A Pakistani court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of death sentence given to the self-confessed assassin of Governor Salmaan Taseer till it decided his appeal against the verdict.
The Pakistani police on Wednesday charged the policeman who assassinated Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer with murder and terrorism even as he appeared to be unrepentant for his actions. Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the Elite Force personnel who gunned down Taseer in a market in Islamabad on Tuesday, was booked under the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act. Qadri was presented before Judicial Magistrate Malik Naeem Shaukat, who granted transit custody to police.
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.
Pakistan on Monday executed former police commando Mumtaz Qadri, who brutally assassinated former liberal Punjab governor Salman Taseer for seeking reforms in the country's controversial blasphemy laws, triggering nation-wide protests by Islamists who called it a "black day".
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.
The Pakistani judge who gave the death sentence to Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer's self-confessed assassin has sought refuge in Saudi Arabia with his family after receiving death threats from religious extremists.
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.
"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.
Pakistan's political crisis deepened on Monday with cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri giving a fresh 48-hour ultimatum to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down after a former top election commission official backed protesters' allegations of rigging in last year's polls.
Syed Abdul Mueed is the third son of the Hizb chief to have been sacked from the government job.
Thirteen people were killed and over 70 others injured in the suicide blast which had targeted police officials.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday met President Mamnoon Hussain here and discussed the current political crisis caused due to anti-government protests spearheaded by opposition leader Imran Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri, demanding the premier's resignation.
With influential cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri descending on Islamabad with swarms of his supporters, Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday lobbied with top political leaders, including Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif, to uphold the democratic system.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi is now gone. But the mass appeal of fundamentalism among Pakistan's burgeoning, young, illiterate, unemployed and angry population isn't, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Qadri said the Governor should have satisfied himself by seeking additional documentation in support of the claims made in letter for government formation.
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Adil Parray, who was involved in the recent killings of two police personnel, was killed in a 'chance' encounter with a 'small team' of police in Srinagar on Sunday, taking the number of ultras killed in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 24 hours to five.
Unlike in the past, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is not celebrating any "Shaurya Diwas" (Bravery Day) on Tuesday and there are no plans by the Muslim community to observe a "Black Day".
I was flogged about 500 in 3 days, they cut my back with blades and removed nails from my hands and feet," said Shahbaz Taseer of the ordeal he endured.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of ex-premier Gilani, has been recovered from Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Pakistan's Foreign Office said in a statement.
Bibi, a 47-year-old mother of four, was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting Islam in a row with her neighbours.
If the parliamentary representation of radical Islamic parties goes up dramatically in 2018, what will this do to Pakistan's army?
At a press conference organised in Mumbai by the Jamiat Ulama Maharashtra (Arshad Madani), which provided them free legal aid, the acquitted also demanded action against officers for prosecuting them. Five of the six accused -- Adam Ajmeri, Mufti Abdul Qyyum Mansuri, Mohammed Salim Shaikh, Abdulmiyan Qadri and Altaf Hussain -- were present at the press conference.
The Supreme Court on Friday acquitted all six convicts, including three condemned prisoners, in the 2002 Akshardham temple attack case and pulled up the Gujarat police for shoddy investigation in the case in which all the accused faced prosecution under the stringent anti-terror law, Prevention Of Terrorism Act
Qureshi said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sent a letter on Sunday to congratulate Prime Minister Imran Khan and mentioned about talks to resolve issues.
Nawaz Sharif's appointment of a new army chief will influence India-Pakistan relations
'Nawaz Sharif knows a coup in 2016-2017 will not only complete Pakistan's isolation, but even a whiff of instability will frighten the world into imagining another Islamic State-zone, and this in a fully nuclearised subcontinent,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The developments in Af-Pak region, particularly the fall out of Pak political paralysis, would make President Xi Jinping's task a little more complicated, says Colonel R Hariharan.
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