ISLAMABAD - The supervising police officer of the bodyguard accused of killing Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer had asked for his removal from all sensitive security duties because of his extreme religious views, an investigator said on Thursday.
A senior police official investigating the case said Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri had been declared a "security hazard" and his supervising officer had written to the Punjab Home Department saying he should be removed from VIP detail.
"He had views like an extremist and that was the reason (for his removal)," the official told Reuters.
Qadri's supervisor, Nasir Durrani, is now heading the Punjab government's investigation into the murder.
Investigations are under way to determine if other Elite Force police officers at the scene of the killing were involved because they had not acted quickly enough, said the investigator.
Raising the spectre of deeper turmoil, senior officials are suggesting that Taseer's killing was politically motivated, rather than the work of a lone religious fanatic.
"We believe that this political murder is being given another spin and investigations are being side-tracked," State Minister for Communications Imtiaz Safdar Waraich told reporters after visiting Taseer's grave.
"It is a conspiracy against Pakistan and its institutions. We (the ruling Pakistan People's Party) don't think the investigation is being carried out in the proper and speedy manner it should have been," he added.