Protests in Pakistan post execution of Punjab governor’s murderer

Hundreds of protesters blocked several major roads in Pakistan following the execution Monday of elite police commando Mumtaz Qadri, for the murder of former Punjab governor more than five years ago.

Protesters took to the streets in the cities of Islamabad, Karachi (south) and Lahore (east) against the execution of Qadri, who was hanged at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.

The road connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad has been blocked by around 250 people; moreover another road connecting the national capital and Murree hill station has also been cut off, police spokesperson Mohamed Aslam told EFE.

He added the police have been deployed to maintain order.

Protests are also taking place across Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province, and bus services have been suspended, Mohamed Adeel told EFE from the regional police control room.

In Karachi, the economic center of the country, around 300 protesters demonstrated at Numaish Chowrangi area, police spokesperson Sikandar Ali told EFE.

The Islamabad Bar Association, which considers the execution to be a case of “judicial murder,” called for a strike Monday, the association’s secretary Mohamed Zafar told EFE.

Qadri was sentenced by an antiterrorism court in October 2011 for shooting exGovernor Salman Taseer 28 times in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market more than nine months earlier.

Taseer had reportedly criticized Pakistan’s antiblasphemy laws, prompting Qadri to shoot him in broad daylight, according to the Daily Pakistan newspaper.