Tujhy Salam Salam Mumtaz Qadri

Kia kaarnama Pindi ka jawan kr gaya

taza hamaray dil mn Eman kr gaya

wasil e jahanum kia tukhm e haram ko

Qadri tu pori qom pay ehsan kr gaya

Ishq-e-NABI S.A.W.W. pay war di lazat jahan ki

aglay jahan ka kesa saman kr gaya...

Salam Mumtaz Qadri,
Tujhy Salam.

Political Career

Taseer started his political career in his student era, as a member of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the late 1960. He was a part of the movement for Bhutto's freedom and opposed his arrest and death sentence. He also wrote a political biography on Bhutto titled Bhutto: A political biography (1980).

In the 1988 general elections, Taseer became a member of the Punjab Assembly from Lahore. In the 1990, 1993 and 1997 general elections, he ran as an MNA but lost.

In 2007, he was appointed the interim Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives.

On May 15, 2008, Taseer was designated for the office of Governor of Punjab by the PPP-led coalition government. On January 4,2011 he was murdered in Islamabad by a guard assigned to him for security by the Punjab Government.

Business Career

Taseer set up several chartered accountancy and management consultancy firms early in his career. In 1995, he established the First Capital Securities Corporation (FCSC), a full service brokerage house with equity participation by Smith Barney, Inc., USA, and HG Asia Hong Kong.

Taseer founded the Worldcall group with a payphone network in 1996. The group has grown over the years to become a major private sector telecom operator with a national and regional footprint. A majority stake in Worldcall was acquired by Omantel, the Sultanate of Oman's incumbent operator, in 2008.

Taseer also owned an English news channel in Pakistan, Business Plus, and the first children's channel, Wikkid Plus, and was the publisher of the English language Daily Times.

Personal Life

Salmaan Taseer was born into an affluent family of intellectuals. His father, Dr. Muhammad Din Taseer, was a close friend of Allama Iqbal and believed to be the first person from the subcontinent who obtained a PhD in English literature from England. His mother Bilqis Taseer (Christobel) was an Englishwoman who was the sister of Alys Faiz, a writer and wife of the famous Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz. Faiz and Alys' daughter Salima Hashmi, who is an artist and painter, is his first cousin.

Salman Taseer married Aamna Taseer; the couple resided in Lahore. They have three children; Shahbaz, Shehryar, and Shehrbano. Salman Taseer also has 3 children from a previous marriage: Sara, Shaan, and Sanam

Taseer also has a son, Aatish Taseer (born 1980), with Indian journalist, Tavleen Singh. Married at the time, Taseer met Singh during a book promotion trip to India in the late 70s. Aatish is a freelance journalist in the UK and has recently written a book titled Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands on his estranged relationship with his father.

Taseer was known to be one of the trusted aides of Benazir Bhutto. He was a classmate of Nawaz Sharif at Saint Anthony School, Lahore. He had obtained a degree in Chartered Accountancy from London.

Controversy

He stood for change in the Constitution declaring Ahmadi community to be non-Muslims to be revoked.

In a recent interview with Meher Bukhair, on Samaa TV,[citation needed] Salman Taseer commented his view about the blasphemy law and filing a mercy petition for Asia Bibi who has been charged death sentence by a court under the Blasphemy Law.

In December 2010 as Taseer left the country for several days without handing over charge to the Punjab Assembly Speaker. This meant that the province was without a constitutional head, and it also rendered the assembly speaker ineligible to preside over sessions. Leaving the province without informing his successor was in violation of the constitution and this led to Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal sending a letter to Prime Minister Gilani calling for the removal of Salmaan Taseer by the President. Evidence provided by ICAO on the governor's travel abroad, led to a case being filed in court for breach of the constitution.

Death

On January 4, 2011, one of Taseer's bodyguards, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, shot him 27 times with an AK-47 at Kohsar Market, near his home in Sector F6, Islamabad as he was returning to his car after meeting a friend for lunch. Kohsar Market is a popular shopping and cafe spot for the city's elite and expatriates.

The assailant, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri from Punjab, was part of the security detail provided to him by the Elite Police. After the shooting, Qadri turned himself in to authorities. Qadri reportedly said he killed Taseer due to the latter's vocal opposition of the blasphemy law in Pakistan.Notably, Taseer made headlines when he appealed for the pardon of a Christian Pakistani woman, Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. It was suspected that this was the main reason for his assassination.

After his assassination, protests erupted in different parts of Punjab. Protestors also burned tyres and blocked traffic in Lahore