ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI – The appearance of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, in an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday turned into an hours-long chaotic drama as dozens of his angry supporters stopped the relocation of his hearing from Rawalpindi to Islamabad.
The police officials in Islamabad had planned to present Qadri before an anti-terrorism court that was temporarily shifted from Rawalpindi to the capital city’s sector G-7 owing to security reasons.
However, the angry protesters including dozens of activists of various religious organisations and lawyers set up a cordon at the Rawalpindi courts making it impossible for Judge Malik Akram Awan to go to Islamabad for hearing, where Qadri had already been shifted. Islamabad police officials were left with no choice but to rush to Rawalpindi in a long convoy of vehicles, including the APC carrying Qadri. He was given a hero’s welcome at the court with his supporters showering his vehicle with rose petals.
