Pakistan on full alert for funeral of shot politician

Assassinated: Salman Taseer and his alleged killer, bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri
12 April 2012

Thousands of Pakistani police were on high alert today for the funeral for a provincial governor shot dead by his bodyguard.

The assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, a 66-year-old media tycoon and leading figure in the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, left the country reeling at a time of major political turmoil.

Mr Taseer, a liberal, was reportedly murdered for his opposition to a blasphemy law that decrees death for insulting Islam. A close ally of President Asif Ali Zardari, he is the highest-profile Pakistani politician to be assassinated since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed three years ago.

His murder in daylight at a shopping centre in Islamabad yesterday reinforced the sense that the government is incapable of stabilising the Muslim country of 170 million.

Five hundred moderate Pakistani religious scholars warned today that anyone who expresses grief over Mr Taseer's assassination could suffer the same fate.

Khusro Pervez, commissioner of Lahore, said he had deployed additional police to ensure peace before and after the funeral. "Police are on maximum alert. Police are guarding all important installations in the city," he said.

An intelligence official who interrogated the suspected killer, Mumtaz Qadri, said the 26-year-old commando had been planning the assassination since learning four days ago that he would be deployed with the governor. Qadri said he was proud to have killed a blasphemer.

Political allies questioned why Mr Taseer had not been better protected, given the weeks of angry protests outside his home over his opposition to the blasphemy laws.

The leading Islamabad newspaper Dawn reported in a front-page headline: "Blasphemy law claims another life." The Daily Times said: "Punjab Governor martyred."

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced three days of national mourning and ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Mr Taseer's death as "a great loss".

"I had the opportunity to meet governor Taseer in Pakistan and I admired his work to promote tolerance and the education of Pakistan's future generations," she said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in