Pakistan: LEAD will be remembering murdered Christian minister Shahbaz Bhatti on his fifth death anniversary on March 2, 2016 and ask authority to get justice for his killing.
Bhatti, the only Christian in Pakistan’s government, was assassinated on March 2, 2011 outside his mother’s home in Islamabad.
He was the first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs from November 2008 until his assassination. The ministry was later dissolved.
Bhatti had received numerous death threats since 2009, when he spoke in support of Pakistani Christians attacked in the 2009 Gojra riots in Punjab. These threats increased following his support for Asia Bibi, 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 before it became successful,he was gunned down.
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.”
The group Tehrik-i-Taliban told the BBC that they carried out the attack, because Bhatti was a “known blasphemer.
Sardar Mushtaq Gill,Human Rights Defender,who heads LEAD asked Pakistani authorities to make assure to get punish the perpetrators who killed Bhatti as Salmaan Taseer's killer was hanged for his wrong doings.
"I know when Extremists see that we as Christians are demanding and asking for equality on the bases of citizenship,they turn against us to make silent our voices as they made silent forever Bhatti,but I pledge to continue the voice raised for minorities by Bhatti whatever the consequences I have to face till my last breath," told Sardar Mushtaq Gill,a Christian human rights lawyer.
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