Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri has confessed before the judicial magistrate that he acted alone in the shooting of Governor Salman Taseer, Dunya News reported on Monday. Police commando Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who was led away smiling on Tuesday after gunning down Taseer outside an Islamabad coffee shop, appeared in court for a remand hearing following his official confession. He has said he killed in the name of religion because the governor of Punjab province wanted to reform the blasphemy laws. He has recorded his confessional statement for the murderin which he said that he killed Salman Taseer on his own and there was no involvement of any religious or militant organisation, senior police official Haroon Joya said. Members of the main ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), to which Punjab provincial governor Taseer belonged, had suggested that his killing was part of a wider plot, and slammed security failures that led to his death.Questions have been asked about why no policeman or guard apparently made an attempt to overpower the 26-year-old gunman.Qadri was not due in court until Tuesday, but officials said he was brought to a closed hearing in Rawalpindi a day early after officially confessing to the crime, infuriating defence lawyers who said they were not invited.The next hearing has been scheduled for January 24.
