Rose petals offered during funeral of Punjab governor’s murderer

Shouting “Mumtaz Qadri continues to live” thousands attended Tuesday the funeral of Punjab’s former governor’s murderer, who was executed Monday.

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.

Governor Taseer had reportedly criticized Pakistan’s antiblasphemy laws, prompting Qadri to shoot him in broad daylight.

The funeral was held at Rawalpindi’s Liaqat Bagh, where Pakistani democracy died a symbolic death on two earlier occasions.

In 1951, the country’s first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali was assassinated at Liaqat Bagh, and the same happened to exPrime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Thousands of Qadri’s sympathizers gathered at the ‘procession’ as the ambulance bearing Qadri’s corpse made its way through the city, and showered the vehicle with rose petals and took photos, considering the executed convict to be a hero of Islam.

All shops and schools in the region remained closed over fears of possible violence and security forces were deployed to maintain law and order.

On reaching Liaqat Bagh, where Qadri’s corpse was laid to rest, thousands attended the ceremony and offered prayers for the departed.

The funeral was not aired on Pakistani television channels and was barely covered by the regional media, which the local media attributed to government orders.

However, a spokesperson of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority told EFE there were no orders issued to prevent the funeral being covered.

Following Qadri’s execution Monday, after a petition for presidential pardon was rejected, thousands of protesters demonstrated and blocked several major roads in the cities of Islamabad, Karachi (south) and Lahore (east), however no cases of violence was reported.

Qadri, who served as the governor’s bodyguard, has been hailed by the most radical sections as a hero for murdering the man he was supposed to protect.

Governor Taseer was one of the staunchest defenders of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row for blasphemy, a case which garnered attention and interest even outside the country.

The severe antiblasphemy law in Pakistan was established during the British period to prevent religious clashes, but its abuse became possible following changes to the law in the 1980’s by Dictator Zia ul Haq.