Speaking against Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law has proved costly for another senior lawmaker. Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead by three militants in Islamabad on Wednesday. His death comes a little over a month after Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was assassinated by his own bodyguard for opposing the law. Bhatti was the only Christian minister in the Federal Cabinet.The killing highlights the poor law and order situation in Islamabad.
United States President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the international community in expressing their outrage at the assassination of Pakistan's Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti.
Pakistan police have arrested a Taliban militant allegedly involved in the killing of former Minister for Minorities' Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, who was shot dead for speaking against the blasphemy laws.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has claimed that foolproof security was provided to slain Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, and that his death was the result of his own negligence. Bhatti was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Islamabad on Wednesday for championing the case of Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death last November for allegedly committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.
The murder of Pakistani Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti on Wednesday by religious extremists establishes a pattern of growing religious intolerance.
A family rivalry over property was behind the assassination of former Pakistan Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was gunned down earlier this year, and the killing was not religiously motivated, a media report said on Tuesday.
Pakistan government is expected to confer posthumously one of the country's highest civilian awards for bravery on slain Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was lauded by President Asif Ali Zardari as a symbol of tolerance, harmony and respect for minorities.
An emotionally-charged meeting of Pakistan's Cabinet on the day Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was assassinated almost ended in the "near collapse" of government after several ministers accused it of inaction in the face of rising lawlessness, a media report said.
The case of Shahbaz Bhatti clearly shows that the terrorists were guided by someone from within the forces, as the killers not only knew that the minister had no security at the time they planned to attack him but they also succeeded in leaving the place undisturbed.
Ilyas Kashmiri, considered one of the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was behind the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti earlier this year, according to a media report on Tuesday.
Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani paid homage to slain Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti at a memorial service at a church attended by scores of people, as Christians protested for the second straight day against his killing and demanded arrest of his assassins.
Pakistan's Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a vocal critic of the controversial blasphemy law, was on Wednesday shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car near his residence in Islamabad, the second high-profile politician to be assassinated in nearly two months.
He will also hold extensive interactions with the minority Christian community of the country, majority of them Catholic, besides visiting a Church.
The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, a landmark verdict on Wednesday that sparked nationwide protests, death threats from hardline groups.
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