ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A leading politician from the ruling Pakistan People's Party who had recently spoken out against the country's controversial blasphemy laws was killed Tuesday by a member of his security detail in an upscale market in Islamabad, his political secretary and police said.
Salmaan Taseer, who was governor of Pakistan's most-populous Punjab province, was attacked in Kohsar Market, a strip mall in the heart of one of Islamabad's toniest neighborhoods as he got into his car after lunch.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told local television the attacker, who he named as Malik Mumtaz Qadri, was a member of Mr. Taseer's elite forces security detail. Mr. Qadri allegedly shot repeatedly into Mr. Taseer's silver Honda Civic before giving himself up to police, the minister said. The attacker later told police he shot Mr. Taseer because of his views on removing Pakistan's blasphemy laws, according to Mr. Malik.
No other people appeared to be injured in the attack.
Mr. Taseer had recently spoken out in defense of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy and calling for the law to be struck down, drawing ire from Islamist parties. Recently on Twitter, Mr. Taseer had been calling for people to demonstrate on the street against the blasphemy laws, which date to the dictatorship of former military Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s.
Wall Street Journal
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