Extremists rally to support governor's killer and blast Pope

Fundamentalists have been fomenting protests to prevent any dilution of laws which have seen a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Prominent among critics of the law was governor Salman Taseer, who was gunned down by a policeman last week who later told media he was motivated by Mr Taseer's stance on the blasphemy laws.

Around 1,000 protesters gathered near the house of killer Mumtaz Qadri in Rawalpindi, a city close to the capital, Islamabad, carrying banners of support. Elsewhere, protesters took to the streets in the port city of Karachi and two other cities in support of the laws and against the Pope.

"Pope Benedict's statement is an attack on the hearts of Muslims," read one placard.

Last week, some 40,000 people protested in Karachi in support of Qadri.

The government, which is struggling against al-Qaeda and Taleban militants, has since stated it has no plan to amend the blasphemy laws. Analysts say the government is too weak to pick a fight with Islamists, who are able to rally thousands of people on the streets even though their political parties only have a few seats in parliament.

Benedict spoke out against the blasphemy laws on Monday, saying they were being used as a pretext for attacks on Christians. Also in Karachi, police said ten people had been killed over the past 24 hours in what appears to be a fresh round of ethnic and political violence.

Police officer Rafiq Gul said the deaths were "target killings", the phrase used by authorities to describe political or ethnically motivated murders.

Karachi, a city of about 16 million people, has a long history of political, ethnic and religious strife. Last year, bouts of similar violence claimed the lives of scores of people, weakening the central government as well as the already feeble economy.