Pakistan is observing the first of three days of mourning for the Governor of Punjab Province Salmaan Taseer, a prominent liberal politician who was assassinated on Tuesday.

He will receive a state funeral in Lahore on Wednesday. A friend of governor, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in London Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan said the killing showed that extreme religious elements were attempting to hold Pakistan hostage and must be purged. World leaders have condemned the brutal killing of governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Pakistan People’s Party leader and Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was shot dead by one of his bodyguards who was angered by his opposition to the controversial blasphemy law.

It was the first brazen political assassination since the gunning down of Benazir Bhutto in 2007.