Love him, hate him, take or leave him… It was impossible to ignore the larger-than-life Salmaan Taseer.

Today, we find the need to ask whether committing a murder is wrong. Is the ruling PPP deliberating over the same question?

Promoting the “Rally Against Fear” on Facebook, one of the citizen organisers says, “Join hands to take responsibility for your country. Come out of your homes. Show that this is our country too.”

In this sad time for Pakistan, when justice, reason and compassion are in short supply, here are a few voices from the Pakistani blogosphere who have stood up for Salmaan Taseer’s shared values and are railing against the madness that seems to be strengthening its hold on the country.

“The United States remains committed to helping the government and people of Pakistan as they persevere in their campaign to bring peace and stability to their country,” says the US top diplomat, Hillary Clinton.

“A law that punishes people who are involved in the act of blasphemy, to me, is not directly derived from the Quran,” says this scholar.

“The most barbaric and inhumane practices are being propagated in the name of religion in Pakistan,” says Iqbal Haider.

When it comes to either a repeal or amendments of the blasphemy laws, Sherry Rehman says that “there is very little appetite for both.”

“This is a man-made law, not a God-made one,” says Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Punjab, about Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Observers and experts say that mob violence and police brutality in blasphemy cases are followed up by sluggish courts, subjecting the accused to long periods in jail, high legal costs and repeated court appearances.