Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A security guard accused of assassinating the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was banned five months ago by a provincial police official from providing security detail to VIP personnel, authorities said Wednesday.
The director inspector general of Punjab Police labeled the guard as having extremist views and determined it was unsafe for him to guard important officials, the Pakistani president's Special Political Adviser Faisal Raza Abidi told CNN.
Despite the assessment, the Punjab Police employed Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri for security this week.
He is accused of killing Gov. Salman Taseer on Tuesday, apparently because the governor spoke out against the country's controversial blasphemy law. CNN
