I thought I should editorialize one issue a day. Yes, just one issue a day.
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میں سیاسی کارکن ہونے کے ساتھ ساتھ شیعہ بھی ہوں شھدا کے خاندان بلیکمیلرز ...
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Killings of Shia Hazaras | Phased opening of schools | Politics of Chaud...
Sunday, January 3, 2021
@SalmaanTaseer on January 4, 2011
The twitter account of him helped me write his name correctly, otherwise before that I would write him Salman Taseer instead of Salmaan Taseer. The account of Shaheed Salmaan Taseer remained one of my favourite hangouts since the day he created it in October 2009. Though the last post on the account landed on Jan 4, 2011, of course, not tweeted by himself, comments – both positive and toxic – keep on adding life to the account. A walk into the twitter timeline of Shaheed Salmaan Taseer makes one realized how learned, forwarded looking and insightful man he was, which Pakistan lost to hate and religious terrorisms. The twitter handle is @SalmaanTaseer with ‘Governor of the Punjab, Pakistan’ as a brief bio line. For this piece, I am going through the twitter account of Shaheed Salman Taseer and discuss what he tweeted on January 4, 2011, the last day of the voice of helpless minorities and liberal segments.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fi" dir="ltr">R.I.P. Lion of the Punjab Salmaan Taseer (31 May 1944-04 Jan 2011)... Innalillahe wa inna ilaihi rajiun</p>— Salmaan Taseer (@SalmaanTaseer) <a href="https://twitter.com/SalmaanTaseer/status/22304203791667202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2011</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The
last tweet posted on January 4, 2011 reads: “R.I.P. Lion of the Punjab Salmaan
Taseer (31 May 1944-04 Jan 2011)... Innalillahe wa inna ilaihi rajiun”. It is
obvious someone else wrote the tragic lines on the feed. The last tweet by him,
perhaps hours before the killer targeted him in a cowardice manners, was
“Prezdnt Zardaris total support of PM has once again silenced rumours of split
in PPP top leadership. Govt is here till 2013”. Those were the times when
Twitter allowed only 120 characters. Then, media’s anti-PPP government campaign
was on its peak. Anchors would conclude their programmes with the prediction
that this was their last programme in the incumbent government times. Time
tells that the Shaheed’s words stood the ground as President Zardari’s
government became the first one in Pakistani history to complete its tenure.
The second last tweet of his life also aims at media’s maligning of the
government. On January 4, 2011, Salmaan Taseer tweeted: “Plz read the full page
Ad on Reko Diq 2 realize how damaging poisonous Shaheen Sehbai and Jang Group
propaganda r 2 interests of Pakistan”. This happened when the court of Iftikhar
Chaudhry would shout at and insult the government machinery every day on the
Reko Diq deal, made back in the early 90s by the then government and the
consortium of foreign companies. The Shaheed tried to get the media
realize that how blind and ignorant their campaign was and what would be its
international consequences for Pakistan. Today, Reko Diq has won a damage suit
of $6 billion against Pakistan. The government is trying hard to reach an out-of-court
settlement with the company, while the retired justice is basking the sun in
retirement. The media conveniently looks the other way.
On
the last day of his life, Salmaan Taseer tweeted only to address the Pakistan’s
destiny in the future. He was visiting Islamabad on the fateful day, when the
he was ambushed and martyred. Perhaps, while traveling in the car, he tweeted:
“Apple is worth more than $300bn. In other words much much more than 180 mn
Pakistanis. Something our politicians shud think about”. He did know the
importance of technology and science education. During his business career,
Salmaan Taseer launched the finest telecom and Internet services. In his most
of the political and electoral life, he remained in the opposition. When he was
made the governor of the Punjab, Salmaan Taseer brought about qualitative
reforms to the higher education sector being the chancellor of universities. He
made visits to the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, to discuss and open
science study and research centres. The tragedy with the Shaheed was that
he was invited to the TV talk shows only to discuss blasphemy, politics and
corruption scandals. He was never given an opportunity to explain his higher
education reforms. Till day, education is least on the media’s discussion topic
list. In 2011, Salmaan Taseer found Apple’s worth at $300 billion. In 2015,
@alikhanGMTT tweeted to the Shaheed’s post that “since then Apple worth now
over 600 Billion soon to hit Trillion. Power of technology versus ignorance.”
As Apple’s worth is growing, the same way ignorance is growing manifold in
Pakistan.
The
first tweet of the last day of his life became a signature slogan in the memory
of Shaheed Salmaan Taseer. Being the son of a celebrated poet, MD Taseer, he
would often wear poetic armors in his discussions and tweets. He tweets: “Mera
azm itna bulund hae Parae sholon se dar nahin. Mujhe dar hae tu atish e gul se
hae Ye kahin chaman ko jala na dein”.
Since
January 4, 2011 to January 4, 2020, I have been Shaheed Salmaan Taseer’s
twitter timeline several times and every time, I get inspired by his words, his
vision and his dream for Pakistan. The martyred politician’s tweets serve
lessons and guidelines for the people of Pakistan – only for those who care for
the country and its people.