ISLAMABAD, Jun 10: The anti-blasphemy speeches of some clerics instigated Mumtaz Qadri to assassinate Punjab governor Salman Taseer, sources close to the investigation quoted the self-confessed assassin as saying.

In a statement recorded before an assistant commissioner on Monday, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri said he attended a religious congregation in Sadiqabad on Dec 31 where clerics, especially QHQ and ZS, said a blasphemer deserved to be killed.

“The clerics, however, did not mention the name of Salman Taseer or declared him a blasphemer,” the sources quoted the statement.

“Since I am inclined towards religion and hate a blasphemer, I decided to kill the governor because I considered him a blasphemer.”

The investigators are hunting for the two clerics and a man who made the video of the congregation, the sources added.

Qadri said he was solely responsible for the assassination because no group or individual was behind it, the sources said.

According to the duty roster issued by the Moharrir (a clerk) of Elite Force, Qadri was deployed at a police post outside GHQ on Jan 4. When he approached the Moharrir he was inquiring about two absent personnel — MW and MS — to post them on Mr Taseer’s security.

Qadri offered his services for the governor’s security detail and he was included in the Elite I, comprising an inspector and three personnel along with a driver. The Elite I and Elite II, comprising a head constable, five personnel and a driver, went to the governor’s residence for security duty.

Sources close to security of VVIPs told Dawn that the details of governor’s security were not mentioned in the ‘Blue Book’, a standard operating procedure for handling emergencies. Because of the absence of governor’s security in the book, security personnel are not designated and guards are deployed as per the requirement. As a result, a number of security guards, including Qadri, were posted at random.

Qadri was part of a ‘flying squad’ set up in 2005 to be deployed on the route of former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf during his movement in Rawalpindi.

A team of 20 policemen, including nine personnel of the Elite Force, six commandos of Rawalpindi Special Branch, a security official of the Governor House, four traffic staff and three drivers, were deployed with the governor, the sources added.

After visiting the Presidency and the federal information minister, the slain governor returned to his residence in Sector F-6/3.

Then he asked his ADC Maj Sajjad to go to the Punjab House.

Mr Taseer, along with a friend, walked towards Kohsar Market. When he was leaving his residence, the governor allowed the Elite II team to have their lunch and the Elite I team to get tyres of their vehicles inflated. The traffic staff, an inspector, an inspector warden, a wireless operator and a driver were asked to stay at the residence.

Along with six commandos, the governor and his friend moved towards Kohsar Market, ate lunch in a restaurant. They stayed there for about 50 minutes. Meanwhile, the two teams of Elite Force returned.

The commandos in mufti accompanied the governor and his friend when they came out of the restaurant. Then Qadri opened fire at the governor and emptied the magazine within 3.6 seconds.

The governor house’s security official and other policemen took Qadri at gunpoint and asked him to surrender.

When Qadri opened fire six officials of Elite Force were sitting in their vehicles, while two others were standing on the road.

Mudassir Raja adds from Rawalpindi: An anti-terrorism court on Monday sent Qadri to Adiala jail on judicial remand after the investigators did not seek his physical custody and put off the hearing till Jan 24.

Although Kohsar Police were to produce the self-confessed killer on Tuesday, he was brought to ATC-I a day early, apparently to avoid a repeat of the disorder seen during the previous hearing.

Only his lawyer Advocate Malik Waheed Anjum was present in the court.

The investigators stated before Judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan that they did not need further custody of Qadri because they had completed preliminary investigations and the accused had confessed before a court in Islamabad.

In his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code before a magistrate Qadri stated that he alone had killed the governor on Jan 4 because Mr Taseer had criticised the blasphemy law.