Salmaan Taseer
Encyclopedia
Salmaan Taseer was a Pakistan
i businessman and politician who served as the 26th governor
of the province of Punjab
from 2008 until his assassination
in early 2011.
A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP), he had served also as a minister in the caretaker cabinet of Prime Minister
Muhammad Mian Soomro
under Pervez Musharraf
. Taseer was also the chairman and CEO of the First Capital and Worldcall
Group.
He was appointed to the post of governor on May 15, 2008, in place of outgoing governor Lt Gen (R) Khalid Maqbool
, by then-President Musharraf at the request of the PPP establishment.
On January 4, 2011, Taseer was assassinated in Islamabad
by his own security guard Mumtaz Qadri, who disagreed with Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law
.
, British India. His father, Muhammad Din Taseer, obtained his PhD in the United Kingdom
and was a close friend of Allama Iqbal. His late mother Bilqis "Christobel" Taseer, a Christian Englishwoman, was the sister of late Alys Faiz
, a writer and poet who herself was the wife of renowned Urdu poet late Faiz Ahmad Faiz. His father died when he was six years old and he and his two sisters were brought up in relative poverty by their mother.
. Salmaan Taseer also has 3 children from a previous marriage: Sara, Shaan and Sanam.
Taseer also had a son, Aatish
, in 1980 with Indian journalist Tavleen Singh
. Though married at the time, Taseer met Singh during a book promotion trip to India
in March 1980. According to Aatish, their "affair lasted little more than a week." Aatish is a freelance journalist in the UK and has recently written a book – Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands – about his estranged relationship with his biological father.
In the early 1980s, Taseer had a year long affair with Bollywood actress Simi Garewal
.
Taseer was known to be one of the trusted aides of Benazir Bhutto
. He was a classmate of Nawaz Sharif
at St. Anthony's School
in Lahore, and had obtained a degree in Chartered Accountancy from London
.
On 26 August 2011, his son, Shahbaz Taseer, was kidnapped in Lahore by unidentified gunmen.
's Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) in the late 1960s. He was a part of the movement for Mr. Bhutto's freedom and opposed his arrest and death sentence. He also wrote a political biography on Bhutto titled Bhutto: A political biography (1980).
In the 1988 general elections
, Taseer became a member of the Punjab Assembly from Lahore
. In the 1990, 1993 and 1997 general elections, he stood for election to be an MNA but lost.
In 2007, he was appointed the interim Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives.
On May 15, 2008, Taseer was designated for the office of Governor of Punjab
by the PPP-led coalition government.
, Inc., USA, and HG Asia Hong Kong.
Taseer founded the Worldcall
group with a payphone network in 1996. The group has grown over the years to become a major private-sector telecom operator with a national and regional footprint. A majority stake in Worldcall was acquired in 2008 by Omantel
, the Sultanate of Oman's incumbent operator.
Taseer also owned an English news channel in Pakistan, Business Plus; and the first children's channel, Wikkid Plus; and was the publisher of the English language Daily Times.
, where he was shackled to the ground. He did not meet a single person, or read a book or newspaper during his incarceration and emerged 40 pounds lighter than when he had gone in.
Taseer was arrested 16 times and placed under house arrest several times in jails around Faisalabad
, Jhang
and Lahore.
on Samaa TV
, Taseer commented on his view about the country's blasphemy law
and on filing a mercy petition for Asia Bibi
who has been sentenced to death by a court under the Blasphemy Law.
