Pakistani minister for religious minorities killed

Pakistan’s government minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who represented the country's religious minorities, died on Wednesday after an attack by gunmen. Bhatti, a Catholic, had been threatened by Islamist militants in the past for speaking out against the country's harsh blasphemy laws.

The law allows for the death penalty for insulting Islam. Critics say it is often used to settle scores, and needs to be repealed or amended to prevent it from being abused.

Earlier this year Punjab province's governor, Salman Taseer, was killed by a bodyguard who said he was angry that the politician opposed the blasphemy law.

Speaking with Vatican Radio following the January assassination, Shahbaz Bhatti said the incident created a fear among all the people who “stand for truth, who stand against extremism, who stand against intolerance, who stand against the violence and who stand against those blasphemy laws.”

“But I believe this cowardly act of violence cannot create fear,” said Bhatti, “and cannot stop us for raising the voice for justice and raising the voice for the protection of minorities and innocent people in Pakistan.”

Listen to Shahbaz Bhatti’s January interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels:

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Director of the Holy See Press Office Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi recalled Bhatti’s audience with Pope Benedict XVI in September 2010. At that meeting, Bhatti had reiterated his commitment to the peaceful coexistence among different religious communities in his country.