A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Saturday handed down death sentence to the police guard who assassinated Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer for calling for changes in the country's controversial blasphemy law.
A total of 22 people, including many policemen, have been arrested by Pakistani authorities over the killing of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, amid reports that a top official had warned about the extremist leanings of the assassin of the outspoken Pakistan Peoples Party leader.
The Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir high court on Saturday rejected the request of the state government to spare the services of a sitting judge to probe the death of National Conference worker Syed Mohammad Yousuf. In a letter to the state government, Chief Justice F M Ibrahim Kalifulla expressed the inability to spare a sitting judge as the number of judges was already inadequate and in view of the Supreme Court rulings on the matter, Advocate General Ishaq Qadri said.
Former Pakistani military dictator and president Pervez Mushrarraf has said that the killer of Punjab governor Salmaan Tasser should be punished and not allowed to challenge the writ of the state, but pledged support for the controversial blasphemy law.
'Pakistan needs to be constantly at war with somebody, ultimately resulting in it waging war on itself and its own people,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The police guard who gunned down Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was assigned to protect key personalities, including Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. Self-confessed killer Mumtaz Qadri was detailed on protection duties on as many as 509 occasions in the past three years, including for United States delegations, which are prime targets for terrorists.
A Pakistani policeman attached to Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's security detail has been detained along with an official of the country's electronic media watchdog in connection with Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's assassination, while investigators are looking for a cleric who motivated the killer. Mumtaz Qadri, the Elite Force guard gunned down 66-year-old Taseer in Islamabad on Tuesday for opposing the controversial blasphemy law.
Suspicion has grown over whether the Pakistani policeman who assassinated Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer acted on his own or was assisted in the act following emergence of a raft of evidence that he had been declared unfit for guarding VIPs because of his extremist leanings.
Fresh controversy erupted after Pakistan's powerful Army Chief met Premier Nawaz Sharif on Monday to discuss ways to resolve the deepening political crisis with media reports claiming that the embattled prime minister was advised to step down during the meeting.
Pakistan's powerful military has expressed serious concern over the prevailing political turmoil in the country with the government of embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif locked in a showdown with protesters.
Saiful Malook, the Pakistani prosecutor who was pursuing the case against the police guard who assassinated Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, has withdrawn from the case, citing security concerns. Mumtaz Qadri shot dead Taseer on January 4 in the heart of the capital because he was angered by the governor's campaign to free a Christian woman sentenced to death under the draconian blasphemy law.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari vowed to expose and punish those responsible for the assassination of Salmaan Taseer and said that the Punjab Governor was "killed to sharpen the polarisation in society to derail the democratic process".
Amid chaos and high-drama, the a ssassin of the outspoken Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was on Thursday remanded in a five-day police custody by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court, where his supporters greeted him with rose petals.
"As per the investigations, it has been found that Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab province, had spoken impolitely and used bad words against his guard (Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri) while driving in his car. The killing of Taseer had nothing to do with the blasphemy laws in Pakistan...but it was the Governor's personal behaviour with his bodyguard that led to his assassination," advocate Akram Sheikh claimed.
Before repeal of Article 370 and Article 35-A in August last year, non-residents could not buy any immovable property in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the fresh changes have paved the way for non-residents to buy land in the union territory.
It is un-Muslim to be a liberal -- that is the message that Qadri and those behind him in the conspiracy (if there was a larger conspiracy) have sought to convey through the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, says B Raman.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of ex-premier Gilani, has been recovered from Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement.
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Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former Pakistani diplomat who is the founder of formidable Minhaj-ul-Quran movement, unreservedly condemned terrorist attacks and suicide bombers and urged the Muslim world to take a firm stand against those who bring Islam to disrepute.
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A group of clerics and religious scholars have issued a fatwa or edict that says jihad will be obligatory for every Pakistani citizen if India attacks the country. The fatwa was announced at a conference organised by the Tahaffuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat Mahaz at Jamia Naeemia seminary in Lahore on Monday. The meeting, chaired by Federal Minister Noorul Haq Qadri, was arranged to discuss Pakistan's security concerns.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's ouster through illegal means could trigger another round of democracy-related US sanctions against Pakistan, according to a report.
Pakistan government has said it was ready to discuss all "constitutional" demands put forth by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek and announced formation of two committees, consisting of members from all major political parties, to hold talks with them.
General Asad Durrani's disclosures could leave considerable egg on the face of those currently wielding the stick in Pakistan, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
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China accuses Isa of terror activities in the remote Xinjiang region where there is frequent violence between the local Uyghur population and government forces.
Opposition leader Imran Khan on Sunday again demanded that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quit for 30 days to allow an independent probe into alleged rigging in last year's polls, hours after the government outrightly rejected the proposal to end the crippling political deadlock.
A court in Srinagar has directed the Senior Superintendent of Police of Srinagar to register a complaint against a Deputy Superintendent of Police "within 24 hours" in connection with the killing of a youth in Tengpora area of the city on July 10.
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The 3 arrested were in continuous touch through WhatsApp with Maulana Mufti Ashghar, based in Muzaffarabad, whose nephew Waqas (JeM commander in South Kashmir) was killed in an encounter near Pulwama recently.
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