Protesters Demand Release of Mumtaz Qadri

Protesters belonging to various religious parties and groups gathered outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Saturday to protest against the death sentence awarded to Mumtaz Qadri, who had killed Governor Punjab Salman Taseer earlier this year.
The activists, who belonged to the Sunni Tehreek (ST) and the Fidayane-e-Khatma-e-Nabuwat (FKM), blocked the road in front of the KPC. Some held aloft banners criticising the government, while others shouted slogans demanding Qadri’s immediate release.
Although Section 144 was imposed in the city, police ignored the protesters. Police said no arrests were made and the protesters dispersed peacefully.
Similar but smaller protest rallies were held in other areas of the city, demanding the immediate release of Qadri, who killed Taseer after the governor had spoken of the need to reform the country’s controversial blasphemy law.
Hundreds of supporters of the Sunni Tehreek gathered outside press club and shouted slogans against the government for its “biased policy”.
Shahid Ghori, central leader of the ST, rejecting the capital punishment handed down to Qadri by a court, said that if the government did not implement the blasphemy law, then thousands of Mumtaz Qadris would emerge. He said that the government must explain why the entire state machinery came into action to get a non-Muslim, Raymond Davis, released but why “a person who had love for the last Prophet (PBUH)”, Mumtaz Qadri, could not be released after the payment of Diyat to the heirs of Taseer.
Ghori announced that the ST would pay Rs200 million as blood money to the legal heirs of Taseer. He alleged that the slain governor had used “sacrilegious remarks” against religion but no action had been taken against him by the government.
“If the state does not take action against people who use derogatory remarks against sacred personalities then obviously people would take the law into their hands for their love for them and Qadri had set this example for rest of the people.”
He said the ST believed in the rule of law but they would not accept “any anti-Islamic decision”, and asked the government to play its role for the release of Qadri.
The Fidayan-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat announced it would continue the protest till Qadri was released. This was announced at a protest demonstration staged outside the KPC by the central leaders. They also threatened that if Qadri was hanged supporters of the FKM would launch a countrywide protest against the government.
Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan leader Dr Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair also condemned Qadri’s conviction.