Lahore:
The Pakistani government has packed off the judge, who gave the death sentence to Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's self-confessed assassin, to Saudi Arabia after he received death threats from religious extremists.
Anti-terrorism court Judge Pervez Ali Shah, who awarded the death sentence to Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri on October 1, had gone on leave after a group of lawyers ransacked his courtroom even as several hardline religious groups were reported to have offered a bounty to anyone who killed him.
"The death threats have forced Shah to leave Pakistan along with his family for Saudi Arabia," Saiful Malook, who served as special prosecutor during Qadri's trial, told PTI.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the government had arranged for lodging Shah and his family in Saudi Arabia, Malook said.
"Though security was provided to the judge and his family, the government, acting on reports from intelligence agencies, opted to send him abroad," he said.
Malook further said he too had been receiving threats.
"The government has deployed only two policemen for my security, which by all means is not adequate," he said.
In his verdict against Qadri, Shah had said: "No one can be given the license to kill anyone in any condition, therefore, the killer cannot be pardoned as he has committed a
heinous crime."
27-year-old Qadri, a police commando who was part of Taseer's security detail, has tried to justify the murder by saying that he pumped 27 bullets into the outspoken politician
for criticising the controversial blasphemy law.
Some 40 religious and hardline groups, including the Sunni Tehrik and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, have been pressuring the government to remove Shah from his post for giving the death
sentence to Qadri.