ISLAMABAD: The last messages of the assassinated Governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, on his Twitter page show he was ready to die for his stand on the blasphemy law. One of the messages says, “Mullah backlash attacking my stance (on blasphemy law), demanding my resignation; Rakhte Dil bandh lo Dil fagaro chalo; Phir hameen qatl ho ayen Yaro chalo.”
At another point, Taseer wrote: “I was under huge pressure to bow down before rightist pressure on blasphemy. Refused. Even if I’m the last man standing.” In an interview, Salmaan Taseer said, “The extremists are giving me threats, they are using name of Islam, they want to bring their own brand of Islam but I don’t give a damn.”
The cyberspace used by Salmaan Taseer shows how candid and open he was while expressing his views on any topic, ranging from politics to day-to-day activities. Taseer was an active user of Twitter and his followers on Twitter often used to get amused with his frank comments that he used to post on a daily basis. Whether it was politics, governorship, the blasphemy laws or the Punjab government, Taseer was always outspoken.
The policeman who killed governor Punjab, in a statement to the media, claimed that Salmaan Taseer had committed blasphemy and that was why he gunned down Taseer. There is not a single evidence of blasphemy committed by Salmaan Taseer. Yes, Taseer had his views on the blasphemy law and its misuse.
His last message says, “President Zardari’s total support of PM has once again silenced rumours of split in the PPP top leadership. Govt is here till 2013.” On Tuesday morning, Taseer even wrote a few poetry verses: “Mera azm itna bulund hae Parae sholon se dar nahin. Mujhe dar hae tu atish e gul se hae Ye kahin chaman ko jala na dein. Significant?”
On the current political situation, Taseer wrote: “Before non parliamentary actors were derailing democratic process now parliamentarians like Sheikh Chilli are cutting the tree they are sitting on”.
On the current WikiLeaks disclosures, Taseer spoke an unusual truth of Pakistani politics and mentioned that elected persons, having people’s mandate, do not run Pakistan. He even did not spare the ‘establishment’, saying they had declared the Ghaffar Khan family as rebels, then how come Asfandyar Wali has become good enough to be a President.
“Of Traditional 3 As of political success — Allah, Army America — it seems only Allah has been forgotten by Pakistani politicians”. He then introduced three new As and wrote, “The NEW 3 As of political success in the correct order of priority 1.America 2. Arabs 3. Army”.
When most parts of the country were inundated with floods Taseer spoke his heart out and said that Kalabagh Dam was a necessity. “Kalabagh Dam would have helped prevent flooding”.
Out of his 10 tweets, Taseer discussed the ‘governance style’ of Sharif brothers in almost six of his comments, not stopping short of satire and making fun of the Sharif brothers. He posted a joke last month, which says, “Good 2 see ex-PM Nawaz Sharif at the President’s banquet. He studies the menu intensely for 20 mins. Bearer told me it was upside down.”
Due to his openness, his followers were rapidly growing on twitter as in August 2010 some 2,710 people were followers of Taseer while in December 2010 his followers had grown by more than double. On his death, twitter shows 5,667 people were Taseer’s followers.
Taseer was open, brave and ready to die