In December 2010 Taseer was alleged to have left the country for several days without handing over charge to the Punjab Assembly Speaker. This meant that the province was without a constitutional head, and it also rendered the assembly speaker ineligible to preside over sessions. Leaving the province without informing his successor was in violation of the constitution and this led to Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal
sending a letter to Prime Minister Gilani calling for the removal of Salmaan Taseer by the President. Evidence provided by ICAO on the governor's travel abroad, led to a case being filed in court for breach of the constitution.
at Kohsar Market, near his home in Sector F6, Islamabad
, as he was returning to his car after meeting a friend for lunch. Kohsar Market is a popular shopping and cafe spot for the city's elite and expatriate
s. Eight hours before his assassination, he tweeted an Urdu couplet by Shakeel Badayuni
: "My resolve is so strong that I do not fear the flames from without, I fear only the radiance of the flowers, that it might burn my garden down."
After his assassination, protests erupted in different parts of Punjab. Protesters also burned tires and blocked traffic in Lahore.
The next day, many people turned up for governor Salman Taseer's funeral in Lahore in spite of denunciations by some clerics and religious scholars from mourning Taseer, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and many supporters of the ruling PPP were seen attending the funeral prayer. The funeral prayers were finally led by Allama Afzal Chisti of the Ulema
wing of the PPP after the chief cleric of the Badshahi Mosque
, who had initially agreed to offer prayers, backed off at the last moment, saying he was going out of town. Taseer was buried at a military cantonment in Lahore.
. After the shooting, Qadri threw his weapon down and put his hands up when one of his colleagues aimed at him. He reportedly pleaded to be arrested. Qadri reportedly said he killed Taseer due to the latter's vocal opposition to the blasphemy law in Pakistan.. Taseer was against the blasphemy law and termed it a black law. Notably, Taseer made headlines when he favored the Christian Pakistani woman, Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. It was suspected that this was the main reason for his assassination. According to a report in Dawn
, the assailant was associated with Dawat-e-Islami
, a religious organisation associated with the Barelvi
movement. Supporters of Mumtaz Qadri blocked police attempting to bring him to the Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi
, and some supporters even showered him with rose petals.
On 1 October 2011, Qadri was sentenced to death by a Pakistani Anti Terrorist court at Islamabad
for murdering Taseer.
expressed grief over the assassination, adding that Taseer was a seasoned politician and his death was a loss for not only the PPP but also the entire country. Many members of the country's business community also conveyed their shock after the killing.
International United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
condemned the assassination calling it a "loss for Pakistan."
India
n External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna condemned the killing a letter to Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The Ministry of External Affairs also said: "On behalf of the people and the Government of India and his own, Mr. Krishna conveyed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and the people of Pakistan."
France
condemned the assassination and hailed Taseer as a man known for his "courage in defending democratic institutions." Deputy Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages said, "France firmly condemns the assassination on Tuesday of the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer. Governor Taseer was a political personality of the highest order."
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
his Paakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari "[o]ffering his condolences to Zardari and condemning the assassination, the Turkish PM also asked the president to convey his heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved family and the people of the country."
British
Foreign Secretary
William Hague
stated that he was "shocked to hear of the assassination of Salmaan Taseer" and that "his death will be a loss to the leadership of Pakistan. On behalf of the British government I send my condolences to Mr Taseer’s family, friends and colleagues."
United States
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly condemned the assassination of Taseer saying she "admired his work to promote tolerance and the education of Pakistan’s future generations" and that his death "is a great loss." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry
also condemned the assassination: "Governor Taseer was a proud champion of democracy and respect for the rights of women and minorities. He fearlessly stood up to the threats of extremists, and lost his life in defense of moderation and tolerance, values shared by most Pakistani citizens. The best way to honor his legacy is to continue resisting violent extremism and supporting the core principles on which Pakistan was founded."
Pope Benedict XVI
called for the repeal of the blasphemy law and also called on governments in Muslim-majority countries to protect Christians from violent attacks. He told the Holy See
's diplomats that the law was a pretext for violence against minorities. He also added that "The tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction." The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
responded in saying: "The pope has given a statement today that has not only offended the 180 million Muslims in Pakistan, it has also hurt the sentiments of the entire Islamic world. This is an interference in Pakistan's internal matters...we respect the pope, being head of Christians and their religion, but he should also refrain from interfering in Muslims' religious affairs."
