Policeman guns down Punjab governor in blasphemy case

A SENIOR Pakistani politician was gunned down yesterday by a member of his own security detail in a killing connected to his controversial campaign to prevent a Christian woman being hanged for blasphemy.

• Malik Mumtaz Qadri, a member of the Punjab Police Elite Force, is driven away after the assassination of Governor Salman Taseer. Picture: AP

Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, was killed by a gunman at a market in a wealthy area of the capital, Islamabad.

Witnesses said a gunman in police uniform killed Mr Taseer, 56, on the spot.

His death is the most high-profile political assassination since the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, in December 2007.

Last night the government appealed for calm as members of Mr Taseer's Pakistan People's Party staged demonstrations in the Punjab city of Multan. The government is already on the brink of collapse, following the defection of a key coalition ally, and further unrest would deepen the sense of crisis.

Eyewitnesses said Mr Taseer was a familiar figure at Kohsar Market, a small arcade close to his house and popular with expat aid workers, diplomats and journalists.

"We saw him walking to Kohsar Market like he always does when he is in Islamabad," said a security guard near Mr Taseer's home. "We always thought it was risky, given who he was. Then later when he was leaving the place, we saw a man in uniform - just one - shooting at him."

Another witness, Ali Imran, added: "The governor fell down and the man who fired at him threw down his gun and raised both hands."

Five other people were injured as security guards responded to the attack. The shooting left bloodstains on the road just outside the arcade, which was sealed for a police search.

Rehman Malik, the interior minister, told reporters that the suspect in the case - named as Malik Mumtaz Qadri, a member of the Punjab Police Elite Force - had surrendered to officers and had told them he killed Mr Taseer because "the governor described the blasphemy laws as a black law".

Mr Taseer started his career as a chartered accountant and entered politics in 1988. He was close to President Asif Ali Zardari and was appointed governor of Punjab two years ago, becoming known for his outspoken views - often posted on Twitter, where he took on his critics.

In the past two months he had received dozens of death threats for taking up the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.He championed her cause - taking it to the president - and led calls for reform of blasphemy laws.

Hardline religious leaders accused him of being a pawn of the West and warned he would face a fatwa if he continued.

In an interview with The Scotsman at the end of last year, he said he was determined not to back down. "I have a lot of support for changing the blasphemy laws - except for this small fringe of lunatics that have singled me out," he said. ""These people won't stop me."