Militants assassinate Pakistani Cabinet member
Source: Agencies |
March 3, 2011, Thursday
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ASSAILANTS purportedly sent by al-Qaida and the Taliban killed the only Christian member of Pakistan's federal Cabinet yesterday, spraying his car with bullets outside his mother's driveway. It was the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam.
The killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, a 42-year-old Roman Catholic, could deepen the political turmoil in the country where militants frequently stage suicide attacks.
Bhatti, a campaigner for human rights causes, was apparently aware of the danger he was in and left a video-taped message with the BBC and the Al-Jazeera TV station to be broadcast in the event of his death.
In the farewell statement, Bhatti said he was threatened by the -Taliban and al-Qaida, but that this would not deter him from speaking for "oppressed and marginalized persecuted Christians and other minorities" in Pakistan.
"I will die to defend their rights," he said on the tape. "These threats and these warnings cannot change my opinions and principles."
Despite the threats, Bhatti, who had been assigned bodyguards, was without protection when he visited his mother in the capital of -Islamabad yesterday afternoon, police said.
The politician had just pulled out of the driveway of the house, where he frequently stayed, when three men standing nearby opened fire, said Gulam Rahim, a witness.
Two of the men opened the door of the car and tried to pull Bhatti out, Rahim said, while a third man fired his Kalashnikov rifle repeatedly into the dark-colored Toyota. The gunmen then sped away in a white Suzuki Mehran car, said Rahim who took shelter behind a tree.
Bhatti was dead on arrival at an area hospital, while his driver was not harmed.
In leaflets left at the scene of the shooting, al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban Movement in Punjab province claimed responsibility.
They blamed the government for putting Bhatti, an "infidel Christian," in charge of an unspecified committee, apparently referring to one said to be reviewing the blasphemy laws. The government has said such a committee does not exist.
"This is a concerted campaign to slaughter 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 to take a strong stand against these murderers to save the very essence of Pakistan."
The killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, a 42-year-old Roman Catholic, could deepen the political turmoil in the country where militants frequently stage suicide attacks.
Bhatti, a campaigner for human rights causes, was apparently aware of the danger he was in and left a video-taped message with the BBC and the Al-Jazeera TV station to be broadcast in the event of his death.
In the farewell statement, Bhatti said he was threatened by the -Taliban and al-Qaida, but that this would not deter him from speaking for "oppressed and marginalized persecuted Christians and other minorities" in Pakistan.
"I will die to defend their rights," he said on the tape. "These threats and these warnings cannot change my opinions and principles."
Despite the threats, Bhatti, who had been assigned bodyguards, was without protection when he visited his mother in the capital of -Islamabad yesterday afternoon, police said.
The politician had just pulled out of the driveway of the house, where he frequently stayed, when three men standing nearby opened fire, said Gulam Rahim, a witness.
Two of the men opened the door of the car and tried to pull Bhatti out, Rahim said, while a third man fired his Kalashnikov rifle repeatedly into the dark-colored Toyota. The gunmen then sped away in a white Suzuki Mehran car, said Rahim who took shelter behind a tree.
Bhatti was dead on arrival at an area hospital, while his driver was not harmed.
In leaflets left at the scene of the shooting, al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban Movement in Punjab province claimed responsibility.
They blamed the government for putting Bhatti, an "infidel Christian," in charge of an unspecified committee, apparently referring to one said to be reviewing the blasphemy laws. The government has said such a committee does not exist.
"This is a concerted campaign to slaughter 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 to take a strong stand against these murderers to save the very essence of Pakistan."
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