An estimated 25,000 supporters of Qadri, a former police bodyguard, forced their way into the capital from its twin-city Rawalpindi, where they had gathered Sunday afternoon to offer prayers.
Source/Credit: The Times of India
By AP | Mar 28, 2016
ISLAMABAD: Thousands of supporters of an executed Islamist assassin were holding a sit-in in Islamabad on Monday after submitting a list of demands including the execution of a female Christian blasphemy convict.
Their demands include the execution of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five who has been on death row since she was convicted in 2010 of committing blasphemy during an argument with a Muslim woman over a bowl of water.
Mumtaz Qadri was hanged on February 29 for killing a Punjab governor over his call for blasphemy reform, in what analysts said was a "key moment" in Pakistan's long battle against religious extremism.
But it also exposed deep religious divisions in the conservative Muslim country of 200 million.
An estimated 25,000 supporters of Qadri, a former police bodyguard, forced their way into the capital from its twin-city Rawalpindi, where they had gathered Sunday afternoon to offer prayers.
By evening they were engaged in violent clashes with police and paramilitary troops, who used heavy tear-gas shelling in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent them from pushing closer to the city centre.
On Monday, around 3,000 protesters, many carrying sticks, remained at the city's main Constitution Avenue close to key government buildings, including the presidency and parliament, which were guarded by soldiers.
Read original post here: Pakistani Islamist protesters demand execution of woman booked for blasphemy
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