Religious parties offer blood money to murdered Pak governor Taseer's family for Qadri's acquittal

Religious parties representing the Barelvi school of thought have offered to pay blood money to the family of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer for the acquittal of Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of Taseer.

According to Dawn News, the religious parties announced that they would challenge the Islamabad High Court decision to uphold the death sentence awarded to Qadri.

Leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP), the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek and the Pakistan Sunni Alliance said in a press conference that the government is treating non-violent and tolerant religious circles in the same way under the guise of counterterrorism operation.

Qadri earlier said that he killed Taseer because of his vocal opposition to the country's harsh blasphemy law.

Qadri had confessed to shooting Taseer dead outside an upmarket coffee shop close to the latter's residence in Islamabad.

An anti-terrorist court (ATC) in Rawalpindi had handed down death penalty to Qadri in October 2011 on two counts under section 302 PPC and 7 Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for killing Taseer.