the blasphemy laws have been invoked against the poorest in society and among non-Muslims — a negation of the constitutional equality guaranteed to all individuals. But the effects go deeper.

Today, the mere allegation of blasphemy can result in instant death at the hands of a charged mob.

A distorted set of laws has allowed extremist elements to intimidate and repress an entire society. That must not be allowed to continue.

Perhaps the next step to recovering the nation could be to revisit the conviction of Aasia Bibi.

Published in Dawn, October 8th , 2015

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