21 thoughts on “Then he got shot, and spoiled it all.”

  8. bravo22c :

    Good? He was a raving egomaniac who foresaw the mayhem that would follow a precipitate end to the Raj and welcomed it anyway.

    Or one who would rather let his wife, whom he described as having the “face of a cow” die rather than get medicine from the British, and then soon after go running to the British for medication because he couldn’t deal with having a bout of malaria?

  13. I am appalled at the implications for us all in the aftermath of the assassination of the Liberal Governor in Lahore. The huge wave of support for his assassin within Pakistan spells disaster for the State’s already uncertain grip on security. [“As the former governor was laid to rest, 500 Pakistani religious scholars warned that anyone who expresses grief over the assassination could suffer the same fate.The scholars also noted the “courage” and religious zeal of the killer, saying his action has made Muslims around the world proud.”]
    I do not anticipate any other leading politicians in Pakistan daring to raise their heads above the parapet with the courage displayed by Salman Taseer in opposing Pakistan’s Blastphemy laws.
    Previous, widely-held beliefs that it was only a small minority of raving loonies from the lower and uneducated classes who were fundamentalist Islamic militants, have been blown out of the water, and we can expect growing problems round the world, whose genesis lies in that godforsaken part of our world.
    RR: Let’s not go there 🙂

  14. CWJ. But these are not normal muslims, remember? Normal muslims don’t do stuff like this, or say such things – or so we are told…

  15. I cannot adequately express my feelings about these medieval malefactors and their supine supporters worldwide, for Boadicea would moderate my comment and give me severe GBH of the earhole on the smoking terrace. But I have the same opinions about their apologists, too. 😀

  16. Bearsy :

    I cannot adequately express my feelings about these medieval malefactors and their supine supporters worldwide, for Boadicea would moderate my comment and give me severe GBH of the earhole on the smoking terrace. But I have the same opinions about their apologists, too. :grin:

    🙂

  17. Bravo, as usual a vociferous but blood-curdlingly vicious minority has cowed a silent majority into submission and if not acquiescence, a seeming paralysis of inaction. Our own government seems equally reluctant to tackle these issues, with their concerns for human rights of the individuals outweighing any concerns of the security of the general public. In Pakistan itself I suspect it is far too late for their Government to get a grip on the security issues involved. For far too long they were encouraging these people to create mayhem in both Afghanistan and Kashmir, and of course into India, thinking they would never turn round and bite them in the ass within Pakistan itself. Initially of course America was also supporting them when the target was the Russian presence in Afghanistan, so the West cannot claim total innocence in their creation. Can you imagine being a Cabinet Minister in a country where you cannot be sure that a member of your own security detail will not knock you off at a time of his own choosing, whilst the rest of them stand around watching without intervening? Salman Taseer was a brave individual to express the enlightened views of the silent majority so forcefully, and he has paid for his courage with his life. None of us in the civilised world should be rejoicing at his death, and we need to hope that there are others prepared to tackle this hydra of poisonous hatred. The origins of Pakistan’s fomenting this breed lay in General Zia ul-Haq’s embracing of Islamic government in order to curry favour and money from the Saudis during his military dictatorship, but that’s a story for another day…

  21. Val, he was a self-made man, very proud of his own creation. Whether or not he was a ‘good thing’ is, at the least, questionable.

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