Commonwealth News Update OREN GRUENBAUM ABSTRACT Pakistan fell further into the grip of religious extremists when Salmaan Taseer was shot by his bodyguard in the most high-profile political assassination since the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. The Punjab governor was killed for condemning a blasphemy law used to persecute minorities and settle scores. Revelations in 250,000 classified US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks spawned diplomatic crises and shocking revelations across the world, including allegations of dirty tricks by the US drug firm Pfizer and espionage by Shell in Nigeria; Rahul Gandhi in India saying Hindu fundamentalists were a bigger threat than militant Islamists, and fears about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The International Criminal Court indicted some of Kenya’s most powerful men over the post-election violence that saw 1,500 people killed. An area the size of France and Germany in Queensland was inundated in Australia’s worst floods in half a century. ASIA Pakistan An outspoken secular politician was shot dead by a fanatic opposed to reform of Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws. Punjab’s governor, Salmaan Taseer, was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards in Islamabad. In a sign of the country’s increasing radicalisation, mainstream religious organisations applauded the murder and his killer was showered with rose petals as he appeared in court. The Guardian said: ‘Taseer’s death is a blow to Pakistan’s embattled liberal minority and comes at a disastrous moment for the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, which lost its parliamentary majority at the weekend.’ Last month he publicly supported Asia Bibi, a Christian woman and mother of three who has been sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the prophet Muhammad. An extremist Islamist group calling itself ‘Moaviya’ has reportedly vowed to kill her in a suicide attack. In US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks, the US ambassador warned that the Pakistan army was secretly supporting four militant groups: the Afghan Taliban, its allied Hekmatyar and Haqqani networks, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the terrorist raids on Mumbai in which 164 people were killed. He added that $16bn of US aid since 2001 was not enough to make the military Correspondence Address: Email: oren.gruenbaum@guardian.co.uk The Round Table Vol. 100, No. 412, 15–32, February 2011 ISSN 0035-8533 Print/1474-029X Online/11/010015-18 Ó 2011 The Round Table Ltd DOI: 10.1080/00358533.2011.554228