STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Next we're going to follow up on the killing of a governor in Pakistan. He was assassinated for opposing a blasphemy law under which a Christian woman was sentenced to death. After the shooting of the governor one week ago, we heard from a Pakistani editor who was hoping this event would galvanize opposition to religious extremists. Something else may be happening instead. It involves the lawyers' movement, a famous force for democracy in Pakistan. To learn more about what's going on we've reached out to Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist based in the city of Lahore. Welcome back to the program, sir.
AHMED RASHID: Thank you.
INSKEEP: Well, would you remind us who the lawyers were two or three years ago, what they were seen as doing two or three years ago?
RASHID: Now it must be said then, a lot of the lawyers are extremely right-wing and very conservative, but they united with liberal lawyers in a common demand for a return to democracy allowing Benazir Bhutto to come back to the country, the holding of elections, and the reinstatement of the chief justice.
INSKEEP: That was the position they took at a historic moment in Pakistan and now the governor of the Punjab Province where you are has been assassinated by one of his own bodyguards apparently. That's the man who is accused. And what position have the lawyers taken on that case?
RASHID: One of the religious extremist organizations issued a threat to the daughter of Salman Taseer because she had given an interview to the BBC and she had written an article, and one of these religious groups issued a death threat to her. And this religious leader has not been arrested and likewise, all those defending the killer, there's been no action taken against them.
INSKEEP: I want to make sure I clarify what we're talking about here, because if you're a lawyer, obviously any defendant is entitled to a defense, is entitled to a lawyer. That's part of the legal system. Are you saying these 1,000 lawyers who've signed up on behalf of the defendant are going beyond legal advocacy here?
RASHID: Well, yes, because what they're doing is that they're expressing their political point of view, which is that they believe that the killer was totally justified in killing the governor. And they're expressing their support for the killer and they're expressing their support for what he said, which was I stand by the blasphemy law. I'm a slave of the Prophet Mohammed and I will do whatever he says. Now those few words that he uttered as he was being put into a police car is what has really motivated these lawyers to defend him.
INSKEEP: In what way would it be the rule of law to kill a man as he leaves lunch?
RASHID: Well, the real question here is not a question of blasphemy or no blasphemy, it's a question that, you know, nobody is allowed to take the law into their own hands. And these are lawyers who should be respecting the law, which is obviously - I mean one of the tenants of the law is that you don't go around murdering people. And here we have the lawyers actually suggesting that murdering who they don't like, politically speaking, is justified.
INSKEEP: So what does this mean for a secular Pakistan?
RASHID: Well, I think it really is a sign of breakdown. It's a sign of breakdown of law and order. The fundamentalists now seem to have got a cause celebre. They have - they're on a roll now. They're acting much more threateningly. Many of these fundamentalists what to overthrow the government and impose an Islamic system. The government itself is very paralyzed, they're not taking any measures. So people are very, very deeply worried by this quite dramatic and sudden turn of events.
INSKEEP: Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist and author. He's on the line from Lahore. His book is "Descent Into Chaos." Thanks very much.
RASHID: Thank you.