Hege Storhaug, HRS
Meldingen kom nettopp på e-post fra en av mine nærmeste i Pakistan, bosatt i Islamabad, og som jeg mang en gang har besøkt Koshar Market sammen med. Hun skriver: ”Svært triste nyheter. Guvernøren i Punjab, Salmaan Taseser, den eneste politikeren som støttet Asia Bibis sak og ønsket at hun skulle benådes og som nylig skrev en historisk kronikk mot Pakistans blasfemilov, ble skutt ni ganger akkurat nå, mens han tok seg en kaffe på Koshar Market. Han døde. Tenkte jeg skulle la deg å vite dette ettersom HRS har fulgt Asia Bibis sak.”
Et raskt søk på nettet, og jeg kan konstatere at den tragiske nyheten er spredd verden over.
The governor of Pakistan’s powerful Punjab province was shot dead Tuesday by one of his guards in the Pakistani capital, police said. The killing was the most high-profile assassination of a political figure in Pakistan since the slaying of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December of 2007.
Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was a high-profile member of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and a close associate of President Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto’s widower.
Taseer was vocal on a range of subjects, including speaking out against the country’s blasphemy law in recent days. Islamists in Pakistan have defended the controversial law and slammed those who oppose it.
Police official Mohammad Iftikhar said Taseer was gunned down by one of his own elite security force protectors after he reached Khosar Market, a shopping center in Islamabad popular with Westerners and wealthy Pakistanis. The suspected assailant was taken into custody, Iftikhar said.
Jeg kjenner jeg blir ordløs.