Punjab Governor assassinated by body guard

Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province and a prominent politician of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has been assassinated by his own body guard.

Taseer, a wealthy businessman, was appointed governor of Punjab by President Asif Ali Zardari in 2008. Taseer’s killer, a member of the elite police force deputed to protect him fired several shots on his body as he went to have lunch with his friends in Khosar Market in Islamabad.   

Mumtaz Qadri,26, admitted to have killed Taseer for his criticism of the country’s blasphemy law and making efforts to repeal it. Taseer also took a vocal stand in support of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted and sentenced to death by a court in Pakistan for her insults against Prophet Mohamed (PBUH).

In 2009, tension began to rise in Punjab after Taseer was made head of the provincial government in a bid to contain a growing protest movement against the government of President Zardari.          

Taseer had used his newly appointed position to publicly criticise Pakistan Muslim League (N), the opposition party led by Mohamed Nawaz Sharif, and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab’s Chief Minister.      

Speaking about the incident, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman said nobody should take the law into their own hands and said there is extremism on both sides. “There are some people in Pakistan who in their quest to please the West describe jihad — which is a just struggle — as terrorism. Parliament should enact laws that leave no room for anybody to violate the principles of Islam,” he said.  

Following Taseer's assassination, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced a three-day period of national mourning and ordered flags lowered to half-mast.    

__________________________________________________________
Written by: Ibrahim Nazim
6 January 2011, Thursday
2 Safar 1432