The Islamic hardliners in Pakistan have discovered a new way of trying to prevent one of their jihadis from being tried for murder - simply flood the area with protesters and physically restrict the judge from attending the court hearing. The assassin accused of shooting and killing the Governor of Punjab province in Pakistan was due in court today but when it was determined that there were too many protesters against his arrest and trial, they decided to move the court hearing to a more secure site in Islamabad - the only problem was the crowd didn't allow the judge to get to the new site!
From the story at DAWN:
A planned court appearance for Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the killer of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, ran into chaos on Thursday as extremist supporters prevented an attempt to re-locate the session, witnesses said.
Mumtaz Qadri, who was assigned to Salman Taseer’s security detail and confessed to the killing, was charged and ordered to appear before the Anti-Terrorist Court in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
But as a growing crowd of extremist lawyers and madrassah students descended on the building in support of Qadri, authorities instead drove him to a makeshift court hastily set up in a heavily protected building in Islamabad.
But the crowd in Rawalpindi set up a cordon in protest, preventing the judge from leaving for Islamabad, lawyers and an AFP reporter said.
“We requested the judge that legally he cannot go to Islamabad to hear the accused and he accepted our request,” lawyer Malik Waheed Anjum told reporters.
Since I end up perusing a lot of Pakistani media in my search for blogposts here at Holger Awakens, I have to tell you all - this assassination of the Punjab Governor is HUGE news in Pakistan - it is almost rivaling the press given to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto a few years ago. And now, there are more and more rumors that the assassin was simply a pawn, simply a hired gun by conspirators - and those conspirators might just be part of the Pakistani government.
This is going to be an interesting situation as things continue to unfold.
Chaos over Mumtaz Qadri’s court appearance
ISLAMABAD: A planned court appearance for Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the killer of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, ran into chaos on Thursday as extremist supporters prevented an attempt to re-locate the session, witnesses said.
Mumtaz Qadri, who was assigned to Salman Taseer’s security detail and confessed to the killing, was charged and ordered to appear before the Anti-Terrorist Court in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
But as a growing crowd of extremist lawyers and madrassah students descended on the building in support of Qadri, authorities instead drove him to a makeshift court hastily set up in a heavily protected building in Islamabad.
But the crowd in Rawalpindi set up a cordon in protest, preventing the judge from leaving for Islamabad, lawyers and an AFP reporter said.
“We requested the judge that legally he cannot go to Islamabad to hear the accused and he accepted our request,” lawyer Malik Waheed Anjum told reporters.
“The judge ordered Islamabad police to present the accused in his court in Rawalpindi,” he added.
More than seven hours after journalists first gathered at the Rawalpindi court for the expected hearing, Qadri finally arrived and was feted with rose petals by supporters for the second day running.
Police officials in Islamabad were unavailable for comment.
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