Source/Credit: The Nation | Opinion
By Horst Bullinger | January 28, 2011
His Excellency, the Ambassador of Pakistan [to Thailand, Sohail Mahmood] had some harsh words to say about Nick Cohen's article on blasphemy laws. Nick Cohen is absolutely right in saying that only thugs love blasphemy laws.
The ambassador assures us that Pakistan's government is upholding the rule of law and prevents the misuse of the blasphemy law. Sweet words, but if this does include sharia law, then blasphemists are fair game for the Islamists. He doesn't like the expression "Islamists". Would he prefer us to call them terrorists?
Calling the murder of governour Salmaan Taseer a "tragic incident" gives the impression that he defends the Islamic mob who showered the murderer with rose petals. Not a single word about the fate of that poor (Christian) woman on death row for blasphemy. The governor's support for her was enough to have him killed. "The act of one individual?" Give us a break, Mr Ambassador.
Nor was there a single word about the Ahmadiyya (Ahmadi) Muslim community in Pakistan who have suffered persecution by the fundamentals for quite some time, leading to a group of Ahmadiyyas seeking asylum in Thailand who now are facing further inhuman detention or deportation to their hostile homeland.
Some years back, I was privileged to be invited by the Ahmadiyya community in London to a number of their meetings. An ex-colleague of mine of the Conservative group at the Merton Council is a leading member of the Ahmadiyyas in London and has recently been appointed to the House of Lords. The Ahmadiyyas' main crime in the eyes of the fundamendalists is their objection to "spreading Islam by the sword". Is this why they are not accepted as Muslims in Pakistan?
His Excellency is upset to see his country called a failed state. It depends on what one regards as a failed state, but will he accept that Pakistan is a deeply troubled state? Should that woman be executed for blasphemy, then the failed state label would apply, fairly and squarely.
In the meantime I would hope to read about his support for his fellow Pakistanis, the Ahmaddiyya asylum-seekers in Thailand. Or is he afraid of repercussions by the Islamists, as suffered by the governor?
Horst Bullinger, Bangkok
Read Ambassador Sohail Mahmood's article here.
Read original post here: Strange standards in Pakistan
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