Salman Taseer's killer hanged in Adiala Jail, protests across Pakistan

Islamabad: Mumtaz Qadri, a former Pakistani Elite Force commando convicted for killing liberal Punjab governor Salman Taseer, was executed at the Adiala Jail Monday triggering a protest spree by the supporters.

Security was stepped up at flashpoints across the country including the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where hundreds of supporters began gathering at Qadri's family home.

Qadri killed Mr Taseer in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market on January 4, 2011 for speaking out against misuse of blasphemy laws. An Anti-Terrorism Court had convicted and condemned Qadri to death, a ruling also upheld by the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court.

A review petition of Qadri was also turned down by the top court on December 14 last year, leaving him with the last option of filing a clemency appeal to the President. It was also rejected.

Qadri’s body was sent to his native town Sadiqabad near Rawalpindi where his funeral prayers will be offered on Tuesday. Rangers and police in riot gear as well as ambulances and dozens of police vehicles were stationed in Sadiqabad.

Following Qadri’s execution, authorities put police and Rangers on ‘high alert’, stepped up security and braced for protests. The protest demonstrations were reported in different cities, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Reports said protestors gathered on main road, Faizabad Interchange, outside Rawalpindi, burning tyres on the thoroughfare and chanted slogans against the government. In the wake of any untoward situation, the authorities closed schools in Rawalpindi.

Qadri’s brother Abid Qadri said the family had been called to the prison Sunday evening by officials who said he was unwell. But when they arrived, he greeted them with the news that authorities had deceived them, and that his execution was imminent. “We started crying, but he hugged us and chanted ‘God is great,” Abid Qadri said.

The head of the Islamabad Bar Council called for a day-long strike of lawyers in protest against the hanging.

Qadri’s attorney said his client told him he had no regrets for killing the governor. “I have met him twice in jail. He said that even if Allah gave him 50 million lives, he would still sacrifice all of them,” lawyer Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry said.

Protesters briefly blocked the main road between Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Monday after news of the hanging broke. Police later dispersed them and closed off the road to prevent more demonstrations.

Mr Chaudhry predicted larger demonstrations coinciding with Qadri’s funeral, which his legal group said would be held on Tuesday. “From what we are seeing, this protest movement is only going to increase,” he said.

In Lahore, supporters and workers of religious parties blocked Sagyan Bridge, Ravi Bridge and Old Ravi Bridge to protest the execution.

Ravi Bridge is an entrance point to Lahore for traffic coming from Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat and other cities on the GT Road.

Further, Shahdra Mor and Thokar Naiz Baig entry and exit points were also blocked for all kinds of traffic. The citizens were forced to travel on foot as scores of protesters blocked traffic at the entry and exit points of the provincial capital.

Meanwhile, dozens of trucks and trailers blocked the GT Road near Shahdara and protesters carrying sticks did not allow anybody to move. In Peshawar, several political and religious parties announced protests and rallies against Qadri’s execution.

Workers of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) protested outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq protested across the country.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, an Islamic republic of some 200 million, and Qadri has been hailed as a hero by many conservatives eager to drown out any calls to soften the legislation.

Qadri’s lawyers drew on Islamic texts to argue that he was justified in killing Taseer, saying that by criticising the law the politician was himself guilty of blasphemy, an argument rejected by the lead judge.

Qadri lost a petition for the Supreme Court to review his sentence in December last year. The decision came after the court warned in October that in Islam a false accusation can be as serious as the blasphemy itself, and that calls for blasphemy law reform “ought not to be mistaken as a call for doing away with that law.”

The court’s decision to uphold the sentence sparked rallies in which Islamist groups said that if Qadri were executed those responsible should also be put to death.