Very nasty little article in The Weekend Australian this weekend Jan 8-9 2011 about Pakistan.
Salman Taseer Punjab governor and Pakistan’s most outspoken liberal politician and opponent of religious bigotry has been assassinated for opposing the hardline blasphemy laws introduced by Pakistan’s previous military dictator General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq a hang-and-flog Islamic zealot. Taseer took on the muillahs over the sentence of death by hanging handed down to a 45-year old Christian woman [url=http://www.jinnah-institute.org/issues/secular-space/184-aasia-bibi-and-the-blasphemy-law]Aasia Bibi[/url] after she was convicted under blasphemy laws of insulting the prophet Mohammed. Many religious leaders have banned prayers for Taseer.
The assassin Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri is being acclaimed. The 26-year-old Islamic extremist is from one of the country’s elite anti-terrorist commando units. He has become a hero the new face of Pakistan Inc with even top members of the Pakistan bar falling over themselves to offer him their services.
Taseer provoked the forces of Islamic conservatism that as is now obvious are far more powerful than previously believed. They are the same forces that support the Taliban and al Qa’ida. There is nothing it seems the enfeebled Pakistan People’s Party government headed by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani can do to stop them. The government is crippled.
[b]Taseer’s assassination has driven a bus through the theory that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is safe because it is controlled by the professional secular military.[/b]
There has long been suspicions about Islamic extremism permeating the armed forces. About 70000 Pakistanis work in the nuclear industry including 7000-8000 scientists 2000 reportedly with critical knowledge.