FIR registered over attack on vigil to commemorate Salman Taseer

Published January 5, 2015
A woman lights a candle next to an image of the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer. – Reuters/File
A woman lights a candle next to an image of the governor of Punjab Salman Taseer. – Reuters/File

LAHORE: Police on Monday registered a case against unknown persons in relation to Sunday's attack on a candlelight vigil in Lahore to mark the death anniversary of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.

The First Information Report (FIR) of the incident was registered in the Gulberg police station when civil society activists complained that their vigil to commemorate Taseer was attacked by unknown men.

The FIR has been registered against seven unknown men and certain sections from the anti-terrorism act have also been added to the complaint.

Meanwhile, police sources say nineteen people have been taken into custody — including some who were seen to be involved in the attack.

Police sources told Dawn that most of the arrested men belong to a banned organisation.

Taseer was murdered by his security guard Mumtaz Qadri for demanding reforms in Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in 2011. An anti-terrorism court had awarded death penalty to Qadri in October the same year.

Sunday’s attack on the vigil commemorating the later governor took place when members of civil society gathered at the provincial capital’s Liberty Chowk to light candles in the slain politician’s memory.

Baton-wielding miscreants tore apart banners and posters as they attacked members of civil society. Several people were injured in the sudden attack. The attackers had, however, managed to flee before police arrived at the scene.

Civil society activists said candlelight vigils have been organised in Taseer’s memory for the past four year, but this was the first time that such an event was attacked.

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...