'We're facing round-the-clock surveillance'

The father of Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer's assassin has said although he has not been tortured by police personnel, law enforcement and intelligence have been asking him about his son's political links. Police and other law enforcement agencies are harassing our family.
"We are facing round-the-clock surveillance by law enforcement agencies and they are not even letting our relatives visit us," Alhaj Malik Muhammad Bashir, father of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, Governor Salmaan Taseer's assassin told Business Recorder.
According to him, his family has no links with any political or religious party.
He rejected any political element in the assassination of Taseer saying, "What Mumtaz did was his own act and there was no political element in it, we have no political attachments. When heard Taseer criticising blasphemy law by describing it as black law he became restless".
Bashir sought to dispel the impression that some religious and political parties have given financial assistance to his family, saying that no one has offered him monetary or any other assistance. "If anyone tries to give us any assistance we will reject it, because Allah has bestowed us with a lot, which is enough for us to live with honour and dignity", he added.
"I am a mason by profession and have six sons and four daughters, all my children are my valuable assets," he said. Leaders and workers of religious and politico-religious parties are regular visitors at Al-Muslim Street, Transformer Chowk, Sadiqabad, the residence of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri. The entire area is decorated with flags and ultra large sized portraits of Qadri and banners with slogans praising him for killing Salmaan Taseer. Banners praising Qadri's act by different religious parties including Sunni Tehreek, Jamat Ahle Sunnat, Jamaat-e-Islami, are on display in his neighbourhood.
Malik Mumtaz joined police in 2002 under belt number 6990, while in 2007 he joined the Elite Force after a grueling training as a commando. He was serving in Elite force Rawalpindi as constable on VVIP security. He regularly used to offer prayers. Before this assassination, he never committed any crime and his service record is without any blemish. He was never accused of corruption or misuse of power and his behaviour towards his officers was respectful, according to his record.
Mumtaz was very kind and helpful towards his colleagues and neighbours, Elite Force Rawalpindi sources, told Business Recorder. They said some three days before the gruesome murder, Qadri was assigned to the security duty of the Governor and that it was a routine matter.
They said the Punjab government had deployed special squads of Elite Force for Taseer's security. But when the Governor was in the federal capital, he was provided security by Islamabad Police.
Besides performing the security duty with the slain Punjab Governor, Malik Mumtaz Qadri performed a total of 509 VIP and VVIP security duties from April 24, 2008 to January 4, 2011. This is subsequent to his being declared a security risk for VVIP security in 2004 by Nasir Durrani, Additional Inspector General of Punjab Police, said an intelligence report.
Qadir performed security duties with almost all prominent politicians several times including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. He also worked with Interior Minister Rehman Malik as his special security guard in 2010. He also performed security duties on PAF base for four times in 2008, eight times in 2009 and six times in 2010.
He was also deployed in the security convoy of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the report stated, and performed security duty with a foreign delegation on two occasions in 2010.
Qadri was also part of a team of Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that raided terrorist outfits in 2008, the intelligence report revealed.
Before the assassination of the Punjab Governor, Qadri performed duties with him as his personal security guard four times - on April 15, 2010, May 26, 2010, September 3, 2010, and on January 4, 2011.