Social-media
A fan page appeared on Facebook
soon after the assassination against Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, showing news photos of him smiling. The fan page soon gathered thousands of supporters. Many prominent Pakistani bloggers started a campaign to have these fan pages blocked on Facebook as soon as the pages appeared on the social networking website. Several people also denounced the perpetrator creating a page named "I Hate Malik Mumtaz Qadri". Outrage against the gunman was prevalent on Twitter
, with numerous journalists and media personalities expressing their sadness over the passing of Taseer and the growing Islamisation and moral collapse of the country.
Taseer's assassination may dissuade other Pakistani politicians from speaking out against the blasphemy law, according to a former U.S. State Department intelligence analyst with the Middle East Institute
in Washington, DC.
|-
|-
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i businessman and politician who served as the 26th governor
Governor of Punjab (Pakistan)
The Governor of Punjab is the appointed head of state of the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan. The governor is designated by the Prime Minister and is normally regarded a ceremonial post...
of the province of Punjab
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...
from 2008 until his assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
in early 2011.
A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
(PPP), he had served also as a minister in the caretaker cabinet of Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Muhammad Mian Soomro
Muhammad Mian Soomro
Muhammad Mian Soomro is a Pakistani politician who has been the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan since 2003. Soomro comes from a renowned political family of Sindh that has been active in public life since 1923...
under Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
. Taseer was also the chairman and CEO of the First Capital and Worldcall
WorldCall
WorldCALL is a telecommunication operator in Pakistan which provides services such as Cable TV, Broadband Internet, 3G EVDO Internet, pay-phone services, dial-up Internet cards and wireless telephone...
Group.
He was appointed to the post of governor on May 15, 2008, in place of outgoing governor Lt Gen (R) Khalid Maqbool
Khalid Maqbool
Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool Vohra, , , is a career Pakistan Army officer was the longest serving Governor of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan, under the General Pervez Musharraf government...
, by then-President Musharraf at the request of the PPP establishment.
On January 4, 2011, Taseer was assassinated in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
by his own security guard Mumtaz Qadri, who disagreed with Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law
Blasphemy law in Pakistan
The Pakistan Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. However, in practice, it is only applied to Islam. An accusation of blasphemy commonly subjects the accused, police, lawyers, and judges to harassment, threats, and attacks...
.
Early life
Salmaan Taseer was born on May 31, 1944, in SimlaShimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
, British India. His father, Muhammad Din Taseer, obtained his PhD in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and was a close friend of Allama Iqbal. His late mother Bilqis "Christobel" Taseer, a Christian Englishwoman, was the sister of late Alys Faiz
Alys Faiz
Alys Faiz was a British-born naturalized Pakistani poet, writer, journalist, human rights activist, social worker and teacher....
, a writer and poet who herself was the wife of renowned Urdu poet late Faiz Ahmad Faiz. His father died when he was six years old and he and his two sisters were brought up in relative poverty by their mother.
Personal life
Salmaan Taseer married Aamna Taseer; the couple resided in Lahore. They have three children: Shahbaz, Shehryar and Shehrbano. Shehrbano is a journalist for NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
. Salmaan Taseer also has 3 children from a previous marriage: Sara, Shaan and Sanam.
Taseer also had a son, Aatish
Aatish Taseer
Aatish Taseer , is British-born writer-journalist, and the son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and late Pakistani politician and businessman Salmaan Taseer.-Early life:...
, in 1980 with Indian journalist Tavleen Singh
Tavleen Singh
Tavleen Singh is a noted Indian syndicated columnist and political reporter and writer.-Biography:Singh was born in Mussoorie in 1950 and studied at the Welham Girls School. Later she did a short-term Journalism course from the New Delhi Polytechnic in 1969...
