40 held over Taseer killing; body laid to rest in Lahore

Islamabad/Lahore, Jan 5 (PTI) Pakistani investigators
on Wednesday probed the possibility of a larger conspiracy
behind the killing of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer by his
bodyguard as they arrested over 40 people, including 36
policemen.
In Lahore, Taseer, 66, was laid to rest with full
state honours at the Cavalry Ground graveyard, with Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other top leaders paying
homage. President Asif Ali Zardari did not attend the funeral
due to security reasons, PPP leaders said.
More than 40 people, including 36 policemen, have been
detained by authorities probing the assassination of Taseer,
even as it emerged on Wednesday that a top official had issued
an alert about the extremist leanings of the policeman
responsible for the killing.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that
investigators are trying to ascertain whether the assassin
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri – the policeman, had acted on his
own or at the behest of "some organisation".
Qadri's name was not on the duty roster of policemen
assigned to guard the Governor till Monday night. He was
included at his own request on Tuesday morning, Malik said.
Meanwhile, Pakistani police on Wednesday charged Qadri
with murder and terrorism even as he appeared to be
unrepentant for his actions. He was booked under the Pakistan
Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Qadri was presented before Judicial Magistrate Malik
Naeem Shaukat, who granted transit custody to police for a
day. He will be produced in an anti-terrorism court in
Rawalpindi on Thursday, officials said.
Officials and media reports said that Rawalpindi's
former regional police chief Nasir Khan Durrani had noted in a
file last year that Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri – the policeman
who gunned down Taseer and 10 other personnel had hardline
religious or extremist leanings.
Durrani noted in the file that Qadri and the others
should not be assigned to guard VIPs. Despite this alert,
Qadri was deputed to protect Taseer on at least five occasions
in the past two years.
A police officer told the Dawn newspaper that Qadri
was deployed to guard Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on at
least one occasion.
Senior Rawalpindi police officer Rana Shahid Pervez
told CNN that intelligence agencies had warned officials in
2004 not to use Qadri after they uncovered connections between
him and the religious group Dawat-e-Islami, a Sunni group that
claims it has a closer connection to the Prophet Mohammed than
other Muslims.
Qadri, 26, joined the Punjab Constabulary in 2003 and
was deputed in 2008 to the Elite Force, an anti-terrorism unit
that guards VIPs, despite the warning from intelligence
agencies.