Islamabad, Feb. 29: Pakistan today executed former police commando Mumtaz Qadri, who brutally killed Punjab governor Salman Taseer over his call to reform strict blasphemy laws.

The execution triggered protests by radicals who called it a "black day".

Qadri, who was a member of Taseer's security detail, fired on the former governor 28 times as he got into his car after lunch with a friend in Islamabad's posh Koshar Market area on January 4, 2011. Taseer, who had been appointed governor of Punjab in May 2008, died soon after he was rushed to hospital.

Qadri said he killed Taseer over his opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy laws. In a statement submitted in an anti-terrorism court, Qadri said Taseer's support for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who was charged with blasphemy for allegedly desecrating a religious book, had provoked him to kill the governor. Party hardliners have threatened protests across Pakistan if Qadri is hanged. In view of a possible backlash, the President's family has been moved from Karachi to the Presidency in Islamabad. Security has been beefed up in Islamabad and the neighbouring garrison town of Rawalpindi where Qadri was hanged at 4.30am (local time) today.

Sources in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail told The Telegraph that Qadri's family members were summoned to the prison late yesterday for the last meeting. Security was extremely tight this morning in and around the jail from where Qadri's body was shifted to his home in Rawalpindi. Witnesses said family members started crying as Qadri's body arrived at his house. His father said he was proud of his son. He added that he has four more sons who can also sacrifice their lives for their faith.

The only Christian minister in the former Pakistan People's Party government, Shahbaz Bhatti, had also been shot dead in Islamabad just over two weeks after Taseer's assassination. Bhatti was also a staunch supporter of changes to the blasphemy laws.