. Though married at the time, Taseer met Singh during a book promotion trip to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in March 1980. According to Aatish, their "affair lasted little more than a week." Aatish is a freelance journalist in the UK and has recently written a book – Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands – about his estranged relationship with his biological father.
In the early 1980s, Taseer had a year long affair with Bollywood actress Simi Garewal
Simi Garewal
Simi Garewal is an Indian actress. She is known for her work in Mera Naam Joker, Siddhartha and Karz.-Early life:Simi Garewal was born in a Jatt Sikh family in Delhi, her father, J S Garewal served in the army rising to the rank of brigadier...
.
Taseer was known to be one of the trusted aides of Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
. He was a classmate of Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
at St. Anthony's School
St. Anthony's High School (Lahore)
St. Anthony's High School is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore in Pakistan. It is ranked among the best educational institutions in Punjab. It is situated at Lahore's historical road, The Mall....
in Lahore, and had obtained a degree in Chartered Accountancy from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
On 26 August 2011, his son, Shahbaz Taseer, was kidnapped in Lahore by unidentified gunmen.
Political career
Taseer started his political career in his student era, as a member of Zulfikar Ali BhuttoZulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party — the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served as its chairman until his...
's Pakistan Peoples Party
Pakistan Peoples Party
The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...
(PPP) in the late 1960s. He was a part of the movement for Mr. Bhutto's freedom and opposed his arrest and death sentence. He also wrote a political biography on Bhutto titled Bhutto: A political biography (1980).
In the 1988 general elections
Pakistani general election, 1988
General elections were held in Pakistan on 16 November 1988 to elect the National Assembly of Pakistan. The result was a victory for the Pakistan People's Party, which won 94 of the 207 seats...
, Taseer became a member of the Punjab Assembly from Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
. In the 1990, 1993 and 1997 general elections, he stood for election to be an MNA but lost.
In 2007, he was appointed the interim Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives.
On May 15, 2008, Taseer was designated for the office of Governor of Punjab
Governor of Punjab (Pakistan)
The Governor of Punjab is the appointed head of state of the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan. The governor is designated by the Prime Minister and is normally regarded a ceremonial post...
by the PPP-led coalition government.
Business career
Taseer set up several chartered accountancy and management consultancy firms early in his career. In 1995, he established the First Capital Securities Corporation (FCSC), a full service brokerage house with equity participation by Smith BarneySmith Barney
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is a retail brokerage joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup announced that Citigroup would sell 51% of Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley, creating Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which was formerly a division of...
, Inc., USA, and HG Asia Hong Kong.
Taseer founded the Worldcall
WorldCall
WorldCALL is a telecommunication operator in Pakistan which provides services such as Cable TV, Broadband Internet, 3G EVDO Internet, pay-phone services, dial-up Internet cards and wireless telephone...
group with a payphone network in 1996. The group has grown over the years to become a major private-sector telecom operator with a national and regional footprint. A majority stake in Worldcall was acquired in 2008 by Omantel
Omantel
Oman Telecommunications Company is the first telecommunications company in Oman and is the primary provider of internet services in the country. Omantel acquired a 65% share in WorldCall Pakistan in April 2008. The government of Oman owns a 70% share in Omantel.- Oman Mobile :Oman Mobile is a...
, the Sultanate of Oman's incumbent operator.
Taseer also owned an English news channel in Pakistan, Business Plus; and the first children's channel, Wikkid Plus; and was the publisher of the English language Daily Times.
Incarceration
Taseer was kept in solitary confinement for six months and three weeks at the Lahore FortLahore Fort
The Lahore Fort, locally referred to as Shahi Qila is citadel of the city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It is located in the northwestern corner of the Walled City of Lahore...
, where he was shackled to the ground. He did not meet a single person, or read a book or newspaper during his incarceration and emerged 40 pounds lighter than when he had gone in.
