Military on alert as tensions rise after Pakistan hangs ex-governor’s killer

Pakistan on Monday hanged the convicted killer of a former governor, shot in 2011 by his bodyguard who accused him of blasphemy, officials said. The execution of Mumtaz Qadri triggered protests in several cities denouncing the hanging after some religious and political leaders, as well as militant groups, publicly defended the killer. Most schools also closed down in the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi in fear of violence by supporters of the executed former police officer.

We started crying, but he hugged us and chanted ‘God is great’.

Qadri’s brother Malik Abid

Qadri was on guard duty for secular Gov. Salman Taseer who was campaigning in support of a Christian woman jailed for years on accusations of blasphemy for allegedly desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Koran. Taseer had called for reforms of the country’s harsh blasphemy laws, which impose the death sentence for insulting Islam. Qadri was convicted and sentenced to death in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi later that year. He was hanged Monday in Rawalpindi, after all his petitions and mercy appeals were rejected, said police official Sadiq Mahmood.

Qadri