Forgot your password?
Pakistan Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti Shot Dead
BBC NEWS, SOUTH ASIA
March 2, 2011: Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has been shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car in broad daylight in the capital, Islamabad. He was traveling to work through a residential district when his vehicle was sprayed with bullets, police said. Mr Bhatti, the cabinet's only Christian minister, had received death threats for urging reform to the blasphemy law. In January, Mr Bhatti told the BBC he would defy death threats he had received from Islamist militants for his efforts to reform the blasphemy law.
In January, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who had also opposed the law, was shot dead by one of his bodyguards.
The blasphemy law carries a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam. Critics say it has been used to persecute minority faiths.
Tehrik-i-Taliban told BBC Urdu they carried out the attack. "This man was a known blasphemer of the Prophet [Muhammad]," said the group's deputy spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan. "We will continue to target all those who speak against the law which punishes those who insult the prophet. Their fate will be the same."
A government spokesman condemned the assassination. "This is a concerted campaign to slaughter every liberal, progressive and humanist voice in Pakistan," Farahnaz Ispahani, an aide to President Asif Ali Zardari, told AP news agency.
The Vatican condemned the murder of the Catholic politician as "unspeakable". Christians, who make up an estimated 1.5% of Pakistan's 185 million population, were left reeling by Mr Bhatti's death. "We have been orphaned today!" Rehman Masih, a Christian resident of Islamabad, told AP news agency. "Now who will fight for our rights?"
Pakistan's blasphemy law has been in the spotlight since a Christian, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to hang in Punjab last November. She denies claims she insulted the Prophet Muhammad during a row with Muslim women villagers about sharing water.
Although no one convicted under the law has been executed, lynch mobs have killed more than 30 accused. Critics say that convictions under the law hinge on witness testimony, which is often linked to grudges.
