Clement Shahbaz Bhatti (9 September 19682 March 2011), popularly known as Shahbaz Bhatti, was a Pakistani politician who was elected as a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 2008. He was the first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs from November 2008 until his assassination on 2 March 2011 in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

and the only Christian in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for his killing and called him a blasphemer of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

. In March 2016, five years after the death of Shahbaz Bhatti, his cause for

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

was formally opened by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, making him a

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

within the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Early life

Bhatti was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

to Christian parents from the Faisalabad District. His father, Jacob Bhatti, worked as an officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, then as a teacher, before becoming chairman of the board of churches in Khushpur. Bhatti married his wife, Salma, in December 1995. Salma made a detailed video of their relationship on March 2, 2014 . In the video, she notes their secret relationship, which was not accepted by their family members.

Career

As a student, Bhatti founded and served as head of Pakistan's Christian Liberation Front, which he formed in 1985.
/ref> He founded the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) in 2002 and was unanimously elected as its chairman. He met with President

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

as part of a group of minority rights advocates. Bhatti joined the

Pakistan Peoples Party The Pakistan People's Party ( ur, , ; PPP) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third largest party in the National Assembly and second largest in the Senate of Pakistan. The party was founded ...

(PPP) in 2002, but remained outside politics until becoming a minister in 2008. He was placed on the government's

Exit Control List The Exit Control Lists (ECL; ur, ) is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981. The people on the list are prohibited from leaving Pakistan. Priorities 1. Exit from P ...

in 2003, but was removed in November of that year. Bhatti was appointed as Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs on 2 November 2008, when, for the first time, the post was elevated to cabinet level and an independent ministry created. At the time, he said that he accepted the post for the sake of the "oppressed, down-trodden and marginalized" of Pakistan, and that he had dedicated his life to the "struggle for human equality, social justice, religious freedom, and to uplift and empower religious minorities' communities." He added that he wanted to send "a message of hope to the people living a life of disappointment, disillusionment and despair", and also stated his commitment to reforming the country's blasphemy laws.Asia News, ''Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, is the new minister for the defense of minorities'', 4 November 2008
/ref> During his time as federal minister, he took numerous steps in support of religious minorities. These included the launch of a national campaign to promote interfaith harmony, the proposal of legislation to ban hate speech and related literature, the proposed introduction of comparative religion as a curriculum subject, the introduction of quotas for religious minorities in government posts, and the reservation of four

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seats for minorities. Bhatti also spearheaded the organisation of a National Interfaith Consultation in July 2010, which brought together senior religious leaders of all faiths from across Pakistan and resulted in a joint declaration against terrorism.The Express Tribune, ''Interfaith conference issues declaration against terror'', July 2010
/ref>

Assassination

Bhatti had been the recipient of death threats since 2009, when he spoke in support of Pakistani Christians attacked in the

2009 Gojra riots The 2009 Gojra riots were a series of attacks targeting Christians in Gojra town in Punjab province of Pakistan. These resulted in the deaths of eight Christians including a child. Background Christians make up 1.6% of Pakistan's predominantly S ...

in Punjab Province. These threats increased following his support for

Asia Bibi In 2010, a Pakistani Christian woman, Aasiya Noreen ( ur, , translit=Āsiyāh Naurīn, ; born ), commonly known as Asia Bibi () or Aasia Bibi, was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court and was sentenced to death by hanging. In October ...

, a Pakistani Christian sentenced to death in 2010 for blasphemy. The United States had tried to obtain increased security for him and get him an armoured car but was unsuccessful. Bhatti himself foretold his death and recorded a video, which was to be released in case of his death, where he said "I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us, and I am ready to die for a cause. I'm living for my community ... and I will die to defend their rights." According to the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, Bhatti was travelling to work through a residential district, having just left his mother's home, when his vehicle was sprayed with bullets. At the time of the attack he was alone, without any security. His driver reports having stopped the car and ducked when he saw armed men approaching rather than attempting to evade the threat. Bhatti was taken to a nearby hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. The group

Tehrik-i-Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...

told the BBC that they carried out the attack, because Bhatti was a "known blasphemer." A Roman Catholic who had criticised Pakistan's blasphemy law, his death follows that of Punjab governor

Salman Taseer Salman Taseer ( Punjabi and ur, ); ( 4 January 2011) was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011. A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party since the 1980s, h ...

, who was also assassinated amid the controversy over the blasphemy law. On the day following Bhatti's assassination, hundreds of Christian demonstrators reportedly took to the streets across Punjab, with protesters burning tires and demanding justice.Declan Walsh, ''Pakistani Christians protest after assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti'', The Guardian, 3 March 2011
/ref> According to Minorities Concern of Pakistan, "Investigators are divided over the assassination case with some in the Islamabad police pointing the fingers at the Taliban and al-Qaeda". Later in 2011, an attempt was also made to shift the blame to "internal squabbles" among Christians. According to the same group, the identity of Bhatti's murderer was still unknown. In the months that followed, minority groups in Pakistan demanded the formation of a commission to probe the Bhatti case.

Reactions

;Domestic *

Farahnaz Ispahani Farahnaz Ispahani () is a Pakistani-American writer and former politician who served as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan between 2008 and 2012. She is a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute and a member of the Anti-Defam ...

, an aide to President Asif Ali Zardari, condemned the assassination, saying: "This is a concerted campaign to slaughter every liberal, progressive and humanist voice in Pakistan." President Zardari vowed to combat the forces of

obscurantism In philosophy, the terms obscurantism and obscurationism describe the anti-intellectual practices of deliberately presenting information in an abstruse and imprecise manner that limits further inquiry and understanding of a subject. There are two ...

, and said, "we will not be intimidated nor will we retreat." The government declared three days of mourning. However, when the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, led a two-minute silence in parliament, three members of the

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan (Fazl) also Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) or simply as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Urdu: ; ; JUI-F) is a Deobandi Sunni political party in Pakistan. Established as the ''Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam'' in 1945, it is the result of ...

party remained seated. Muhammad Rafi Usmani, the grand mufti of Pakistan, referred to the possibility of the assassination being "an American conspiracy to defame the government of Pakistan, Muslims and Islam." The Pakistani delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Asim Ahmad, said that it would not be right to link Bhatti's murder to the issue of blasphemy. Ahmad said

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

could not justify defamation and blasphemy; "It is important to prevent the deliberate campaign of defamation of Islam and its Prophet." ;Foreign * The European Union condemned the murder, and expressed their concern about the climate of intolerance on the controversial blasphemy laws, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Pakistan to reform its blasphemy laws. Leaders of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Spain, UK, USA, and the Vatican expressed their shock and condemnation of his killing. ;Church *On the first anniversary of his death Pakistani Catholic priests called for the Pakistani Catholic bishops to open the cause of canonisation for Bhatti. Afterwards Pakistani bishops sent a formal request to the Pope to officially name Bhatti a martyr. Bhatti's canonisation is also supported by Cardinal

Keith O'Brien Keith Michael Patrick Cardinal O'Brien (17 March 1938 – 19 March 2018) was a senior-ranking Catholic prelate in Scotland. He was the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh from 1985 to 2013. Cardinal O'Brien was the leader of the Catho ...

, who has said that he could be patron of "Justice and Peace in Pakistan or even Asia". The Bible owned by Shahbaz Bhatti was placed in

San Bartolomeo all'Isola The Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island ( it, Basilica di San Bartolomeo all'Isola , la, Basilica S. Bartholomaei in Insula) is a titular minor basilica, located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 998 by Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor and co ...

as a relic of a 21st-century martyr, part of the memorial to 20th- and 21st-century martyrs.

References

External links