Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Captain (r) Safdar on Tuesday again praised the murderer of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, saying that Mumtaz Qadri was a ‘true Qadri’ unlike Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Tahir ul-Qadri.

Former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar are on Tuesday appearing again before the Accountability court.

This is Nawaz’s 12^th appearance before the court, Maryam’s 14^th and 16^th for Captain (r) Safdar. During the last hearing on January 2, three witnesses had recorded their statements before the court and were cross-questioned as well by Sharif family’s lawyer Khawaja Haris.

Talking to media outside the court, Captain (r) Safdar lashed out at Tahir ul-Qadri as well, declaring him a ‘fake Qadri’.

“The true Qadri was the one who accepted death sentence”, Safdar said while referring to Mumtaz Qadri, the man who murdered former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer over unfounded blasphemy allegation and was given a death sentence by the high court.

Former PM’s son-in-law said that Tahir ul-Qadri had been declared a ‘liar and fraud’ by [Khadim] Hussain Rizvi repeatedly in his speeches. “We’ll start our ‘debate’ with Tahir ul-Qadri from Jhang where several cases have been registered against him”, Safdar said.

Responding to a question about the rumours of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s third marriage with a lady named Bushra Maneka from South Punjab, Captain (r) Safdar said that he didn’t want to discuss the marriage as it was [Imran Khan’s] personal matter.

“I don’t want to comment on it. It’s his personal life and he’s allowed to marry four times under the Sharia. Tahir ul-Qadri is also in Pakistan to convene the marriage, [Awami Muslim League chief] Sheikh Rasheed is playing the matchmaker for him. So we have a ‘Rehmata Baba’ here and a woman as well. Things are working in Pakistan”, Safdar said.