Governor Taseer’s assassin produced before terrorism court
By IANSThursday, January 6, 2011
ISLAMABAD - Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, was Thursday presented before Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) under tight security in nearby Rawalpindi.
A magistrate Wednesday had remanded Qadri to one-day police custody with the instruction to produce him in an anti-terrorism court the next day.
He was presented before the magistrate as three judges of the ATC were on leave Wednesday, Geo TV reported.
“Police have charged Qadri with murder, terrorism and violence,” Qadri’s lawyer Farooq Sulehria said. Hundreds of people were present outside the court.
On Wednesday, police registered a case in connection with the killing of the Punjab governor. The complaint was registered in Kohsar police station with Taseer’s son Shehryar Taseer as the complainant.
Governor Taseer, a vocal critic of Islamist militancy in Pakistan, was shot dead in a market in Islamabad Tuesday by Qadri, one of Taseer’s guards who said he killed him for opposing the country’s blasphemy law which he said was anti-Islamic.
Quadri gave himself up to the authorities after gunning down the politician.
Taseer’s body was Wednesday laid to rest with national honours at the Cavalry Ground in Lahore.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, among others, attended the funeral.
