Salman Taseer (31 May 1944-4 January 2011) was Governor of Punjab in Pakistan from 15 May 2008 to 4 January 2011, succeeding Khalid Maqbool and preceding Sardar Latif Khosa.
Biography[]
Salman Taseer was born on 31 May 1944 in Simla, Punjab, British Raj. His father was from Kashmir and his mother was of English descent, and he followed his father's Muslim religion. He joined the Pakistan Peoples Party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1960s, and in 1988 he became a member of the Punjab Assembly from Lahore. On 15 May 2008, he was elected Governor of Punjab, and in December 2010 he left the country instead of hand over power to the speaker of the Punjab Assembly, leading to him being imprisoned for six months for violating the constitution. Taseer appeared on Samaa TV in an interview that he used to show his support for convicted blasphemer Asia Bibi, which led to many people sending him death threats. On 4 January 2011, he was gunned down by his own bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri in a marketplace as a result of his defense of a convicted blasphemer. Qadri was hailed as a hero by some, but he was hanged in 2016.