Pakistan on alert as governor`s assassin is hanged

Pakistan on Monday hanged the man who killed a governor for seeking reform of the blasphemy law, angering Islamist supporters who had feted Mumtaz Qadri as a hero and threatened violence if he was executed.

Security was stepped up at flashpoints across the country including the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where hundreds of supporters began gathering at Qadri`s family home.

Riot police were deployed in the nearby capital Islamabad as officials braced for protests from hardliners.

Qadri, a former police bodyguard, shot liberal Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer 28 times in Islamabad in 2011.

He said he was angry at the politician`s calls to reform the blasphemy law.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in the Islamic republic of some 200 million, and Qadri was hailed as a hero by many conservatives eager to drown out calls to soften the legislation.

Critics, including European governments, say the legislation - which carries the death penalty - is largely misused, with hundreds languishing in jails under false charges.

"Qadri was hanged in Adiala jail early Monday morning" in Rawalpindi, senior local police official Sajjid Gondal told AFP.

His body was being displayed to supporters at his family`s home in the city, where paramilitary Ranger forces and police in riot gear as well as ambulances and dozens of police vehicles were stationed, an AFP reporter said.

Armed Rangers could also be seen on the roof of the building housing Qadri`s residence, while authorities blocked roads in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, bringing morning traffic to a standstill.

Cries were heard from inside the house where hundreds of men and women had gathered, and mosques broadcast news of the execution.

"I have no regrets," Qadri`s brother Malik Abid told AFP, tears rolling down his cheeks, while women chanted nearby.

He said the family had been called to the prison Sunday evening by officials who said Qadri was unwell.

But when they arrived, Qadri greeted them with the news that authorities had deceived them and that his execution was imminent.

"We started crying, but he hugged us and chanted `God is great`," Abid said.

"I am proud of the martyrdom of my son," Qadri`s father Bashir Awan told AFP, adding he was ready to sacrifice all five of his other sons "for the honour of the Prophet".

- `Justice served` -
In the port mega-city of Karachi, protesters blocked main intersections and some petrol stations were closed after Qadri supporters ordered them shut. Police said security had been tightened there and also in the eastern city of Lahore.

Taseer`s son Shehryar said on Twitter the hanging was a victory for Pakistan, but not his family.

"The safe return of my brother is the only victory my family wants," he wrote, referring to his sibling Shahbaz Taseer, who was kidnapped later in 2011 - reportedly by the Taliban - despite being given a police escort after his father`s killing.

Lawyers in Islamabad`s district courts said they were going on strike in protest.