Assailants reportedly sent by the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan killed Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian member of the federal Cabinet, spraying his car with bullets outside his mother’s home in the Pakistani capital. It was the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty on those who insult Islam.
“It is absolutely horrible,” said Sajid Khan Abbasi, president of the Alkhobar-based Pakistani Community Council. He expressed deep anguish at the killing of the 42-year-old Roman Catholic minister. “This is bad for our country, bad for our democracy, bad for our image, this is sheer madness,” he said. “There can be and should be no room for such religious bigotry in our country.”
Abbasi insisted those who killed Bhatti do not represent the large majority of Pakistanis. “I don’t know if those who have done this are really Pakistanis, but if they are then they are part of a tiny minority that has no respect for human life,” he said.
For Riyadh-based businessman Tariq Soomro, Bhatti’s killing is part of a larger international conspiracy to defame Pakistan. “I am very sure that outside forces are behind this brutal and tragic killing,” he said.
“This is the handiwork of those foreign elements who want to see Pakistan destroyed.” Soomro felt that the message the perpetrators of this crime wanted to convey was that of Pakistan being an intolerant country. “Well, they have succeeded in doing just that, and as I said this is part of an elaborate conspiracy to turn the world’s Christian population against us.”
Jeddah-based NAFT Services Co. Finance Manager Syed Mahtab Ahmad said there is no sanction in Islam for such a killing.“It is against humanity and highly regrettable,” he said. “In Islam, killing one innocent person is like killing the whole of humanity.”
Bhatti had been aware of the danger, saying in a videotaped message meant for broadcast in the event of his death that he was being threatened by the Taleban and Al-Qaeda. The threats would not deter him from speaking for persecuted Christians and other minorities, he said.
Islamabad’s police chief Wajid Durrani told journalists that about five men came to the scene in a white Mehran car and opened fire at Bhatti’s car with AK-47s. They, however, spared Bhatti’s driver. Bhatti was not accompanied by guards when he was going to see his mother as part of his daily routine.
Bhatti, who was unmarried, died before he could reach hospital and later his body was sent to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for a post-mortem. One doctor said 30 bullets were pumped into Bhatti.
“Bhatti was under threat after he initiated the review of Christian lady Aasia Bibi’s mercy petition case. Bibi was convicted of blasphemy by a lower court,” said Durrani.
“This is a concerted campaign to gag every liberal, progressive and humanist voice in Pakistan,” said Farahnaz Ispahani, an aide to President Asif Ali Zardari. “The time has come for the federal government and provincial governments to speak out and take a strong stand against these murderers to save the very essence of Pakistan.”
The blasphemy law has been in the spotlight since last November, when a court sentenced Aasia Bibi to death.
On Jan. 4, Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, who had strongly opposed the law and sought presidential pardon for Bibi, was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards.
