The Pakistan government has decided not to include any bearded personnel of any agency in VVIP security details following the assassination of Pakistan Punjab governor Salman Taseer by a member of the police’s Elite Force, official sources said.
“There will be no more bearded persons involved in the security of VVIPs. Those already on duty have been withdrawn,” a highly placed official told this newspaper. On Tuesday, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a member of the Punjab police Elite Force, shot Taseer dead as he was about to get into his car. He surrendered to the authorities immediately after shooting the governor and said he had killed Taseer for terming the blasphemy laws “black laws” and vigorously seeking a presidential pardon for Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy.
Pakistani investigators have traced his links to extremist religious outfits and think Qadri was only the trigger-man in a plot by hardline religious groups to kill a “blasphemer”.
The official said that after Taseer’s assassination the government has begun proper screening and scruti- ny of Elite Force officials to avoid any further incident. He confided that 10 bearded personnel of the Elite Force have been withdrawn from VVIP security as the governor’s killing sparked security concerns among top politicians. “A special team of the Elite Force has begun screening Elite Force officials in order to monitor their activities and religious leanings,” he added.