The cold-blooded murder this week of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province, answers a few questions with stark clarity, just as it raises others.
Taseer’s killing provides the government and citizenry an unequivocal and unpleasant reminder that state appeasement of extremist groups does not work. The Punjab provincial administration run by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif needs to accept that its historical and ongoing tolerance of violence by extremist groups is simply untenable. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party-led federal government must also take a hard look at its conduct in events culminating in Taseer’s murder.
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