VOA标准英语2011-Pakistan Governor's Assassination Highlig

The assassination 1 of the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was a shock, coming as it did in the middle of a political crisis for the government. Analysts 3 believe it will have no direct major effect on the central government's precarious 4 stability. The killing 5 may intimidate 6 Pakistani politicians and embolden 7 extremists.

As governor, Salman Taseer was not the most powerful official in Pakistan's most populous 8 province. Pakistan's political setup gives that distinction to the chief minister, rather than the appointed governor.

Analyst 2 Kamran Bokhari of the private intelligence firm Stratfor says that minimizes the direct political impact on the central government.

"Governors and presidents (in Pakistan) are more ceremonial than actual chief executives," said Bokhari. "From that perspective, it is not such a major blow. But it is, nonetheless, a high-ranking state official - one who was very much prominent in the efforts to revamp the religious laws of the country. And the late Salman Taseer never shied from being very assertive 9 about his views, his secular 10 views."

Taseer was gunned down Tuesday at close range by one of his own bodyguards 11 in an upscale Islamabad market. His assassin said he killed the governor because of Taseer's opposition 12 to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy 13 laws, which prescribe the death penalty for anyone accused of "insulting Islam." Critics, like Taseer, say the laws have been used to persecute 14 Christians 15 and other minorities and to settle personal scores.

It is not clear if the assassin, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, was acting 16 alone or on behalf of others. But the killing underscores the growing clout 17 of religious extremism in Pakistan. And, said Bokhari, it also highlights the problem of extremism in security and police agencies.

"If the people who are protecting the state and society from Islamist insurgents 18 and actually fighting those insurgents are penetrated 19, then that explains the situation in Pakistan, where the government and the state is having a hard time battling this," said Bokhari.

The governing Pakistan Peoples' Party was already reeling from the sudden withdrawal 20 of the Muttahida Quami Movement from the ruling coalition 21, leaving the PPP a minority governing party. But Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation said Taseer's murder has no real effect on the political crisis.

"Certainly the other parties would be condemning 22 this," said Curtis. "And so I do not think that it in any way sort of deepens the current political crisis that the government is in. Yet it is a major setback 23 for all of Pakistani society and those who would seek to move forward and to progress."

And, she added, it halts any effort to repeal 24 the blasphemy laws.

"The PPP in the past has tried to roll back these blasphemy laws, but it's always been forced to back away from such initiatives because of pressure from the religious parties," said Curtis. "And I think this will be just one more setback in these efforts."

The opposition, led by Nawaz Sharif, has said it will refrain from pursuing a vote of no-confidence, at least for now. But U.S. Naval 25 War College professor Hayat Alvi - who is expressing personal views - said the opposition can demand and get concessions 27 from the government, including ones concerning the blasphemy laws.

"If there is a concession 26 that they are demanding to stop or impede 28 the repeal of the blasphemy law, then it is a very bad development, if that is what happens," said Alvi. "So there are many opportunities now for the opposition to demand concessions, because they hold that bargaining chip where if they do not get what they want, they can ask for a vote of confidence."

Alvi added that the world of Pakistani politics is wildly unpredictable, in which anything can happen