Qadri said he killed his boss because he wanted to reform controversial blasphemy laws.

The bodyguard who shot at a key Pakistani governor last week, confessed that he acted alone in the assassination, police said.

Police commando Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who was led away smiling on Tuesday after gunning down the governor of Punjab province Salman Taseer, outside an Islamabad coffee shop, appeared in court for a remand hearing following his official confession.

Qadri said he killed his boss because he wanted to reform controversial blasphemy laws.
"He has recorded his confessional statement for the murder... in which he said that he killed SalmanTaseer on his own and there was no involvement of any Islamic or militant organization," senior police official Haroon Joya told AFP.

Members of the main ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), to which Punjab provincial governor Taseer belonged, had suggested that his killing was part of a wider plot, and slammed security failures that led to his death.
Questions have been asked about why no policeman or guard apparently made an attempt to overpower the 26-year-old gunman.

Qadri was not due in court until Tuesday, but officials said he was brought to a closed hearing in Rawalpindi a day early after officially confessing to the crime, infuriating defense lawyers who said they were not invited.
"The move was to avoid arguments from the defense," defense lawyer Malik Waheed Anjum told AFP.

"None of our lawyers could attend the court because we didn't know about the proceedings."
But Joya told AFP: "They did not summon the defense lawyers because they did not feel the need. We did not deceive the defense, because we presented him in the court according to law."
The next hearing has been scheduled for January 24.