Whole nation will besiege Pak Parliament if Taseer's assassin given death sentence: ST

Rawalpindi, Jan 10 (ANI): Sunni Tehreek (ST) activists have warned that the entire nation will besiege Pakistan's Parliament House if Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the assassin of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, is given the death sentence.

Hundreds of ST activists gathered at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed (BBS) Road and staged a protest demonstration at Liaquat Bagh, demanding Qadri's immediate release, the Daily Times reported.

Led by Rawalpindi ST Ulema Board Chairman Allama Ghufran Mehmood Sialvi, scores of other activists, religious scholars belonging to different schools of thought, Shabab-e-Milli Pakistan office-bearers and workers, and a large number of seminaries' students took part in the protest demonstration.

Addressing the protestors, Sialvi said that the ST would provide legal and constitutional support to Qadri, and would also look after his family members.

"If Qadri is given death sentence, the whole nation will besiege Parliament House," he warned.

Sialvi said the ST was against terrorists and terrorism, but the party demanded shifting Qadri's case from the Anti Terrorism Court to another court.

"Qadri did not commit any act of terrorism for which he was being presented before ATC," he stated.

Sialvi also said that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani should remove apprehensions of the people by making an announcement that the blasphemy law would not be amended.

He also demanded of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to provide security to the family members of Qadri. (ANI)