ASIA/PAKISTAN - Minister Bhatti killed, a “martyr of the blasphemy law”

Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) – Grief and terror within the Christian community in Pakistan: the Federal Minister for Religious Minorities, Catholic Shahbaz Bhatti, was killed this morning in Islamabad. Fides' local sources report that the Minister had left his home to go into the office. He was in the car with his niece and driver. He did not have an escort. Suddenly a small Suzuki car came up next to the Minister's car and and fired a shot at the window of the driver, to stop him. A group of armed bandits pulled the Minister out of the car and hit him with a hail of bullets fired from automatic weapons for about two minutes. The commando unit then fled. The driver took the Minister to the hospital in Islamabad, but Bhatti was already dead. Responsibility for the shooting has not taken officially, however, from initial investigations it appears that the attack can be attributed to Taliban groups who left leaflets signed "Tehrik-i-Taliban-Punjab” at the scene of the crime.
Local Fides sources wonder why the Minister, who was already the subject of public threats by terrorist groups such as Laskar e-Toiba (see Fides 4/12/2010), was left without an escort. Priests and sisters in Pakistan have not hesitated to define Bhatti as a “martyr”, someone who “gave his life in defending the rights of religious minorities, especially Christians.”
In a heated reaction, Peter Jacob, Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, a personal friend of Bhatti, tells Fides: “We are in a state of shock and panic: the Catholic community, all Christians, are traumatised by this latest murder. We feel bewildered and defenceless. This murder means that the Country is at the mercy of terrorists, who can afford to kill high-ranking personalities. We feel very vulnerable: they are more powerful than defenders of human rights and religious minorities. We strongly condemn this barbaric act. Now is the time of mourning, then we will decide what to do as Christians.”
Bhatti, 42, had been appointed Federal Minister for Religious Minorities in the recent Government reshuffle, a position he has held since 2008. He was born in the village of Khushpur near Faisalabad, in Punjab, known as “the Vatican of Pakistan”, as it is a village founded by the Dominican friars, which has brought forth many Pakistani priests, sisters and men and women religious.
In his work as a human rights activist and for religious minorities, Bhatti founded the “All Pakistan Minorities Alliance” and the “Christian Liberation Front”, organisations which are very active in civil society. He was a lieutenant in the struggle for the revision of the blasphemy law, which cost him his life. In recent days he had reassured Fides, in confidence, that the “Commission for the Revision of the blasphemy law”, ordered by President Ali Zardari under the guidance of Bhatti, was not an abandoned project, but continued away from the spotlight. Recently, he loved to say: “I burned my ships,” referring to a commitment that involved all of his existence, that he could not step away from. In a recent interview with Fides (see Fides 12/02/2011) he said he considered his service in politics as a “testimony of his faith in Christ.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 2/3/2011)