Pakistan Remembers Shahbaz Bhatti on First Anniversary of Assassination

[didymus]

Nat’l Catholic Register:

Pakistan Remembers Shahbaz Bhatti on First Anniversary of Assassination

Christians are a micro-minority in Muslim Pakistan. But the first anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti’s death has evoked unprecedented interest in the martyr.

Bhatti, a Catholic who served as federal minister for religious minorities, was assassinated on March 2, 2011, for opposing the country’s draconian blasphemy law. Apart from candlelight vigils by secular action groups and memorial services in churches across Pakistan, members in the Pakistani government also have become admirers of Bhatti, who was ambushed and sprayed with bullets in his car in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari hailed Bhatti’s contribution and legacy at a March 6 memorial conference organized in Islamabad by the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), founded by Bhatti himself.

Bhatti “sacrificed his life in the service of religious minorities,” declared Prime Minister Gilani at the conference, which was attended by more than 2,000 Christians from across Pakistan, including the apostolic nuncio to Pakistan, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, Church officials and leaders of political parties.