Salman Taseer's assassin unlikely to be prosecuted, says Qadri's brother

Rawalpindi, Jan 16(ANI): The brother of late Punjab Governor Salman Taseer's assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, has expressed confidence that the bodyguard will never be prosecuted.

Taseer's bodyguard Qadri had shot him dead because of his vocal opposition to the blasphemy law that was recently used to sentence a Pakistani-Christian woman, Asia Bibi, to death.

During investigations, he revealed that he had been motivated by a cleric, 'QH', of Rawalpindi, according to sources, who said Qadri had attended a congregation on December 31 near his house in Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi, where the cleric delivered a speech on blasphemy.

Influenced by the speech, Qadri met the cleric separately and discussed with him the issue of killing people committing blasphemy. The cleric encouraged Qadri to kill, when he asked how to deal with a blasphemer, the sources added.

Qadri's brother, Dilpazeer Awan, said approximately 17 state probe agencies were still interrogating relatives on whether Qadri was linked to any political or religious groups in Pakistan.

Awan said he, however, believed that 26-year-old Qadri had acted on his own.

Noting that many lawyers have offered to defend Qadri for free, his brother said even the government would support him.

Awan described his brother as a dedicated member of the Pakistani Elite Force, not an extremist as potrayed by some police officials. He called Qadri a very caring and sympathetic person. (ANI)