Pakistan governor’s killing: ‘hidden hands’ at work
In her first interview following the assassination of her father, the daughter of Salmaan Taseer tells Chanel 4 News she believes there are many “hidden hands” behind his murder.
Shehrbano Taseer believes the plot to kill her father, the influential governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, went far beyond the actions of his security guard, who shot Salmaan Taseer 27 times on a busy street in Islamabad earlier this week, writes Farah Qayum. “The assassin, the perpetrators, the planners, the financers – all the hidden hands – have a role here. I blame them,” she said.
Speaking from Lahore, she said her father was motivated by a desire to change Pakistan: “He (Salmaan Taseer) was not a coward or a hypocrite. He wanted a peaceful, progressive, secular, liberal, and egalitarian Pakistan; a Pakistan that belongs to the poor as well as the rich, the women as well as the men, the religious minorities as well as the Muslims, the oppressed as well as the free.
“Pakistan was not ready for him.”
Miss Taseer said her father had received constant death threats, and that although the death was “sudden and violent” her family was not “afraid” of any further repercussions from what she describes as “cowards” in support of violence.
The assassin, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, has been lauded as a hero by some in Pakistan, and was showered by rose petals when he arrived for his first court appearance. 500 religious scholars in Pakistan have noted the “courage” and religious zeal of the killer – and hundreds gathered outside Qadri’s house in Rawalpindi to show their support, earlier this week.
Qadri has said he shot the governor because of Mr Taseer’s opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The killing is the most high profile in Pakistan since the murder of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 – and has been condemned around the world.
He lived and died for Pakistan. He wouldn’t have wanted to go in any other way. Shehrbano Taseer, Salmaan Taseer’s daughter
An investigation has been launched, which will look at whether Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri was acting alone. Investigators have said they consider it suspicious that that none of the eight other Elite Force security guards there to protect the governor, intervened to stop Qadri.
Two police officials from the Punjab security branch have been suspended – locally named as Inspector Khalid Satti and Sub-inspector Aajab Khan.
This follows the discovery that a letter – stating Qadri did not have the required security clearance to protect guard a high-ranking politician – was not passed on to the security authorities.
Miss Taseer, one of seven children and an aspiring writer and charity worker, expressed difficulty in coping with the aftermath of the murder. She says she will dedicate herself to bringing change to Pakistan’s struggling political system. She described her father as “larger than life” and her “hero and best friend”.
“It sounds odd, but he was so dynamic and strong that I can’t imagine him being sick or ill or dying of old age.
“There is no other way he could have gone. He lived and died for Pakistan. He wouldn’t have wanted to go in any other way.