The bodyguard who murdered liberal Pakistani governor Salman Taseer said today he was inspired by sermons from two Islamic clerics.

THE governor of Pakistan’s wealthiest and most populous province was shot dead in the capital yesterday by one of his own guards, who later told interrogators that he was angry about the politician’s stance against the country’s blasphemy law, officials said.

A strike in favour of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws has led businesses to shut down and buses to stay off the streets in many parts of the Muslim country.

A hardline Pakistani Islamic cleric has offered a reward to anyone who kills a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy against Islam.