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Two detained for 'influencing' Qadri to kill Pak Punjab Governor
PTI
Last Updated IST

The suspects were picked up from Lahore and Rawalpindi after investigators scrutinised Qadri's mobile phone records, media reports quoted officials as saying.Police believe Qadri had stayed with one suspect in Lahore a few days before he gunned down Taseer in a market in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The second suspect from Rawalpindi is believed to have persuaded Qadri to kill Taseer for his criticism of the country's blasphemy law.

Meanwhile, an examination of Qadri by a medical board in Rawalpindi has concluded that he was not tortured or abused in any way while in police custody.The examination was conducted on the orders of an anti-terrorism court after Qadri's lawyer complained he had been subjected to "severe torture" and not provided food while in custody.

Officials told the media that Qadri was sticking to his earlier statement that he was not under "any influence" and had killed the Governor for criticising the blasphemy law.
Qadri has also claimed that no political or religious group was involved in the attack.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Qadri had acted on his own or was part of a wider conspiracy.

Suspicions has grown whether Qadri acted alone following revelations that he had told his colleagues that he intended to kill Taseer.

Security experts with experience of guarding VIPs said bodyguards across the world are trained to act as human shields in case anyone fires at the person they are protecting.
Guards are also trained to incapacitate the attacker by shooting him in the legs, the experts said.

In the case of Taseer's assassination, none of the guards from the Elite Force of Punjab Police acted as a human shield or took any action against Qadri."Bodyguards are trained to react within seconds. It's hard to believe the Governor's guards simply did nothing while Qadri kept firing," one expert told PTI.

In a related development, Rawalpindi-based regional police chief Mukhtar Ahmed Gondal has suspended two low-ranking officers of the Security Branch for ignoring a letter seeking a fresh security clearance of all Elite Force personnel assigned to guard VVIPs.
The officers suspended were identified as Inspector-in-Charge Khalid Satti and Sub-Inspector Aajab Khan.

The Additional Inspector General of the Elite Force had sent a letter to Rawalpindi Police on December 11 to conduct a fresh security clearance of all personnel guarding VVIPs, including Qadri.

The Security Branch received the letter on December 17 but it kept moving from one department to another, media reports said.

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(Published 08 January 2011, 16:52 IST)