Pakistan: Islamist cleric Jalali demands fresh trial of Mumtaz Qadri

Dr Jalali, who is also head of Idara Sirat-i-Mustaqeem, said some pseudo intellectuals and ulema were supporting the blasphemer [Salman Taseer], twisting facts, which was quite intolerable.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Nation | Pakistan
By The Nation Reporter | October 25, 2011

LAHORE - A senior leader of the Tahaffaz-i-Namoos-i-Risalat alleged on Monday that the Anti-Terrorism Court had awarded capital punishment to Mumtaz Husain Qadri, the killer of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, under pressure and in haste, a decision which he said had been rejected by the nation.

Appearing in an Aiwan-i-Waqt programme hosted by Saifullah Sipra, Dr Muhammad Ashraf Asif Jalali demanded that the case should be heard afresh and the decision should be given in the light of Quran and Sunnah.

Calling for the release of Mr Qadri, he said ulema would issue an edict on the subject tomorrow (Wednesday) after a seminar to be held at a mosque in Gulshan-e-Ravi.


Leaders of various Sunni organisations, judges, lawyers and Muftis would participate in the seminar, he added.

Mumtaz Qadri, a police constable, had gunned down the Punjab governor in Islamabad in the first week of January. He had argued that the governor had committed blasphemy by speaking against the Blasphemy Laws and expressing solidarity with a blasphemy convict. Qadri confessed to killing while appearing before the judge.

Dr Jalali, who is also head of Idara Sirat-i-Mustaqeem, said some pseudo intellectuals and ulema were supporting the blasphemer, twisting facts, which was quite intolerable. Condemning the government’s decision to give Most Favoured Nation status to India, he said it negated the Pakistan Ideology. He said at a time when Indian troops were slaughtering innocent Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir, there was no justification to confer such a status on India.



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