An Islamic fundamentalist shot and killed a female Pakistani minister yesterday because of her refusal to wear a Muslim veil.

Police said that the bearded attacker had singled out the prominent women’s rights activist in the belief that women should not be in politics.

Zilla Huma Usman, the Punjab provincial minister for social welfare and supporter of President Musharraf, was shot as she prepared to address a public gathering in the town of Gujranwala, 70km (43 miles) north of the provincial capital, Lahore. As party members threw rose petals at her, the gunman shot her in the head, police said. They identified the attacker as Malulvi Ghulam Sarwar and said that he was opposed to the participation of women in politics and the refusal of many professional women in Pakistan to wear the veil.

“He killed her because she was not observing the Islamic code of dress. She was also campaigning for emancipation of women,” Nazir Ahmad, a police officer, said.

Mrs Usman, 35, was wearing the shalwar kameez adopted by many professional women in Pakistan, but did not cover her head. She was airlifted to Lahore after the attack, and died in hospital.

Mr Sarwar, a stonemason in his mid40s, appeared calm when he told a television channel that he had carried out God’s order to kill women who sinned. “I have no regrets. I just obeyed Allah’s commandment,” he said. Islam did not allow women to hold positions of leadership, he claimed. “I will kill all those women who do not follow the right path, if I am freed again,” he said.

Mrs Usman was well known as a women’s rights activist and had organised a controversial mini-marathon involving female runners. Riots erupted when police stopped armed fundamentalists from disrupting the race, in April 2005. She had joined the local government after her pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League won parliamentary elections in 2002.

General Musharraf has promised to empower women and has embraced a policy of “enlightened moderation”. There are three female cabinet ministers in the federal government. But women still face violence and discrimination in the male-dominated society, particularly in rural areas.

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