Thousands of supporters of Mumtaz Qadri, who was hanged for killing liberal Punjab province Governor Salman Taseer, held the Pakistani capital’s high- security red zone under siege on Monday and demanded that the Islamist assassin be declared a “martyr”.
About 25,000 protesters yesterday, a month after Qadri was hanged for shooting Taseer, prayed for him in Rawalpindi, and then marched towards Islamabad’s Red Zone, breaking barriers that had been erected. Out of the 25,000, about 3,000 supporters of Qadri continued their sit in outside the Parliament House and other key Government installations for a second day.