MULTAN: Funeral prayers of Rashid Rahman, lawyer and coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s special task force, were held here on Thursday.

Mr Rahman was shot dead on Wednesday night by two assailants at the HRCP office near Kutchery Chowk. Advocate Nadeem Parvaz, one of Rashid’s colleagues, and client Afzal Husain were also injured in the attack, but, according to hospital sources, they are out of danger.

Scores of people from all walks of life attended the funeral prayers at GPO Ground.

Mr Rahman is believed to be killed for defending an alleged blasphemer being tried in the Central Jail, Multan.

A pamphlet stating that Rashid Rahman met his fate because he tried to save a ‘blasphemer’ was dished out by unidentified people in the chambers of lawyers on Thursday.

“We warn all the lawyers to think before defending such matters,” the pamphlet reads.

Rashid Rahman was the nephew of veteran journalist and rights activist I.A. Rehman.

The Chehliyak police, on a complaint of Sheikh Khalid Jamil, brother-in-law of Rashid, lodged a first information report under Section 302 (Punishment of qatl-i-amd), 324 (Attempt to commit qatl-i-amd) and 7-ATA against two unidentified attackers.

According to Dr Tariq Nawaz Babar, who conducted the post-mortem, five bullets were fired at Rashid Rahman, and one of them shot in the head damaged his brain and neck vessels.

According to police sources, the weapon used in the attack was a 0.22 pistol.

They said police found six empties at the shooting scene.

Rights activist Asma Jahangir arrived in Multan and offered condolence with the grieving family. She met City Police Officer Chaudhry Sultan Ahmad at his office.

She told reporters that the killing of Rashid Rahman was the failure of the state. “It’s ironic that those killing the innocent people are justifying their crime besides claiming that no one can arrest them,” she said.

Ms Jahangir urged the chief justice of Pakistan to order an inquiry into threats hurled at Rashid Rahman and that why no action was taken on a complaint of Advocate Allah Dad Khan.

“They (judges) only take action under the contempt of court when the matter is relating to them,” she said.

She said it was the responsibility of police and administration to provide security to Rashid Rahman.

Bar associations across the country condemned the murder and demanded action against the suspects.

A joint meeting of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Multan bench, and the Multan District Bar Association condemned the killing.

A press release issued by the bars, however, failed to condemn the murder in unequivocal terms.

“We want to make it clear that the respect of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is part of faith of lawyers like the entire Muslim nation and we will play our role to provide assistance in evidence related matters and bring the culprits of blasphemy” to justice, states the press release. “However, targeting lawyers is the violation of law and the constitution.”

They announced a three-day mourning and boycott of courts.

THREATS NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY: Advocate Allah Dad Khan wrote on April 10 to the Punjab chief minister, the inspector general, the city police officer and the district bar association’s president, saying he was threatened by two lawyers and two other people who asked him not to appear in a blasphemy case.

According to the application, Rashid Rahman and advocate Allah Dad Khan appeared in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shahbaz Ali Paracha in the central jail on April 9 as counsel for Junaid Hafiz, a blasphemy accused.

Inside the jail, before and during the hearing, both of them were intimidated and threatened by a group, including lawyers, who were there without any permission. At one point, during the arguments a lawyer appearing on behalf of the public prosecutor and another man advanced towards him. The lawyer, according to the application, asked Rashid Rahman to keep quiet “otherwise you will not come” to next hearing.

Two other people, including a lawyer, repeated the threat. He immediately made a verbal complaint to the judge, as intimidation had taken place right in front of him.

“These circumstances (have) forced me to bring all the (details of the) offence in (your) notice,” Rashid Rahman said in his letter, adding that if something happened to him, the responsibility would rest with Zulfiqar Ali Sindhu, Sajjad Ahmad Chawan (both lawyers), Ayub Mughal and a fourth man whose identity could be established from jail record.

Rashid Rahman was defending Junaid Hafiz who was charged on March 13 last year under Sections 295-C and 295-B. The next hearing is fixed for May 19.

Civil society activists held a candlelight vigil to pay homage to Rashid Rahman outside the Multan Press Club.