ASIA/PAKISTAN - Official recognition of Shahbaz Bhatti by institutions

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) – Streets that lead to the village of Kushpur, in Punjab, will be named after Shahbaz Bhatti; the President of Pakistan Ali Zardari – by request from the executive, led by Premier Gilani – has decided to confer Bhatti with the coveted “Hilal-e-Shuja’at”, awarded posthumously, which is a prize for personalities who have distinguished themselves as “servants of the nation.” Sources in the local Catholic community report to Fides that these are some of the ways which public institutions of Pakistan wish to honour the memory of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Minister for Religious Minorities who was killed in Islamabad on 2 March.
It was the Prime Minister of the province of Punjab, Muslim Shahbaz Sharif, who announced that in Kushpur, the Catholic village where Bhatti was born in the diocese of Faisalabad, several roads and public places will bear his name.
In Punjab, Kamran Michael, Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs, also stressed that Shahbaz Bhatti was “an ambassador of peace”, calling on the Federal Government to give him due honours.
The idea has already been accepted by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Raza Gilani, who nominated Bhatti for the “Hilal-e-Shuja’at” posthumously, one of the highest existing awards at a civil level throughout the Country.
Meanwhile, Christians continue to hold prayer vigils and ceremonies of remembrance, reading and spreading Bhatti's spiritual testament.
Yesterday a prayer meeting dedicated to the Minister was held in Karachi, in the Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity, in the presence of many religious leaders and politicians who have always premised the name of Bhatti with the word “martyr”.
In addition, at an interreligious ceremony in memory of Bhatti, held yesterday in Lahore, many Christian leaders, human rights activists and Muslim leaders attended, including Mullah Abdul Khabeer Azad from the Badshahi Mosque. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2011)