In Pakistan, Tolerance Shrinks - Wall Street Journal

BY MIRA SETHI

Lahore, Pakistan

Three years ago, when Benazir Bhutto—the first woman to lead a postcolonial Muslim state—was assassinated, Pakistanis mourned her from the syncretic South to the Punjab to the tribal North. With the recent assassination of Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, the opposite has been true. While his friends, party-workers and family huddled together in despair, Pakistan's silent majority and vocal Islamist minority ignored and celebrated his murder.

Late last week, when Taseer's assassin was presented at an antiterrorism court, no public prosecutor showed up out of fear for his safety. Instead, a throng of shouting lawyers and activists, bearing garlands ...