Protests erupted in Pakistan yesterday after the hanging of a murderer whose crime divided the nation five years ago.
Mumtaz Qadri, a former policeman, was executed at dawn for assassinating Salman Taseer, a governer of Punjab who had called for reform of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws.
Qadri, who was Mr Taseer’s bodyguard, was enraged by his public defence of a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly desecrating the Koran and insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
The assassination stunned Pakistan’s liberal elite but exposed widespread public support for Qadri in conservative Pakistan.
Many took to the streets to protest against Qadri’s execution. Vehicles were attacked in Rawalpindi, his home town, and there were clashes with police in Karachi. Schools and shops were closed in several cities, including Islamabad, as police braced themselves for further violence.
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Pakistan has suffered a surge in terrorist attacks since December, culminating in a Taliban attack on a university in Charsadda in January, in which at least 22 people were killed and dozens more wounded. Hundreds of Islamists have been killed or arrested.
A month after Mr Taseer was murdered Shahbaz Bhatti, the religious minorities minister, was shot dead in Islamabad. He too had denounced the blasphemy laws.
Successive governments had balked at reform, wary of the depth of public support for the laws and fearful of violent reprisal.
Blasphemy is such a serious allegation that parents have been known to kill their children over accusations of the crime. Unproven allegations can provoke mob violence. Human rights groups claim that the laws are often abused, with allegations flung around to settle political, tribal or family scores. Critics say that accusations are used to persecute religious minorities.