Salman Taseer

Salman Taseer (Urdu: سلمان تاثیر; (1944-05-31)31 May 1944 – 4 January 2011) was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 34th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011.

A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party since the 1980s, he was elected to the Punjab Assembly from Lahore in the 1988 election, however lost in 1990, 1993 and then in 1997. Taseer served as a minister in the caretaker cabinet of Prime Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro under Pervez Musharraf during the 2008 elections. He was appointed as the governor of Punjab on 15 May 2008, by then-President Musharraf at the request of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. During his governorship, he emerged as an outspoken critic of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and consequently called for the pardon for a blasphemy accused Asia Bibi.

Born in Shimla in British India, Taseer studied at the St. Anthony's School and the Government College in Lahore before moving to London where he studied accountancy at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. In 1994, Taseer established a brokerage house backed by the Smith Barney and in 1996 he founded the Worldcall Group. In 2000s, he ventured into media, launching Business Plus and Daily Times.

On 4 January 2011, Taseer was assassinated at the Kohsar Market in Islamabad by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri. Qadri disagreed with Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law, perceiving Taseer's moderate views as an insult to Islam. The Guardian described Taseer's murder as "one of the most traumatic events in recent Pakistani history." A nationwide three-day state of mourning was held in Pakistan, Taseer's funeral prayers were held at the Governors House in Lahore. Taseer's son, Shahbaz, was kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban in 2011, before being released in 2016, a few months after Taseer's murderer was hanged. Taseer's other son, Shaan, is a leading critic of the country's blasphemy law.