Rally in Pakistan to honour Glasgow murderer
Killer banned from using prison phone after messages to extremists
HUNDREDS of radical Muslims have held a rally at the home of the killer of a Glasgow shopkeeper to celebrate what they call the “courageous defender of Islam”.
Tanveer Ahmed was jailed last year for at least 27 years for the “brutal, barbaric and horrific” murder of Asad Shah.
The Bradford taxi driver had believed Mr Shah, who belonged to the persecuted Ahmadi sect, had committed blasphemy by claiming to be a prophet in a series of incoherent Youtube videos.
But Ahmed’s crime has inspired a growing number of Pakistanis who see him as a “defender of I s l a m ” for having killed someone they believe disrespected the Prophet Muhammed. Around 400 supporters gathered outside his family’s home on Monday in the city of Mirpur, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, for a rally in his honour, the BBC revealed.
The crowd, the broadcaster said, chanted slogans praising Ahmed as “brave” and “courageous”.
One man attending said: “Because of what he did, the whole of Pakistan knows who he is.”
Another, using the term Ghazi or warrior, said: “You should close your eyes, raise your hand towards the sky and pray, making Ghazi Tanveer your representative.”
Ahmed, 32, had raised his profile by making a series of audio messages to extremists in Pakistan by telephone from his Scottish jail. He has now been banned from using the phone. He is not even allowed to call his wife.
The rally at Ahmed’s family home was organised by the anti-blasphemy group called Labaik Ya Rasool Ullah (Here I am present, o Prophet of Allah). The group’s hardline cleric, Khadim Rizvi, has previously praised Ahmed at another rally, in Karachi. Mr Rizvi has also published Ahmed’s telephone messages on his Facebook page.
Mr Rizvi’s group has also championed another killer, Mumtaz Qadri, who shot dead a high-profile Pakistani politician in 2011 for trying to reform the country’s blasphemy laws. Qadri has supporters in Glasgow.
Last year the imam at Glasgow Central Mosque, Habib ur Rehman, was revealed by The Herald to have called Qadri a “true Muslim” in an exchange on messaging service Whatsapp.
Thousands of people attended Qadri’s funeral in Pakistan following his execution.
Some Muslims in Pakistan – where blasphemy can be punishable by death – see Ahmadis as blasphemers because they believe in prophets after Mohammed. Mr Rizvi, Ahmed and Qadri all come from the Sufi sect of Sunni Islam, rarely seen as being extreme and usually critical of violent jihadism. Many Sufi scholars and preachers reject Mr Rizvi’s hard line.
Mr Rizvi was not allowed to go to Mirpur for the rally in support of Ahmed, but they speak on the phone “every couple of weeks”. Rizvi added: “I’m proud of the fact that we are in contact – and this pride will remain until the day of judgment and beyond.”