Taseer was arrested 16 times and placed under house arrest several times in jails around Faisalabad
Faisalabad
Faisalabad , formerly known as Lyallpur, is the third largest metropolis in Pakistan, the second largest in the province of Punjab after Lahore, and a major industrial center in the heart of Pakistan. Before the foundation of the city in 1880, the area was very thinly populated. The population has...
, Jhang
Jhang
- Demographics :According to 1981 census of Pakistan population of Jhang was 1,970,944 with the 434,495 housing units in Jhang. In 1998 census, population of Jhang was 2,834,545, whose annually growth rate was 2.16%. Male population was 1,474,099 and female population was 1,360,446...
and Lahore.
Controversy
In an interview with Meher BukhariMeher Bukhari
Meher Bukhari is a Pakistani female journalist and a host, working at Dunya News. She has been working on SAMAA TV and fired later.- Career :She started her career as a Journalist and a Host on TV programs in SAMAA TV which she fired later...
on Samaa TV
SAMAA TV
SAMAA TV is a Pakistani news network.- Competitors :*Dunya News*Geo News*ARY News*Express News*Indus News*Waqt News- External links :*...
, Taseer commented on his view about the country's blasphemy law
Blasphemy law in Pakistan
The Pakistan Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. However, in practice, it is only applied to Islam. An accusation of blasphemy commonly subjects the accused, police, lawyers, and judges to harassment, threats, and attacks...
and on filing a mercy petition for Asia Bibi
Asia Bibi
Asia Noreen is a Pakistani Christian woman who was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court, receiving a sentence of death by hanging. The verdict, which would need to be upheld by a superior court, has received worldwide attention...
who has been sentenced to death by a court under the Blasphemy Law.
In December 2010 Taseer was alleged to have left the country for several days without handing over charge to the Punjab Assembly Speaker. This meant that the province was without a constitutional head, and it also rendered the assembly speaker ineligible to preside over sessions. Leaving the province without informing his successor was in violation of the constitution and this led to Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal
Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan
Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan is a Punjabi and Pakistani politician. Since 2008 he has been the speaker of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab. Following the assassination of Salmaan Taseer on the 4th of January 2011, Khan became acting Governor of Punjab....
sending a letter to Prime Minister Gilani calling for the removal of Salmaan Taseer by the President. Evidence provided by ICAO on the governor's travel abroad, led to a case being filed in court for breach of the constitution.
Death
On January 4, 2011, one of Taseer's bodyguards, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, shot him 26 times with a submachine gunSubmachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
at Kohsar Market, near his home in Sector F6, Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
, as he was returning to his car after meeting a friend for lunch. Kohsar Market is a popular shopping and cafe spot for the city's elite and expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
s. Eight hours before his assassination, he tweeted an Urdu couplet by Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni was an accomplished Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter.-Early life and background:Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh...
: "My resolve is so strong that I do not fear the flames from without, I fear only the radiance of the flowers, that it might burn my garden down."
After his assassination, protests erupted in different parts of Punjab. Protesters also burned tires and blocked traffic in Lahore.
The next day, many people turned up for governor Salman Taseer's funeral in Lahore in spite of denunciations by some clerics and religious scholars from mourning Taseer, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and many supporters of the ruling PPP were seen attending the funeral prayer. The funeral prayers were finally led by Allama Afzal Chisti of the Ulema
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
wing of the PPP after the chief cleric of the Badshahi Mosque
Badshahi Mosque
The Badshahi Mosque or the 'King's Mosque' in Lahore, commissioned by the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1671 and completed in 1673, is the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world...
, who had initially agreed to offer prayers, backed off at the last moment, saying he was going out of town. Taseer was buried at a military cantonment in Lahore.
Assassin
The assassin Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri is from Punjab, and was part of the security detail provided to Taseer by the Elite PoliceElite Police
The Elite Punjab Police, also known as the "Elite Force" or "Police Commandos", is a branch of the Punjab Police specializing in Counter-Terrorist operations and VIP security duties, as well as acting against serious crime and performing high-risk operations which can't be carried out by the...
