A woman lights a candle at a remembrance ceremony held for former Governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer in Lahore on Wednesday. PHOTO:NNI
The late governor was killed by his bodyguard in 2011 in Islamabad for demanding amendments in the tough blasphemy laws.
The FIR against the suspects were lodged in Gulberg Police Station after they were identified with the help of a video footage.
The armed men - riding a motorbike - attacked the members of civil society who had gathered at Liberty Chowk to mark Taseer's fourth death anniversary and teared down the portraits of the former governor.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, human rights activist, Abdullah Malik, said, “We were lighting candles in front of Taseer’s portrait and chanting slogans against terrorism in Pakistan when four men came from behind and attacked us with knives and sticks.”
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@Pindi Kid: "The obvious suggestions to improve the civilian courts..." There was no obvious suggestion to improve the civilian courts (in Wizarat's post) and that was the point of my comment (in response). So your entire post is irrelevant. Nowhere was opposition to military courts is implied in my comment. You needlessly inferred what was not implied. We can have military courts in the interim. But the civilian courts need to function more effectively and there is the need for positive suggestions. One of these suggestions could be to give better security coverage to the judges so they feel secure in pronouncing the right judgment. Not all judges and not all the times the judges let off accused because they are "extremist sympathizer judges." Some definitely are constrained by the inadequacy of the laws or of the insufficiency of evidence. Judges are there to perform justice and hence without adequate law coverage or due insufficient evidence they are unable to convict. So for the cause of justice, the need is to plug those inadequacies, provide effective security to judges and supplement with military courts meanwhile.
@Positive: The obvious suggestions to improve the civilian courts is to get rid of the extremist sympathizer judges who have systematically freed terrorists, provide foolproof security to other judges so they can do their work, and lastly strengthen the law through needed legislation in the national and provencial assemblies. How many of these suggestions are new, not known, or impossible to implement? That said, we have zero confidence in the current political setup to implement even one of these suggestions. Thus I agree with Wizarat. We need military courts immediately, while you and your likeminded citizens can wait for the politcians to do what is required. Good luck.
@Wizarat: Give some positive suggestions for improving the functioning of the judicial system instead of merely being critical of it. Make sure your suggestions do not end up in conviction of the innocents but at the same time plug the inadequacies, which cause the criminals to get released. Do not ignore the due process of law, as well. Arm-chair commenting does not behoove you.
Some judge will release them as they just did with the LeJ and ASWJ convicts in Punjab.
Why has Qadri who murdered Taseer has not been hanged so far? He is guilty from more than one angle; he betrayed his trust which has severe punishment in Islam and he took the life of a man he was entrusted to protect.Both crimes are despicable and totally against teachings of Islam.
Taking cover of "civil society" and holding "vigils" is fast becoming fashionable. Given terror threats precautions must be taken and not thrown to the wind. Let us be circumspect. Let us fight terrorism with tact and not through frivolous activities. Condemning the cold blooded murder of Salman Taseer must carry on without frivolity and culprits must be brought to justice.
They seemed like hired goons to me. They should be sentenced to lengthy prison sentences to set an example but the people who hired them should also be hunted down, arrested and put in prison.
If Gullu Butt got 11 years, these goons should get at least 22 years each. And, Mumtaz Qadri should be hanged this week.
Charged them with rioting and creating panic and terror amongst the people and transfer their case to Special Tribunals (Anti Terrorist Court) for their speedy trial. If the rioters are sentenced for 4 - 5 years, it will send a message to others to engage in such terror act or be prepared for punishment.
Well, that sounds cool :) :)