Taseer's killer 'is an Islamic warrior'
Tags:
Islamabad: A group of over 500 Pakistani scholars and clerics have described the policeman who gunned down the Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer as a 'Ghazi' and have warned against any expression of sympathy for slain PPP leader, saying it would tantamount to an act of blasphemy.
Warning the people not to lead or offer funeral prayers for Taseer, 66, the clerics part of Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan, a grouping representing the moderate Barelvi sect of Sunni Muslims praised the Elite Force policeman Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri and called him a 'Ghazi', an Islamic warrior.
The outsopken Taseer who was known for his liberal views and who supported changes in the controversial blasphemy law, was gunned down in a posh market in the heart of Islamabad yesterday. The clerics said in a statement issued last night, "Also, there should be no expression of grief or sympathy on the death of the Governor, as those who support blasphemy of the Prophet Mohammed are themselves indulging in blasphemy."
Patting Malik, the clerics said he had killed Taseer for calling the blasphemy law a 'black law'.
Hailing the 'courage' and zeal of Qadri, the clerics and scholars said his action had made all Muslims proud.
A leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party's 'ulema' or clerics wing led Taseer's funeral prayer this afternoon after several leading clerics of Lahore, including the imams of the Data Darbar shrine and the Shahi Masjid, refused to do so.
The cleric of the mosque at the Governor's House, who is a Barelvi, too refused to lead the prayer, sources said.
The statement issued by the Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan was endorsed by the grouping's 'ameer' or chief Syed Mazhar Saeed Shah Kazmi and over 500 scholars and clerics like Allama Syed Riaz Hussain Shah, Shah Turab-ul-Haq Qadri and Pir Ghulam Siddiq Naqshbandi.
Those "favouring the person who indulged in blasphemy are themselves blasphemous," the scholars and clerics said in the statement.
Post new comment