SIR – Tragic though the assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer was, when he was killed by his own bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri, it comes as no real surprise (T&A, January 7).
Taseer was killed for opposing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and offering support to Asia Bibi, a Christian who has been sentenced to death for ‘insulting Islam’, a catch-all measure used to criminalise non-Muslims, especially Christians.
Only four weeks prior to the killing, the Islamist terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba branded opponents of the blasphemy law as a “legitimate target and may be killed”.
They specifically named Shabhaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Minister for Minorities, whom readers may remember from his visit to Bradford last September.
Both Bhatti and Taseer have been outspoken critics of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
Bizarrely, a group of over 500 Pakistani Muslim clerics then issued a statement praising the killer Qadri as a “Ghazi”, an Islamic warrior, and further warned against any expression of sympathy for the slain Taseer.
At least two correspondents write letters to the T&A blaming the Americans for many of Pakistan’s security problems, when we can see the real problems are caused by Islamic fanatics and psychopaths.
Alan O’Day Scott, Idelcroft Road, Bradford
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