Salman Taseer: Pakistan's progressive-minded advocate

Friends describe the slain Punjab governor as a lover of arts, music and culture, while opponents saw him as a westernised elite – irreverent and arrogant.

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy, sits next to the governor of Punjab province Salman Taseer, who advocated for her pardon.

ISLAMABAD // Ten days before Salman Taseer was assassinated, he dismissed death threats from those angered by his very public opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law.

"Extremism is a state of mind," the governor of Punjab province and a confidante of the president, Asif Ali Zardari, said to a family friend, who had urged him to be careful. "It can only be challenged through an alternative world view."

At the time of his murder, Taseer, 66, was one of the most vocal and outspoken critics of the growing religious extremism and intolerance in Pakistan. Together with terrorism, he believed they were the biggest challenges the country faced. He minced no words.

Taseer was man of many sides - a flamboyant liberal politician and a self-made tycoon. He was involved in establishing companies in financial services, real estate and the media.

He was known for his sharp, abrasive wit - readily on display in his Twitter feeds - and he loved taking verbal swipes at his political opponents, in particular leaders of opposition political party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Friends described him as a lover of arts, music and culture, and a voracious reader. He often appeared in public dressed in black and wearing designer shades.

But he was no stranger to controversies, and even seemed to enjoy them.

To his critics and opponents, mostly from the religious right, Taseer was part of the country's westernised elite - irreverent and arrogant, far removed from the concerns and sensitivities on the streets.

His opponents often stooped low, criticising his lifestyle. In one incident years ago, pictures of Taseer's family holidaying abroad, dressed in western attire, were leaked via the internet. Critics used to point to parties hosted by his family where alcohol was served openly. Alcohol is banned in the country.

His stance on the country's blasphemy law was anathema to the religious parties, who vilified him and other legislators who sought to amend or repeal it.

Taseer had recently championed the cause of Asia Bibi, a Christian farm worker from Punjab whom he believed had been falsely convicted in a blasphemy case and sentenced to death. But it was his campaign to get Ms Bibi released and the subsequent furore about it that seems to have moved one of his security guards, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, to kill him.

Yesterday, Pakistani lawyers, clerics and politicians from religious parties rallied in Islamabad to support Mr Qadri, a day after his backers honoured him with flower garlands during his court appearance on Wednesday. The head of Pakistan's main association of Islamic schools said Taseer had provoked his own assassination, and Muhammad Farooq Sulehria, a member of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, said the killing was justified because Taseer's effort to repeal the blasphemy law could have permitted people to insult the Prophet.

Taseer was born in 1946 and spent the early years of his life in Lahore. His father, Dr Muhammad Deen Taseer, was a liberal intellectual and poet. He completed his studies in the UK and was an accountant by training.

But student politics caught his fancy in the 1970s and he joined Pakistan Peoples Party out of admiration for Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the founder of the party. He described Bhutto as the biggest influence on his life; he wrote a political biography of Bhutto that was published in 1980.

After Bhutto's government was toppled in a military coup in 1977, Taseer was one of the hundreds arrested and thrown in the dungeons of Lahore Fort.

In 1988, Taseer won a seat in the Punjab provincial assembly, the same year Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of his hero and future prime minister who herself would be killed by an assassin, joined the National Assembly.

After he left the provincial assembly, he concentrated on business, investing widely and amassing riches. He owned several television channels and was the publisher of two dailies: The Daily Times, an English daily, and Aak Kal, an Urdu daily, both based in Lahore.

His companies flourished under the rule of Pervez Musharraf, who appointed him as an interim cabinet minister in 2007. In 2008, he was appointed governor of Punjab province, the country's most populous and prosperous province.

President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, retained him at the job after Pakistan Peoples Party took power in subsequent elections. Until his death, Taseer enjoyed the support and confidence of Mr Zardari. In an television interview, Aamna Taseer, his wife, teased him by saying that he only listened to "the president" and no one else.

While Taseer's bold public posturing won him accolades from human rights activists and liberal and progressive sectors of the society, some criticised him for pushing too hard on issues that easily inflamed religious sentiments. He shunned such criticism in his usual brusque style, saying bravery was a prized trait.

Taseer was arrested 17 times in his political career. While in jail once, he sent a note to his wife, saying: "I am not made of wood that burns easily."

Taseer had three children with Aamna Taseer and three children from a previous marriage. He had a brief relationship with an Indian journalist, Tavleen Singh, with whom he also had a son, Atish Taseer.

He will be remembered as a figure who tried to make the country a progressive, enlightened society and uphold liberal, democratic values. But his killing is a grim reminder of the fissures that exist within Pakistani society and the problems that gnaw at this country and threaten to tear it apart.

* With additional reporting from Bloomberg