POLICE have arrested the killer of a Pakistani Christian lawmaker who was shot dead in the troubled Balochistan province.
Handry Masih, a member of the Balochistan assembly, was killed by his personal bodyguard in the suburbs of provincial capital Quetta on June 16.
Jan Muhammad Buledi, spokesperson for the Balochistan government, said, after a series of raids police had arrested the guard, Ghullam Mohyuddin, from the suburbs of the city. “He was produced before a judicial magistrate today by the police who have been given a six-day remand,” Buledi said.
Mohyuddin who was working for Masih for a number of years opened fire on him outside his residence.
Masih later died of his wounds in hospital.
He was laid to rest with Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch, provincial ministers, lawmakers and members of the Christian community attending the funeral.
“We will not spare the murderer of Handry Masih,” the chief minister said.
Masih was an active leader of the National Party, a Baloch nationalist group currently ruling Balochistan.
In 2011, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was also gunned down by his own security guard after he spoke out against the controversial blasphemy law.
A police source said Mohyuddin however shot Masih as he had some personal dispute with Masih’s nephew and both had a brawl outside the residence of the lawmaker.
“The bodyguard opened fire on the nephew as Masih came out of his home to stop him. He was hit in the neck and died on the way to hospital,” he said. PTI
