Extremism associated with Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law appeared to claim another victim Tuesday, when the governor of the country’s wealthiest and most politically powerful province was gunned down in Islamabad by a 26-year-old member of his own security detail. Salmaan Taseer, governor of Punjab, was shot at close range by a newly assigned guard who told authorities and the media he was angry about Taseer’s criticism of Pakistan’s law against blasphemy, considered the most draconian of any Muslim-majority country.

The law prescribes life imprisonment for anyone who defiles the Quran, and death for a person who defames or insults the Prophet Muhammad. In recent weeks Taseer had called for the pardon of a Christian woman sentenced to death last year for allegedly insulting the prophet. Pakistan has not actually executed anyone for blasphemy, but more than two dozen people have been killed through vigilantism, not that unusual in a country where a mere accusation of blasphemy can lead to riots.

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