LAHORE/KARACHI – The PPP on Wednesday termed Salmaan TaseerÂ’s assassination a ‘political murderÂ’ with political motives, as Federal Law Minister Babar Awan in his media talk raised many questions regarding the incident and also pointed finger at the Punjab government for what he called a ‘criminal security lapseÂ’. ‘Why Salmaan Taseer was not provided the security cover of a Constitutional head of the province which is equal to that of the Chief Executive of the province, and which is given to Constitutional heads in other provinces tooÂ’, the Minister asked while talking to reporters at the residence of PPP leader Munawar Anjum where he had gone to condole the death of latterÂ’s mother.
Awan questioned why a person who had earlier been declared security risk and terminated from service was included in GovernorÂ’s security staff.
He said that security of Governor Taseer was handed over to the murderers, while describing the incident as a failure of security.
Terming TaseerÂ’s assassination a target killing and a political murder, he said Salmaan Taseer had one identity only; that of a political man, and his murder could not be without political motives
Is it the fate of PPP only to lift the bodies of its leaders? he asked.
Awan said it needed to be investigated whether it was a criminal security lapse or a conspiracy against the country and the present system. He feared that certain forces wanted to weaken the country through such acts.
He said it was vital to uncover what he called ‘real conspiracy’ behind the murder.
‘It’s not our job to reach at the real culprits, but it is highly important to investigate the matter’, he added, saying his party would not let any one to hush up the whole affair.
He said GovernorÂ’s assassination had raised many questions which must be answered. He further said his party did not want to indulge in any blame game, but it was necessary to conduct thorough investigation.
He said it would be an uphill task for only two civil servants to investigate such a big tragedy. Babar said he was not blaming any body for the murder and all his utterances were within the confines of the Constitution and law.
Babar also seemed dissatisfied over the security cover being provided to him as Federal Minister. ‘I have to arrange it myself, some times also seeking help from Rangers’, he told reporters, adding, that the security vehicles provided to him by Punjab government were without headlights and had weak tyres.
Meanwhile, addressing Punjab Assembly session on Wednesday, Senior Punjab Minister Raja Riaz and Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira were also convinced that political motivation led to Salmaan TaseerÂ’s murder.
Meanwhile, the PPP parliamentary party in Punjab condemned the Taseer’s assassination as a ‘political murder’, and demanded tracing the real culprits and awarding exemplary punishment to them.
The emergency parliamentary party meeting was held here at the Punjab Assembly cafeteria with Senior Minister Raja Riaz in the chair.
Senator Babar Awan, Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Rana Farooq Saeed also attended the meeting on the special invitation of PPP legislators.
The PPP Ministers Dr Tanvir-ul-Islam, Farooq Yusuf Ghurki, Ashraf Sohna, Neelam Jabbar and Haji Muhammad Ishaq besides a large number of legislators attended the meeting.
Addressing the participants, Babar Awan said that assassination of Salmaan Taseer was a test of patience for the PPP and its workers.
He said that the party has already faced a number of political murders.
He said that assassination of the Constitutional head of a province by a security guard was a big question mark.
He said that some miscreants were hatching conspiracies to weaken the Federation. He said that the PPP and the Federation were two sides of the same coin.
Neelam Jabbar, Sajida Mir, Azma Bokhari, Tariq Amin Hotiana, Irshad Ahmed Sial and Saleem Najmi also addressed the meeting.
The participants paid glowing tributes to Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer for his brave stance against terrorism. The participants passed a resolution expressing the resolve to continue the mission of party founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto besides continuing the policy of national reconciliation of President Asif Zardari.
The resolution passed by the PPP MPAs also demanded probe into the killing of Salmaan Taseer and voiced for the tracing of real hands behind the gory incident.
In Karachi, PPP Central Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab termed that the assassination of Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer a political murder, saying that his murder was not an act of extremism.
The PPP government has announced three-day mourning for Salman Taseer and the PPP also announced two-week mourning.
Talking to the media person after the condolence meeting at the People’s Secretariat, Fauzia Wahab said that killing of Salman Taseer was a part of pre-planned conspiracy and said “now we should remain alert to avert from this kind of terrorism.”
Commenting over the issue about who was the responsible for the security of Governor Punjab, she said that the controversy about the security responsibility of the Salman Taseer proved that the murder was political. She said that PPP MNA Sherry Rehman has privately submitted the bill to amend the blasphemy law in the National Assembly.
PPP Karachi organised the condolence meeting at the PeopleÂ’s Secretariat to express the condolence on the assassination of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer.
Meanwhile, Sindh Senior Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq said that the religious political parties had defamed the face of Islam across the world. He said that these elements were hatching conspiracy to break the country.
Pir Mazhar vowed that PPP would continue its struggle against these extremist elements and striving to make enlightened and develop Pakistan. He said that extremists in the country were the remnants of former dictator Zia-ul-Haq and underlined the need to uproot the remnants of Zia-ul-Haq from the country.