. After the shooting, Qadri threw his weapon down and put his hands up when one of his colleagues aimed at him. He reportedly pleaded to be arrested. Qadri reportedly said he killed Taseer due to the latter's vocal opposition to the blasphemy law in Pakistan.. Taseer was against the blasphemy law and termed it a black law. Notably, Taseer made headlines when he favored the Christian Pakistani woman, Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. It was suspected that this was the main reason for his assassination. According to a report in Dawn
Dawn (newspaper)
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...
, the assailant was associated with Dawat-e-Islami
Dawat-e-Islami
Dawat-e-Islami is an Islamic evangelical movement.-History:Dawat-e-Islami was founded in 1981 A.D at Babul Madina Karachi, Pakistan, by Muhammad Ilyas Qadri...
, a religious organisation associated with the Barelvi
Barelvi
Barelvi is a term used for the movement of Sufi , Sunni Islam originating in the Indian subcontinent.The Movement is known as Ahle Sunnat movement to its followers....
movement. Supporters of Mumtaz Qadri blocked police attempting to bring him to the Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
, and some supporters even showered him with rose petals.
On 1 October 2011, Qadri was sentenced to death by a Pakistani Anti Terrorist court at Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
for murdering Taseer.
Reactions
Domestic Former Pakistani President Pervez MusharrafPervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
expressed grief over the assassination, adding that Taseer was a seasoned politician and his death was a loss for not only the PPP but also the entire country. Many members of the country's business community also conveyed their shock after the killing.
- The Chief Minister of PunjabChief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan)The Chief Minister of Punjab is elected by the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab to serve as the head of the provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan. The current Chief Minister is Shahbaz Sharif, who became the Chief Minister of Punjab as being restored after Governor's rule starting from...
Mian Shahbaz Sharif condemned the killing, saying, "This is really a big loss for the PPP and as we believe friendly politics deeply condemn this murder, praying for Mr. Taseer." - The Government of Punjab ordered all public institutions and schools to shut on January 5 in honour of Taseer.
- The Punjab Provincial AssemblyProvincial Assembly of the PunjabThe Provincial Assembly of the Punjab is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the province of Punjab, which is located in Lahore in eastern Pakistan...
unanimously passed a resolution condemning the assassination and praising Taseer's political and social services. - The Jamaat Ahle SunnatJamaat Ahle SunnatThe Jamaat Ahle Sunnat is a prominent religious organization in Pakistan that represents the Barelvi movement of Sunni Islam.In 2006, a bomb attack on an event to celebrate the mawlid in Karachi organised by the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat killed at least 57 people...
, an Islamic religious organisation representing the BarelviBarelviBarelvi is a term used for the movement of Sufi , Sunni Islam originating in the Indian subcontinent.The Movement is known as Ahle Sunnat movement to its followers....
movement, issued an advisory against mourning his death. They also declared Qadri a "hero of the Muslim world." - A TalibanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...
commander in South WaziristanSouth WaziristanSouth Waziristan is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south, forming...
said that Taseer would have been assassinated anyway "very soon" even if he had not been killed by Qadri. - Bilawal Bhutto ZardariBilawal Bhutto ZardariBilawal Zardari Bhutto is the Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. He is the only son of President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.-Early life and education:...
, son of former Prime Minister Benazir BhuttoBenazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
and current President Zardari, spoke at a memorial service for Taseer in London saying: "To the Christian and other minority communities in Pakistan, we will defend you...those who wish to harm you need to go through me first. Allah has promised them (perpetrators) hell, and we shall send them there." He also said a jihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
is needed to combat extremism in Pakistan, while condemning those who praised the assassination.
International United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
condemned the assassination calling it a "loss for Pakistan."
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna condemned the killing a letter to Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The Ministry of External Affairs also said: "On behalf of the people and the Government of India and his own, Mr. Krishna conveyed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and the people of Pakistan."
