Source/Credit: Globe and Mail | AP
By Colin Freeze | March 2, 2011
News of the assassination came to Rev. Majed El Shafie at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning in Toronto. That was when Peter Bhatti, a fellow Christian living in Canada, called to say that his brother, Shahbaz Bhatti, had been killed in Islamabad.
Peter Bhatti was “brokenhearted,” Mr. El Shafie recalled in an interview. “He called me to get the rest of his family to Canada from Pakistan. He was like, ‘I beg you, just help me get them out of Pakistan.’ ”
Shaken by the overseas death of his long-time friend, the clergyman added: “How much more blood until people wake up about freedom of religion in Pakistan?”
Mr. Bhatti, Pakistan’s Minister for Minorities, was shot by masked gunmen in broad daylight Wednesday after visiting his mother in Islamabad.
The assassination is yet another sign of Muslim-majority Pakistan’s slide into fundamentalism and anarchy. And it hits close to home. Mr. Bhatti was in Canada just last month to speak about Pakistan’s growing intolerance. He had clearly made an impression on some of the country’s foremost politicians, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
An outspoken Catholic, Mr. Bhatti, 42, made no secret of his contempt for Islamist extremism. He openly campaigned against sharia law, and had spoken out against a 25-year-old blasphemy law that he felt singled out non-Muslims in Pakistan.
Such pronouncements, he frequently acknowledged, made him a marked man. In fact, he prepared several videotaped messages to be broadcast in the event of his death.
“The forces of violence, militant banned organizations – the Taliban and al-Qaeda – they want to impose their radical philosophy in Pakistan,” he said in one. “I’m ready to die for a cause. … I would prefer to die for my principles, and for the justice of my community, rather than to compromise on these threats.”
Canada’s Parliament unanimously voted Wednesday to denounce the assassination, as Mr. Harper lauded Mr. Bhatti for his courage. U.S. President Barack Obama, the Vatican and the Archbishop of Canterbury condemned the killing.
Canada’s Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, was particularly affected by the death of Mr. Bhatti, whom he considered a friend. “I was struck by how resigned he was about his expected martyrdom,” Mr. Kenney said in a statement. “He told me that he would not marry, because he did not want to leave a widow or orphans behind when that time came.”
In January, Mr. Kenney, Mr. El Shafie and Peter Bhatti gathered with hundreds of congregants of a Toronto church to welcome a family of Pakistani Christians they had helped bring to Canada.
Prior to emigrating, one of that family’s five children had been sexually assaulted and left for dead – an attack that is believed to have occurred because her father had refused to convert to Islam. “My kids are happy to be free,” the father was quoted as saying in the Toronto Sun. “They can go now go to school and play outside with friends.”
Mr. El Shafie, who hails from Egypt’s persecuted Christian minority, had worked on several other projects with the Bhatti brothers over the years. (Peter Bhatti was en route to Pakistan Wednesday to mourn his brother.)
“I knew Shahbaz for the last six years. We worked together in many, many ways. He was like a brother,” Mr. El Shafie said. “He believed in what he was doing and he died for what he believed.”
In Pakistan, the media is reporting that Shahbaz Bhatti had just pulled out of the driveway of his parents' house when three men standing nearby opened fire into the dark-coloured Toyota.
Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban are apparently claiming responsibility for Mr. Bhatti’s death.
While Mr. Bhatti had been provided bodyguards by the government, they did not accompany him to his parents' home.
With a report from Associated Press
Read original post here: Assassination underscores religious intolerance in Pakistan
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.