INAMULLAH KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD: Barelvi clerics will today denounce the Supreme Court’s confirmation of Mumtaz Qadri’s death sentence for the murder of Punjab governor Salman Taseer as “un-Islamic.”

They will take to the streets after Friday prayers to vent their anger. Pakistan Sunni Tehrik, the Barelvi political party, said the protest would be held in the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad.

Mumtaz Qadri had challenged the Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict on his death sentence in the Supreme Court earlier this week but the appeal was rejected. His lawyers claimed the matter was not about murder but provocation.

Earlier today Qadri’s supporters decked the garrison city of Rawalipndi with banners and posters denouncing the judgment as un-Islamic.

The rally will be addressed by President Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan (JUP) Dr Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair who will outline a new country-wide agitation to free Qadri. Qadri is currently in Adiala Jail on the outskirts of Islamabad.

“We will leave no stone unturned till the release of Ghazi (victorious) Mumtaz Qadri. The verdict is un-Islamic. Thousands of supporters will chant ‘Release Mumtaz Qadri’ slogans today,” Naeem Raza, media coordinator of Pakistan Sunni Tehrik told The Nation on Friday.

He said the anger over the verdict would be registered outside Rawalpindi Press Club and throughout the city.