The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which two years ago suffered the assassination of its leader Benazir Bhutto, yesterday received another blow when shot dead one of his most influential men: the governor of Punjab, Salman Tasir. One of the bodyguards Tasir fired nine shots at close range when the governor of Pakistan's most populous province of 82 million inhabitants, more than half the population was approaching his car in a downtown market in the capital.According to Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, after the murder found the harsh criticism leveled by Tasir the blasphemy law advocated by the parties and religious organizations and especially the most radical. The minister confirmed that the bodyguard, 26, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, belonging to security forces Punjabis.
"During the investigation, determine whether the killing was a personal decision or one instigated it," he said. The Government has declared three days of national mourning. Tasir was a courageous politician who strongly criticized the Taliban and Islamist organizations that support them, both orally and through social networks like Twitter.
It was the first to express your support for the Christian peasant sentenced to death on November 8 by the law of blasphemy, for which he requested a presidential pardon. Asia Bibi, 45, whose pardon have requested numerous human rights organizations and the Church, appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of Lahore (the capital of Punjab), which so far has not acted.
Tasir said he was convinced that if the court commuted his sentence on President Asif Ali Zardari, who was a close ally, would pardon. Political crisis Tasir's death comes at a most sensitive for the PPP, after the withdrawal of two of its partners in the coalition government, which has left him in a minority parliament and exposed to a motion of censure.
Following negotiations on Monday by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani with opposition leaders to avoid a censure motion yesterday, the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N, its acronym in English ) noted that the Government has extended to three days, six after the murder, to prepare a reform plan against inflation and corruption, which it will plan 45 days to see if it works.
If within that period without progress, at the end whether to submit a censure motion or terminating the coalition PPP-PML-N ruling in Punjab. Plunged into economic ruin and beset by insurgency, this new murder merely aggravate the serious crisis affecting Pakistan. The country is in a particularly delicate moment in which the U.S.
has increased its pressure on the Pakistani Army to be more vocal in their fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda members to attack NATO forces in Afghanistan and then cross the border and take refuge in Afghanistan. Tasir was governor of Punjab, a charge of ceremonial (the executive power rests with the head of the provincial government), but was a prominent figure in Pakistani political landscape.
Punjab is not only the breadbasket of Pakistan but their population feeds the ranks of the Army, almost 90% of the military are Punjabis-and the federal government. Taliban violence that bleeds mainly northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, is being filtered by Punjab, which according to many experts threatens the stability and the very future of Pakistan.
The voice of the assassinated governor, as his friend Benazir Bhutto, won as long as a scourge against the Islamists and the opposition to surrender to the Taliban. Islamist demonstrations in protest at the Government's intention to amend the blasphemy law, were launched against Tasir some proclamations, made with Minister of Minorities, Shahbaz Batti, the visible face of the protectors of religious minorities in Pakistan .
No comments:
Post a Comment