Taseer’s assassination
Abettors obtain pre-arrest bail
Staff Report ,Daily Times.
Staff Report ,Daily Times.
=======================================================RAWALPINDI: Qari Muhammad Hanif Qureshi and Syed Imtiaz Hussain Kazmi, the two religious leaders believed to be abettors in the killing of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, on Thursday obtained pre-arrest bail from an Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi.
ATC-I judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan accepted the bail plea of the two clerics and granted them pre-arrest bail until January 25. The court directed both clerics to submit two surety bonds worth Rs 200,000 each. Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of Salmaan Taseer, had told investigators that on December 31, he offered his Friday prayers at a mosque in Muslim Town in Rawalpindi, where Hanif Qadri and Imtiaz Shah made speeches criticising the attempts being made to amend the blasphemy law.
Qadri, in his statement, said that after hearing the speeches of these leaders, he decided to kill Taseer for criticising the country’s blasphemy law. The two, through their lawyer Raja Shujaur Rehman, maintained that there was no evidence against them proving that any of their actions had abetted the assassination of Taseer. The clerics said their names had not been mentioned in the FIR that was registered with the Kohsar police on January 4 and they had been implicated at a later stage to justify the accusation of abetment in the murder of the governor. Qari Hanif and Syed Imtiaz maintained that they were being implicated in the case only to harass them and others who were sympathising with Qadri. After the court hearing, the two men, along with their lawyers, talked to the media and categorically said they did not know Qadri before he killed Taseer.
They said they learnt that Qadri was a local resident after he killed Taseer. “On December 31, I did not make any speech in Muslim Town against Taseer and I did not try to create the impression that he should be killed for criticising the blasphemy law... I did not know whether Qadri was present in the audience or not,” said Qari Hanif.
ATC-I judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan accepted the bail plea of the two clerics and granted them pre-arrest bail until January 25. The court directed both clerics to submit two surety bonds worth Rs 200,000 each. Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of Salmaan Taseer, had told investigators that on December 31, he offered his Friday prayers at a mosque in Muslim Town in Rawalpindi, where Hanif Qadri and Imtiaz Shah made speeches criticising the attempts being made to amend the blasphemy law.
Qadri, in his statement, said that after hearing the speeches of these leaders, he decided to kill Taseer for criticising the country’s blasphemy law. The two, through their lawyer Raja Shujaur Rehman, maintained that there was no evidence against them proving that any of their actions had abetted the assassination of Taseer. The clerics said their names had not been mentioned in the FIR that was registered with the Kohsar police on January 4 and they had been implicated at a later stage to justify the accusation of abetment in the murder of the governor. Qari Hanif and Syed Imtiaz maintained that they were being implicated in the case only to harass them and others who were sympathising with Qadri. After the court hearing, the two men, along with their lawyers, talked to the media and categorically said they did not know Qadri before he killed Taseer.
They said they learnt that Qadri was a local resident after he killed Taseer. “On December 31, I did not make any speech in Muslim Town against Taseer and I did not try to create the impression that he should be killed for criticising the blasphemy law... I did not know whether Qadri was present in the audience or not,” said Qari Hanif.
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