Sunday, January 09, 2011

Salmaan Taseer

There have been several posts about Salman Taseer and his assassination; here are two in ALL THINGS PAKISTAN and Accidental Blogger. The is post in 'The Guardian' seems to explain his personality Salmaan Taseer, Aasia Bibi and Pakistan's struggle with extremism:
"In death Taseer has been deified as the fountainhead of liberal Pakistan. The reality was more complex. Sharp, brash and undiplomatic, Taseer was a political bruiser who devoted much of his energies as governor to frustrating his old political enemies, the Sharif family, in Lahore. Although an instinctive liberal, he had also taken a job under the military ruler, Pervez Musharraf. And in person he could be profane and brusque as well as charming.

But he was unafraid to take a principled stand against the froth-mouthed mullahs and their violent supporters – a rare quality in Pakistani politics. "He was a larger than life figure, with all the faults and qualities of any human being," said writer Ahmed Rashid. "But during his last stint in politics he took up human-rights issues in a way he had never done before. I think he matured a lot.""

Articles about him and his son Aatish Taseer by Khushwant Singh and Shimaila Matri Dawood.

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