President Zardari,

No time to exchange pleasantries. I write to you due to some terrible chaos taking place in the country – this time it is not because of the floods or suicide attacks. This time it’s because your supporter, party member and colleague Governor Salman Taseer was killed this week and you were no where to be seen (again!). Is everything okay – should we be (further) worried?

The tragic incident has led almost all of us who know how to write, to write – which is commendable because the blasphemy law does need to be spoken about, however, I feel that you too need to be spoken about. So before people start claiming ridiculous things (such as spiritual healers telling you to stay near the sea shore this month), I thought I should request you to speak out in your defense.

Sources state that due to security reasons you were advised not to attend the funeral ceremony – but a man who has braved so much danger and so many obstacles in the path to presidency is not scared that easily – or is he? Who are these people advising you anyway? I don’t think they are doing much for your PR. This is the time when you could have shown solidarity with your people, with Taseer, with what he stood for and the loss the nation was feeling. Wasn’t it you who wanted a revision to this law? Or have you already retracted that statement after seeing Taseer’s fate? This is the time you could have tossed aside your paranoia and stood in the row next to Gilani and Malik and said a prayer – even if it was just for the cameras, you should have been there.

I’ve heard that you asked Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and your sister Faryal Talpur to attend the funeral ceremony on your behalf? If that’s true, I am a bit confused. I understand (thanks to Wikileaks) why you would ask your sister to represent you but Qaim Ali Shah? Seriously?

Salman Taseer died at the hands of extremists who believe it is okay to take the law in their own hands. Salman Taseer died because he was not paranoid and he was not a coward. Perhaps he too should have sat in his fortified castle, fearful of the crowds, clutching his throne and then, perhaps he would have still been alive today – secure, just like yourself.

To top it off, the same person who said that the blasphemy law cannot be touched until he is in office, was the one seen offering statements of condolence and making press conferences. Babar Awan, who opposed everything Taseer said about this law, was the one speaking to the crowds, ensuring a thorough inquiry – do you really think anyone believes anything coming out of the government anymore? If you do, you really need to step out more often and see for yourself.

‘Some elements want to topple the government…’ is how you explain these tragedies. Sorry to bring this to your notice, but looking at the current dismay, almost everyone wants to topple the government. Minutes after Taseer was killed, some of your ministers started a monologue against evil extremists’ forces while the more dramatic ones took us down the ‘political conspiracy’ road. When there is no harmony and unison between the statements coming from PPP ministers, how can we even begin to imagine there can ever be religious harmony in Pakistan?

Shyema Sajjad is the Deputy Editor at Dawn.com