Dawn: IT appears that there are three schools of thought when it comes to minority rights in Pakistan.

There are those who champion religious minorities and raise their voices against oppression. There are those who believe that Pakistanis have ‘bigger things to worry about’. And then there are those who actively pedal an anti-minority, pro-religious violence stance. It’s the latter I found most fervent in their self-belief while making the BBC documentary The Trouble with Pakistan’s White Stripe.

In Rawalpindi, I set out to find the home of Mumtaz Qadri, the man currently appealing a conviction for the murder of the late Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. Before I even needed to ask for directions I was greeted with giant canvases of Qadri’s face, adorned with garlands and slogans evangelising his ‘bravery’. The home, in fact the entire street where he had lived, has been turned into a carnival-like homage to the man who shot Salmaan Taseer 27 times, before surrendering to the police.

So secure are Qadri’s family in their piety they said that although Mumtaz is their youngest brother, his actions mean they all “look up to him”. “His trial is not just about him. The whole ummah is on trial.” All the while, the brothers insisted I finish the bottle of Sprite they’d given me. They were happy to champion murder in the name of God. They just didn’t want me to question their hospitality.

A short drive away in his office I met Shujaul Rehman, the man spearheading Qadri’s appeal. When I asked him if he had offered Qadri pro-bono services, he refused to answer. But asked why he had taken on the case he could barely contain himself. “What you need to understand is that the people of Pakistan cannot tolerate an insult to the Prophet (PBUH).”

Rehman appeared to believe this sentence could justify Qadri’s hero status.

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