France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
condemned the assassination and hailed Taseer as a man known for his "courage in defending democratic institutions." Deputy Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages said, "France firmly condemns the assassination on Tuesday of the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer. Governor Taseer was a political personality of the highest order."
Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
his Paakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari "[o]ffering his condolences to Zardari and condemning the assassination, the Turkish PM also asked the president to convey his heartfelt condolences to the members of the bereaved family and the people of the country."
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
stated that he was "shocked to hear of the assassination of Salmaan Taseer" and that "his death will be a loss to the leadership of Pakistan. On behalf of the British government I send my condolences to Mr Taseer’s family, friends and colleagues."
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly condemned the assassination of Taseer saying she "admired his work to promote tolerance and the education of Pakistan’s future generations" and that his death "is a great loss." Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
also condemned the assassination: "Governor Taseer was a proud champion of democracy and respect for the rights of women and minorities. He fearlessly stood up to the threats of extremists, and lost his life in defense of moderation and tolerance, values shared by most Pakistani citizens. The best way to honor his legacy is to continue resisting violent extremism and supporting the core principles on which Pakistan was founded."
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
called for the repeal of the blasphemy law and also called on governments in Muslim-majority countries to protect Christians from violent attacks. He told the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
's diplomats that the law was a pretext for violence against minorities. He also added that "The tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction." The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam is a political party in Pakistan. It formed a combined government in national elections in 2002 and 2008...
responded in saying: "The pope has given a statement today that has not only offended the 180 million Muslims in Pakistan, it has also hurt the sentiments of the entire Islamic world. This is an interference in Pakistan's internal matters...we respect the pope, being head of Christians and their religion, but he should also refrain from interfering in Muslims' religious affairs."
Social-media
A fan page appeared on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
soon after the assassination against Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, showing news photos of him smiling. The fan page soon gathered thousands of supporters. Many prominent Pakistani bloggers started a campaign to have these fan pages blocked on Facebook as soon as the pages appeared on the social networking website. Several people also denounced the perpetrator creating a page named "I Hate Malik Mumtaz Qadri". Outrage against the gunman was prevalent on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, with numerous journalists and media personalities expressing their sadness over the passing of Taseer and the growing Islamisation and moral collapse of the country.
Possible repercussions
In the international media, his death was seen as more destabilising for the tenuous situation in the country, particularly in the light of resignation of members of the ruling coalition. One local analyst said the death was a "major setback for Pakistan, which is trying to get out of this vicious cycle of violence and worsening economy. [The killing] will certainly weaken the party position in Punjab." It was suggested that the killing was indicative of a "deeper trend" of "religious intolerance" afflicting Pakistan. The son of the late governor, Shahbaz Taseer, who was a witness in Mumtaz Qadri's trial, was kidnapped on August 26th, 2011 while he was on his way to work in Lahore, Pakistan.
After twelve days of unsuccessful attempts by the Pakistani police to recover him, some news sources reported that Shahbaaz, along with an American aid worker Dr Warren Weinstein, was held captive by Tehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , alternatively referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist militant groups based in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan. Most, but not all, Pakistani Taliban groups coalesce under the TTP...
.
Taseer's assassination may dissuade other Pakistani politicians from speaking out against the blasphemy law, according to a former U.S. State Department intelligence analyst with the Middle East Institute
Middle East Institute
The Middle East Institute is a non-partisan think tank and cultural center in Washington, DC. Founded in 1946, MEI is the oldest institution in Washington dedicated exclusively to the study of the Middle East. Its founder, architect and philanthropist George Camp Keiser, assembled a team of...
in Washington, DC.
|-
|-
External links
- Salmaan Taseer on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- Salmaan Taseer at Find a GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- Salmaan Taseer at FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
- Salmaan Taseer at TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
- Salmaan Taseer on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....