Salman Taseer

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Pakistani Minister Assassinated

Christian lawmaker opposed blasphemy laws

(Newser) - Pakistan's minister for religious minorities was gunned down today in the country's capital, AP reports. Shahbaz Bhatti, himself a member of the country's Christian minority, had been threatened by Islamic militants in the past for calling for reforms of the country's strict blasphemy laws, which impose the death penalty for...

Pakistan Busts Schoolkid for Blasphemy

Human Rights Watch calls the case 'mind boggling'

(Newser) - A 17-year-old boy in Karachi has been arrested for blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad in a school exam, drawing widespread condemnation, reports the BBC . Human Rights Watch called for the boy's release, saying that for police to lock him up was "mind boggling."

Pakistani Assassin Told Other Officers of Plans

...yet Malik Qadri was assigned to Salman Taseer's detail anyway

(Newser) - The bodyguard-turned-assassin who pumped multiple rounds into Pakistani Governor Salman Taseer was fulfilling a plan that he hadn't kept too close to the vest: Malik Mumtaz Qadri, a member of an elite police force, told other officers of his plans but was assigned to Taseer's detail all the same, says...

Pakistan Assassination Gives Rise to Extremists

Salman Taseer fought to repeal blasphemy laws, was major PPP force

(Newser) - Yesterday’s assassination of Salman Taseer could deepen Pakistan’s political crisis, and seriously weaken the government’s ability to oppose Islamic extremists. Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province, was maybe the country’s most prominent opponent of religious parties and extremism, and a major ally of the embattled secular...

Pakistani Governor Killed by Own Guard

Assassination likely to deepen country's turmoil

(Newser) - A key Pakistani governor was gunned down by his own bodyguard today in Islamabad, in the biggest assassination the violence-wracked country has endured since Benazir Bhutto's slaying three years ago. Salman Taseer, Punjab province's governor and a key ally of President Asif Ali Zardari, was gunned down as he got...

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