Pak Punjab Governor’s assassin had informed fellow guards about plot

ISLAMABAD - Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of Pakistan Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, has reportedly disclosed during investigations that he had informed his intentions about the assassination to his fellow guards.

According to sources, informing his fellow security guards about the plot, Qadri had requested that they (other guards) should not open fire at him after the killing.

He had pledged that he would lay down his arms, and had said that he wanted to be arrested alive, the News reports.

Qadri had shot Taseer in his chest and neck, following which the governor died on the spot.

It is the most high-profile political killing in Pakistan since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik had earlier confirmed that Qadri had confessed to assassinating Taseer because of his support for the release of Asia Bibi.

Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, has been sentenced to death by a lower court for violating Pakistan’s laws against blaspheming Muhammad. (ANI)