Lahore, Pakistan, Jan 4, 2011 / 14:14 pm
The assassination of a Pakistani governor who opposed the country’s blasphemy law will make it “virtually impossible” for anyone to speak out against it, the Archbishop of Lahore has warned.
On Jan. 4 Punjab governor Salman Taseer was shot by one of his own guards in Islamabad as he was leaving his car near a shopping center. The gunman told police he killed Taseer because of the governor’s opposition to the blasphemy law. According to Minorities Concern of Pakistan, police have arrested six others in connection with the crime.
Governor Taseer had sought a pardon for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law on what her lawyers say are fabricated charges. The politician's killer, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, also cited Taseer’s visit to Bibi and his declaration of her innocence as a motive.
Punjab is Pakistan’s most populous province, having about 56 percent of the country’s total population. About 80 percent of Pakistan’s Christians live in Punjab.