Salman Taseer (31st May 1944 - 4th January 2011) was an Indian politician and the 26th governor of the Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011. He was a vocal supporter of equality for Muslims and non-Muslims, and opposed strict blasphemy laws that allowed those accused of blasphemy to be executed, and launched a petition to release Asia Bibi, a woman sentenced to death of blasphemy after she drank from a well with the same utensil that the Muslims living in the village used, which was forbidden under the blasphemy laws since she was a Christian. This resulted in his assassination by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri, who was a Muslim fundamentalist.