Mumtaz Qadri Verdict: Judge transferred to Lahore

The judge was transferred to Child Protection Court Bureau in Lahore.

RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Pervaiz Ali Shah was transferred to Lahore on Friday amid protest from religious groups. The ATC judge who had sentenced Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, was transferred to Child Protection Court Bureau in Lahore, merely a month after he was posted to Rawalpindi. The judge came in the limelight after he awarded death sentence to Qadri, despite threats and pressure from various extremist groups and lawyers. The judge had been unable to perform his duty due to the hostility of a certain group of lawyers and other religious groups who had been asking the authorities to hand Shah over to them. The lawyers had earlier asked the government to transfer the judge to some other city. The Rawalpindi District Bar had passed a resolution giving a five-day deadline to the government. The decision came after the nationwide strike by religious parties on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2011.