The supervising police officer of the bodyguard accused of killing a Pakistani politician had asked for his removal from all sensitive security duties because of his extreme religious views, an investigator said today.
The accused killer, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, said he was angered by outspoken Punjab governor Salman Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law.
A senior police official investigating the case said Qadri had been declared a "security hazard" and his supervising officer had written to the Punjab home department and said he should be removed from VIP detail.
"He had views like an extremist and that was the reason (for his removal)," the official said.
Qadri's supervisor, Nasir Durrani, is now heading the Punjab government's investigation into the murder.
Mr Taseer's killing is likely to intimidate further those pushing for a more liberal and secular vision of Pakistan, a strategic US ally fighting a Taliban insurgency. He was shot 14 times at close range at a shopping centre frequented by foreigners in the capital Islamabad.
Mr Taseer, a liberal politician close to President Asif Ali Zardari, had championed the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws which critics say are used to target religious minorities, often to settle personal scores.
Investigations are under way to determine if other police officers at the scene of the killing were involved because they had not acted quickly enough, said the investigator.
Qadri, part of an elite Punjab province commando police force that provides VIP security and fights terrorism, opened fire with an automatic assault rifle before surrendering, witnesses said.
Mr Taseer's assassination occurred during a new political storm.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's government is trying to survive a defection of one of its main coalition partners.
Mr Gilani announced in parliament today that all of the political leadership had agreed to roll back an unpopular fuel price rise of nine per cent, meeting the demands of the opposition. His administration was already under immense pressure.
Securing the next payment of an $11 billion International Monetary Fund loan propping up the economy will require implementing politically sensitive reforms.
Millions of Pakistanis are growing frustrated at widespread corruption, power cuts, poverty and rising inflation - all problems that can push young men to join militants groups.
Raising the spectre of turmoil, senior officials are suggesting that Taseer's killing was politically motivated, rather than the work of a lone religious fanatic.
"We believe that this political murder is being given another spin and investigations are being sidetracked," state minister for communications Imtiaz Safdar Waraich told reporters after visiting Taseer's grave in his hometown of Lahore.
Waheed Anjum, who said he was one of Qadri's defence lawyers, said: "With his permission, I am telling the media that he has said that no one else was involved in this (killing)."
Qadri will remain in custody for five more days to allow the police more time to investigate, lawyers said.
The blasphemy laws have wide support in a country that is more than 95 per cent Muslim, and most politicians are loath to be seen as soft on the defence of Islam. Taseer, however, was an outspoken critic.
His killing highlighted the divide between secularism and rising religious conservatism in nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Some are treating Qadri as a hero. As soon as a armoured police vehicle transporting him arrived at an anti-terrorism court, about 400 lawyers and members of an Islamist political party chanted. "Look. See who has come. The lion has come." He was showered with rose petals.
To others he symbolises growing religious intolerance.
"Is anyone safe? This country is day by day becoming less and less tolerant and that's the frightening part," said Amina Ansari, an employee at a power sector company.
Reuters