No Time for Celebration

Byline: Saroop Ijaz Mumtaz Qadri has been convicted and sentenced for the murder of Governor Salmaan Taseer. This is a reason for cautious rejoicing. Firstly, the mere fact that we choose to celebrate the conviction of a self-confessed daylight murderer and commend the judge for bravery is a manifestation of the low expectation society that we live in. Mumtaz Qadri would have been sentenced in any civilised society and although emotional and evocative the decision would still have been routine in an average functioning legal system. The judge would not have been termed as courageous, but merely doing his job. However, we do not live in an average civilised society.