International community mourns Bhatti death

Members of Pakistan’s Christian community are in the midst of three days of mourning over the death of the Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti.

Bhatti, the sole Christian government minister in Pakistan, was shot dead on Wednesday after receiving threats for campaigning to change the blasphemy law – a law that imposes the death penalty for insulting Islam.

On Sunday a mass will be held for Bhatti at Rome’s Pontifical College of St Peter the Apostle, and will be presided over by the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.

The assassination has drawn condemnation from governments and advocates of religious freedom across the globe. At a press conference in Washington, US Congressman Frank Wolf from Virginia expressed his sorrow over the death, calling Bhatti a “modern day martyr.”

“He was a wonderful person,” Wolf later told Vatican Radio, “who advocated for the Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan including the Ahmadis and others – and yet gave his life, quite frankly, for what he believed in.”

Bhatti is the second politician to be killed for his opposition to the blasphemy law. In January, the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was killed by his own bodyguard for the same reason.

Wolf fears that these assassinations may scare the Pakistani people into silence.

“It will stifle people from speaking out.”

Listen to Congressman Frank Wolf’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: