Qadri is not a religious fanatic: report

By Tahir Khalil
ISLAMABAD: Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, is not a religious fanatic having extremist ideologies. This was disclosed in the initial report submitted to Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

According to the report, Mumtaz Qadri had fulfilled all worldly requirements and was married 11 months ago. Before his marriage, he had a long love affair with a girl residing in Karachi. He some times grew beard or trimmed it.

The report said Mumtaz Qadri had been performing the VIP duties since 2007, and had served in the security squad of Governor Taseer eight times earlier. He used to take the accused of blasphemy from jail to courts.

Officials are investigating how the idea of attacking Governor Taseer came to his mind because he is not religious fanatic. Mumtaz Qadri never enrolled at any Madrassa; however, he used to visit shrines. He belongs to village Attall of Barakao where his grandparents live, and presently he is living in Muslim Town, Rawalpindi.

His record shows that he regularly used to attend gatherings of Dawat-e-Islami. It is surprising for security officials that how a man having inclination towards the Dawat-e-Islami took the extreme step of killing Governor Taseer when no suspected militant out of the 150 arrested from the suburbs of the capital belongs to this religious party.

The officials, while giving a briefing to Interior Minister Rehman Malik, said Mumtaz Qadri did not conceal anything and described each and everything clearly and, therefore, there was no need to use 'third degree' torture.

The interior minister directed them to complete the investigation as soon as possible, so that legal action could be taken against the accused. Meanwhile, as a result of the investigation from Mumtaz Qadri, an official has been held from the security squad of the Punjab chief minister after the arrest of a policeman from the security contingent of the prime minister.