40 held over Taseer's killing; body laid to rest in Lahore

In Lahore, Taseer, 66, was laid to rest with full state honours at the Cavalry Ground graveyard, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other top leaders paying homage. President Asif Ali Zardari did not attend the funeral due to security reasons, PPP leaders said.

More than 40 people, including 36 policemen, have been detained by authorities probing the assassination of Taseer, even as it emerged today that a top official had issued an alert about the extremist leanings of the policeman responsible for the killing.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that investigators are trying to ascertain whether the assassin Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri – the policeman, had acted on his own or at the behest of "some organisation".

Qadri's name was not on the duty roster of policemen assigned to guard the Governor till Monday night. He was included at his own request on Tuesday morning, Malik said. Meanwhile, Pakistani police today charged Qadri with murder and terrorism even as he appeared to be unrepentant for his actions. He was booked under the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Qadri was presented before Judicial Magistrate Malik Naeem Shaukat, who granted transit custody to police for a day. He will be produced in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi tomorrow, officials said.

Officials and media reports said that Rawalpindi's former regional police chief Nasir Khan Durrani had noted in a file last year that Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri – the policeman who gunned down Taseer and 10 other personnel had hardline religious or extremist leanings.

Durrani noted in the file that Qadri and the others should not be assigned to guard VIPs. Despite this alert, Qadri was deputed to protect Taseer on at least five occasions in the past two years.

A police officer told the Dawn newspaper that Qadri was deployed to guard Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on at least one occasion. Senior Rawalpindi police officer Rana Shahid Pervez told CNN that intelligence agencies had warned officials in 2004 not to use Qadri after they uncovered connections between him and the religious group Dawat-e-Islami, a Sunni group that claims it has a closer connection to the Prophet Mohammed than other Muslims.

Qadri, 26, joined the Punjab Constabulary in 2003 and was deputed in 2008 to the Elite Force, an anti-terrorism unit that guards VIPs, despite the warning from intelligence agencies.

As a joint investigation team expanded its probe today, 36 personnel from Punjab Police, Special Branch and Elite Force were detained. Qadri's father, five brothers and three more relatives were also detained.

Most of the detained people are expected to be released after recording their statements while 10 or more would be detained longer, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying.

The joint investigation team yesterday arrested two officials who assigned Qadri to the Governor’s security detail and eight personnel of the Elite Force. Three more policemen from Rawalpindi, including an official, were arrested this morning.

Media reports also said Qadri was earlier removed from the Special Branch for being a "security risk" and had told several of his colleagues of his plan to kill Taseer for opposing the controversial blasphemy law.

Qadri laid down his assault rifle and surrendered moments after he shot Taseer at the posh Kohsar Market in the heart of Islamabad yesterday. Chilling footage aired on a news channel showed a smiling Qadri saying: "He got the death sentence for insulting the Prophet."

Qardi had told his colleagues that if he killed the Governor, he should be arrested alive as he would lay down his weapon after firing. PPP leaders and the media raised questions about other aspects of Taseer's killing. Following reports that Qadri had emptied one magazine of his weapon and then calmly reloaded and continued firing, PPP leader Farahnaz Ispahani questioned why the other policemen assigned to protect Taseer had not shot the killer.

"A time span of around 30 seconds, during which the assassin shot at the Governor and dropped his weapon, saw zero activity by the rest of the guards," The News daily said in a report.

Qadri's colleagues were "apparently very confident and sure that he meant no further harm" and this is "another question that merits an answer," the report said. Qadri had recently changed his lifestyle and grown a beard, "which could easily be identified with the faction that feels strongly about blasphemy", the report said.

The daily quoted police sources as saying that Qadri had "nursed a grudge against the Punjab Governor over his blunt statement" on blasphemy. Over the past few days, Qadri attended rallies and gatherings organised in Rawalpindi by religious groups to oppose any move to repeal or amend the blasphemy law.

Taseer, a close confidant of President Asif Ali Zardari and an advocate of tolerance, had earned the wrath of religious hardliners after he called for the repeal of the blasphemy law.

Religious groups had burnt his effigies after he spoke in defence of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.