Taseer murderer Mumtaz Qadri appeals for mercy

Mumtaz Qadri, the Elite Force commando convicted of killing former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, was executed in Adiala Jail at around 4.30am on Monday, police said.

At the time of the murder, thousands of people took to the streets in support of Qadri’s views.

His execution on Monday was announced in his local mosque and sparked protests outside his family home in the city of Rawalpindi, which was put on high alert.

But mass demonstrations did not break out and most rallies dispersed peacefully after security was stepped up at flashpoints across the country of some 200 million. It is expected to attract large numbers of Qadri’s supporters.

Radical religious groups had been demanding that Qadri should be forgiven as he killed a “blasphemer”.

A prison official confirmed the execution of Qadri.

Both supporters and sympathisers of Qadri came out of their houses in the early hours of the day and set tyres on fire on many major roads and roundabouts to protest Qadri’s execution.

Dozens of rangers and police in riot gear as well as ambulances were stationed outside Qadri’s home in the city early on Monday.

Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty after a Taliban school attack in December 2014 and has executed over 300 convicts since then. Qadri, the politician’s bodyguard, shot him dead in Islamabad because he sought reform to Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws.

Qadri’s body was sent to his native town Sadiqabad near Rawalpindi where his funeral prayers will be offered on Tuesday.

‘I have no regrets, ‘ Qadri’s brother Malik Abid told AFP, tears rolling down his cheeks, while women chanted nearby.

Activists of Sunni groups, who had given a hero-like status to Qadri, blocked main intersections in Rawalpindi, cutting off the main link with capital Islamabad. “They are not letting anybody go forward”, said Sajjad Ali, a commuter.

Mumtaz Qadri murdered Salman Taseer because he was outspoken against Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are used to target Christians and other minorities.

In August 2011, Mr Taseer’s son Shahbaz was kidnapped in Lahore and remains missing.

During his trial, Qadri’s legal defence was that Taseer opposed Pakistan’s so-called blasphemy laws by supporting Christian woman Asia Bibi, who was charged with allegedly desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

He had filed a mercy plea before President Mamnoon Hussain after Supreme Court maintained his conviction in October past year. Whatever one thinks of death sentences it is the prevailing law in Pakistan and to bring it to fruition in this manner has been a fearless decision.