It has fallen to a new generation to carry peace talks forward

One person was killed and a dozen injured as two gunmen opened fire and threw hand grenades at a political rally led by Imran Khan. The cricketer-turned-politician had left the venue before the attack and was not hurt.

Pakistan's president has said the country must not buckle to terrorism in the aftermath of the assassination of the Christian minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, who spoke out against controversial blasphemy laws.

The assassination of the Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer is a great loss for the Pakistani nation, the Pakistan People's Party, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and the government. He was brave, courageous and daring—a great man who spoke for the rights of the people including minorities. He was totally committed to the high democratic ideals and the egalitarian vision of [Pakistan's founder] Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

"Who the hell are these illiterate maulvis to decide whether I'm a Muslim or not?" Salmaan Taseer asked me, a month before he was brutally assassinated outside his Islamabad home by his own bodyguard.

The Governor of Pakistan's largest province was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards yesterday, apparently in protest at his stand against controversial blasphemy laws.

Even by the grim standards of Pakistan's recent years, these are dark days. The murder of the governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, an outspoken opponent of the country's draconian blasphemy laws, is not only a shocking event in itself. It also removes from the public stage one of the few men in high office who was prepared to stand up for what he believed in and call for these odious laws to be reformed. Now it is clearer than ever the price that can be paid by those who are ready to take on extreme Islamists. Mr Taseer's successor as governor may be less willing to be so forthright in confronting the clerics and their many supporters.

A Pakistani court has issued arrest warrants for two senior police officials accused of negligence in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a prosecutor said today.

Zulqarnain Haider, the Pakistan wicketkeeper who has applied for asylum in the UK, says he has handed over two letters to the ICC's anti-corruption unit that were given to him in Dubai by third parties seeking to fix two one-day internationals against South Africa.

The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman has spoken to Zulqarnain Haider and assured him of its full co-operation after the wicketkeeper left the squad in Dubai and went to London where he has applied for asylum.

Pakistan's minister for defence production has resigned after being summoned by the prime minister to explain comments he made criticising the army and accusing it of killing politicians.