Let the Pandering Resume!

The unsurprising decision of the Pakistani government to put the blasphemy law amendments on the backburner highlights the structural rigidity preventing meaningful change in the country.

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"The appeasement of extremism is a policy that will have its blowback".

This was the ominous warning of Sherry Rehman, MNA and senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, after the announcement made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that the blasphemy law amendments package will not be brought up for discussion in parliament.

Though PM Gilani said the decision was a mutual one, Ms Rehman herself seemed surprise when she said she was not aware of the withdrawal herself, but agreed to abide by the party's overall stance on the matter.

Once again the PPP government has bowed down to pressure from the religious right, a tradition it has carried forth ever since Zulfiqar Bhutto's decision to declare Ahmedis as non-muslims in the 70's. Ironically, then, as now, the religious parties remained unappeased and mustered popular support which eventually toppled the Bhutto government and ushered in the totalitarian regime of General Zia Ul Haq, a dark chapter in our nation's history. And this particular phase isn't all that bright either.

It's strange that all this socio-religio-political brouhaha has been made over an issue that most people aren't even entirely clear about themselves. As Mosharraf Zaidi pointed out in an excellent piece last month, the majority of the public believes that the blasphemy law amendments package intends to eliminate the blasphemy law altogether, which is an insult to our notions of protecting Islam from "Tauheen-e-Risalat". However, the truth couldn't be further from that. In actuality, the amendments package seeks a more rigorous examination of the evidence against claims of blasphemy, as well as the need for further necessary conditions to categorize whether someone has blasphemed or not, such as having the intention to have insulted the Prophet or not.

However it is easy to blame the religious parties for mobilizing support against the package. I can't help but think that perhaps if the PPP had spent some time and effort publicly that the point of the bill was to ensure that the law didn't fall prey to personal vendettas, and prevent exploitation of a sensitive issue, such opposition wouldn't be seen. But it refused to do so, steering clear of any comments that could inflame the right-wingers, even after it cost the party a senior PPP leader in Salmaan Taseer, whose only mistake was to publicly defend the amendments. In the wake of his assassination, the government was presented by an ideal opportunity to push for reform, but kept its own party members in the lurch by pandering to the religious right.

By keeping itself and the nation in the dark, the government has once again offered ample evidence of its ineptness. Maybe, if the PPP used some of the airtime it expends on shamelessly promoting the Benazir Income Support Program in newspapers and television channels on advertising the true spirit of the amendments package, we wouldn't see such societal opposition to such necessary measures.

It's easy to see the right as some kind of Protean monster, on the one hand ignorant and inert towards the advocacy of such laws, and at the same time, willing to die---or kill---to defend them. But everyone is to blame. The centrists and the liberals have done little more than shuffle uneasily in their chairs, and condemn it amongst themselves. Few have mustered the courage to speak openly against the injustice of the blasphemy law, and when they do, like Salmaan Taseer, bloodshed is inevitable. But this cannot, and should not, be the end game of this quagmire. The PPP should have learned more from its past and used this opportunity to set a new precedent in its chequered history. Instead, it bowed down to religious sentiments that have claimed the lives of thousands with complete indemnity thanks to such laws.

With the withdrawal of the amendments package, the PPP has shown us all the sad truth, that one of its senior and most loyal leaders died for nothing. A benchmark has been set, much to the delight of the religious extremists, that any goal can be achieved through the threat and application of bloodbaths. Meanwhile, our society remains unaware of the issue at large, and the government, has preferred political mileage over real, necessary change. The blow back, it seems, has already begun.