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| India-Pakistan | |
| Thousands attend Taseer funeral | |
| 2011-01-06 | |
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Thousands of Paks braved tight security today to attend the funeral of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, following the country's most high-profile liquidation in three years.
His killing horrified Pakistain's moderate elite and supporters of the ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP), but was welcomed by members of the powerful religious right, sending shock waves through an already fragile government. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and several thousand PPP faithful attended funeral prayers at Governor's House at the Punjab seat of government in Lahore, which were delayed amid scenes of chaos as the crowd pushed each other. His coffin, wrapped in the green and white national flag, was then flown the short distance by helicopter to a graveyard in the military cantonment in Lahore, where it was lowered into the ground by uniformed rescue workers. The city shut down and authorities deployed security forces en masse to guard against possible unrest after dozens of PPP supporters erupted into the streets on Tuesday to protest against the killing. "Security is on high alert in Lahore and in the entire Punjab," Lahore commissioner Khusro Pervez told news hounds. Gilani, who is facing a fight for political survival, was forced to appeal for calm on Tuesday, with memories fresh of widespread riots after the December 2007 liquidation of former PPP prime minister Benazir Bhutto. "Our opponents want to weaken our party but we will continue our struggle for this country," party activist Mohammad Waqas told AFP at the funeral. Investigations are now focused on whether the bearded police commando, who allegedly confessed to killing Taseer because of calls to reform blasphemy laws, acted alone or as part of a wider conspiracy. According to the preliminary autopsy report, Taseer's body had 29 bullet wounds front and back, puncturing his vital organs. "We will investigate whether it was an individual act or there is some organisation behind it," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told news hounds. He named the assassin as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a government-trained commando assigned to the governor on at least five or six previous occasions and whom police said was linked to non-violent religious group Dawat-e-Islami. "We want to know who put his name on the duty list. We know he visited the police supervisor to get his name on the list," Mr Malik told news hounds. The supervisor and his deputy are among more than 10 people taken into custody for interrogation, officials said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Obviously the organization behind the assassination is the Ummah, and the ideology is Islam. These people have a severe learning disability. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-06 14:25 |