At this time of great tragedy, it’s time to pause and ask why Pakistan has evolved so differently from India:

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers42/paper4138.html

With all due respect to Taseer, he too underestimated the extremist grip on the Pakistani society.

Pakistan’s plunge into religious extremism predates Zia-ul-Haq’s era. The blasphemy law is just the tip of the iceberg…

about this assasination is that the crime scene was not hosed down immediately. Why is that? Water shortage (hard to believe after all the floods)? Or are the investigators slipping up again?

Dear David you wrote:
"Sounds like the Pakistani security services just got the names of a number of individuals with whom they might want to have a conversation. "

Tut-Tut.
Now this line is a giveaway that you DON'T know your Pakistan.
This is pakistan we are talking about, the land of the pure - literally speaking. The number of individuals we are talking about who feel that the assassin was justified in killing Salman Taseer would amount to like a huge majority of the population.

After all the assassin was acting on his beliefs that the anti blasphemy law in pakistan which in this case is being used to falsely implicate Aasia Bibi, is supreme. Most pakistanis want the islamic anti-blasphemy law which mandates the death penalty to those who denigrate islam. Most non-muslims in pakistan live in fear of coming in the clutches of this law.

The mullahs have already held strikes and brought that country to a standstill demanding that Aasia Bibi be executed as per the law. Salman Taseer dared to argue that this law be repealed and further that Aasia Bibi be released.

What we are seeing in Pakistan is the more pious taking down the less pious. The more pious are better armed, have state support, the support of the majority of the population and the talibs. It is only a matter of time before they take over completely.

The more pious are simply going to snuff out any opposition in their path to total control of that nation.

Salman Taseer and his family living extravagant lives, drinking alcohol, the women of the family going about without the purdah and being photographed in western clothes, and generally living it up in that desperately poor uneducated country, was an eyesore to the general population as it is.

It was only a matter of time before someone pulled the plug.

Now this sends a message out to the rest of the elite in that country.
1. No more extravagant display of wealth
2. Keep the women strictly in the purdah
3. Do not invite the wrath of the mullahs by being politically incorrect. (What is politically correct is what the mullahs ordain - one has to keep up to date on the fatwas issued by them from time to time on various issues)

Dear David,
Again going back to your last line, you wrote:
"Sounds like the Pakistani security services just got the names of a number of individuals with whom they might want to have a conversation. "

I'm curious, which security services in pakistan did you have in mind?

The assassin belonged to one such security service, in fact was from one of the elite anti-terrorist units and was deployed to provide security to the Governer from the jihadi terrorists. Turns out that the security guard was a Jihadi sympathizer himself. (Sounds a bit like the wolf guarding the pen).

Of the other security and intel agencies the lesser said, the better.
1. The ISI - Infamous for training and arming the taliban and directing them to attack the coailition forces in Afghanistan or trainging and sending the mumbai 26/11 attackers.
2. The IB, MIA which have been blamed for kidnappings, torture, targetted political killings in NWFP, Balochistan and Karachi?

There is not one organization, security or otherwise that has not been jihadised there. Please understand that the entire society has been radicalized. The process has been on for several decades, from the time of Zulfikar Bhutto to Zia to the current era, the jihadi forces have gradually gained ground within that society. What we see happening in Af-Pak are only the symptoms of this disease.

I strongly condemn killing of Taseer. However, for many reasons, least of which is his views on blasphemy law, he was the second most hated person in Pakistan, first being the President of Pakistan. This may be another reason why the facebook page was flooded with comments.

The security guard who killed Taseer has become a facebook hero in Pakistan.

However low internet penetration in pakistan is, if one were to profile the people who have access to facebook in pakistan, one would assume two things: The average facebook user in pakistan is:
1. Educated
2. Middle class or elite and rich.

Now here is the rub. The assassin is a hero amongst the educated and the people with money.

We are not talking about the masses here who are poor, god fearing, and pious. We are talking about people who have access to a computer and the internet here.

I'll leave it for you and your readers to judge for yourselves where that country stands today.

I am Pakistani and while S.Taseer was corrupt, there are no celebrations or joyous Pakistani masses applauding his assasin. The national papers are all shocked and stunned - and on my FB page and my friends its all sympathy and shock. The religous right is and has always been small - at best pulling 3% of the national vote. Don't forget ST was VOTED into power. The problem is the right has the weapons and the right levers of actual violent power. Its tremendous leverage in a country like Pakistan with weak institutions. How many ordinary people will shout out support for moderation when the bloody governor of the largest province, a top security target, can be taken down?

< http://tribune.com.pk/story/99313/hardline-stance-religious-bloc-condones-murder/ />

KARACHI: More than 500 religious scholars belonging to the Barelvi school of thought paid rich tributes to the assassin of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer on Tuesday and urged ‘Muslims across the country’ to boycott the funeral ceremony.

The largest body of the Barelvi group, the Jamaate Ahle Sunnat Pakistan (JASP), whose directions are considered binding on every other organisation that follows the same school of thought, issued a statement saying that “No Muslim should attend the funeral or even try to pray for Salmaan Taseer or even express any kind of regret or sympathy over the incident.”

people are afraid to discuss the murder.intolerance is touching its height.May God protect us from all evil.

The majority of Pakistanis have become evil and deranged. This is Islamic fascism at its worst, and it's spreading to every corner of the globe. Time to quarantine Pakistan.