I received an email from a Muslim friend of mine he was very disturbed by the controversy around the detention and death sentence of sister Asia. He has sent me an email link to a story via Rauf Klausra formerly with the Jaang Newspaper now reporting for Express News. In his meaningful and revealing commentary, Rauf talks about the need for forgiveness. He talks of how when Muhammed was once being stoned an Angel asked Muhamnmed if he wanted his assailants terminated. It is said that Muhammed asked for clemency and that the assailants were later converted to Islam.
The story was the first article written by a Muslim reporter in Urdu the language of the masses in Pakistan. and caused a real stir. However, overall perceptions of his article have been favourbale and have not led to the awful death threats that we have become used to in recent times.
A comment form my friend who is a close associate of Rauf said (sic):
"Nobody dared to write on the subject in Urdu. Everybody feared the wrath of the semi-educated masses misled by ignorant mullah. Rauf was the first to dare to plead her case fully. Now there are more columns in Urdu press after Rauf wrote on the subject. The good thing is a positive response on the article from his readers. He received 80 emails. 70 of them appreciated him. 10 of them argued and tried to plead the other way round. But none of them threatened Rauf. That is a positive note."
The article leads readers to think that a crime has been committed and that a real blasphemy occurred. I am reticent to support the notion having read about the recommendation from the Minster of Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti. However, irrespective of this Mr Klausra has supported clemency and is promoting an agenda of peace and mediation. As such he deserves our support. Read the article (in urdu) by clicking the link below:
Working together with moderate Muslims we can make the situation in Pakistan a more fair and equal one. However, don't expect anything soon - there is much to correct!
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