No Justice One Year after Assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

KHUSHPUR, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Friday (March 2, 2012) marks the first anniversary of the brutal killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, who was shot by Islamist extremists on March 2, 2011 for his opposition to the country’s blasphemy laws and his support of a Christian blasphemy defendant, Asia Bibi.

Shahbaz Bhatti in Washington in February 2011. He gained the respect of world leaders (Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty)

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a UK-based human rights group, a memorial for Shahbaz Bhatti is being held Friday in his home village of Khushpur, Punjab.

“This will be followed a few days later by another event in Islamabad and attendees are expected to include political colleagues and members of the diplomatic community, with whom Bhatti had forged close links. Pakistani Christians in the UK and around the world are also marking the anniversary,” said a spokesperson for CSW.

Mervyn Thomas, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Chief Executive said, “We pay tribute to our friend Shahbaz, whom we miss dearly, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time. We continue to draw inspiration from his commitment both as a grassroots activist and a politician, not to mention his faith. He was utterly committed to making justice and equality a reality in the lives of Pakistan’s minorities.”

Bhatti’s killers are yet to be caught, and announcements from the investigative team have thus far been overshadowed by inconsistency and speculation, including in the most recent arrests in February. Bhatti’s long-term friends and associates at the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), which he co-founded in 2002, are recommending that all memorial events should highlight the lack of progress in the hunt for his killers, stating that “a mockery has been made of the investigation”.

The funeral for Shahbaz Bhatti was held in his remote village; still, 20,000 Christians came and showered rose petals on his coffin.

APMA continues to call for a judicial commission of inquiry to be established, as was done in the case of murdered journalist Shahzad Saleem.

Mervyn Thomas added, “It is crucial that his murder investigation reaches a satisfactory conclusion, not only to do justice and honour the memory of Shahbaz himself, but also to make it clear that the rule of law still means something in Pakistan. At stake is the ability and willingness of the Pakistani state to stand up against those taking justice into their own hands, including those who target religious minorities with confidence that they will never be held to account.”

Note: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a Christian organization working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 20 8329 0045 / +44 78 2332 9663, email kiri@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk.

Notes to Editors:

1. CSW’s briefing -- Pakistan: Religious freedom in the shadow of extremism, examines how rising religious extremism in Pakistan has catapulted some of the country’s primary religious freedom concerns into the public consciousness, in a context relevant to Pakistanis of all faiths; two examples of this have been the assassinations of prominent politicians Shahbaz Bhatti and Salmaan Taseer for their opposition to the country’s blasphemy laws.

2. Although a candlelit procession and vigil will be held in Islamabad today, the main memorial event was not scheduled for the day of the anniversary because it coincides with Pakistan’s Senate elections. This round of elections will be the first to include four seats for religious minorities, one from each province, a measure secured by Shahbaz Bhatti while he was minister.

3. For further details about the life of Shahbaz Bhatti, see his obituary (www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/10/shahbaz-bhatti-obituary) written by CSW’s Annabelle Bentham.

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Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. Dan has recently received two top media awards -- the Passion for the Persecuted award from Open Doors US, and one of the top "Newsmakers of 2011" from Plain Trust magazine. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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Pakistan: At Last Police Have Admitted That Taliban Were behind Christian Minister Shahbaz Bhatti's Murder

They have backed away from previous claim that a ’family dispute’ was behind it

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries


ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Shahbaz Bhatti, 42, the first-ever Christian to serve in the Pakistan cabinet, who had vigorously campaigned for minority religious rights in Pakistan, which is 95 percent Muslim, was killed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Shahbaz Bhatti

This news was told to Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee (Interior) on August 24, 2011, by Islamabad’s most senior police officer, IGP Bani Amin Khan, according to The Express Tribune.

“The IGP said that the police had identified two suspects, but they had gone abroad -- to Dubai -- before they could be caught,” said a message sent to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net )by Aftab Alexander Mughal, editor with Minorities Concern of Pakistan.
According to this group, Bhatti had received numerous death threats from religious extremists before his assassination.

Bhatti had criticized the country's blasphemy laws, which makes it a capital crime to insult Islam, and has also campaigned for the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother-of-five who has been sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy and is appealing her sentence on death row.

According to a story by Declan Walsh in Islamabad writing for The Guardian newspaper in the UK, Bhatti had predicted his own death. In a farewell statement recorded four months before he was killed and to be broadcast in the event of his death, he spoke of threats from the Taliban and al-Qaida. To see the video, please go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/02/pakistan-minister-shot-dead-islamabad
Walsh went on to say, “But he vowed not to stop speaking for marginalized Christians and other minorities. ‘I will die to defend their rights,’ he said on the tape released to the BBC and al-Jazeera. ‘These threats and these warnings cannot change my opinions and principles.’”

Blood stained car after assassination of Mr. Bhatti

Walsh then described the killing: “A small white car carrying gunmen blocked his way. After an initial burst of fire they dragged Bhatti's driver from the vehicle, then continued firing through a side window. ‘It lasted about twenty seconds,’ said a neighbor, Naseem Javed. ‘When I rushed out I saw the minister's driver standing by the car, shivering, and his niece weeping and shouting.’

“‘They fired 25 bullets,’ said a police officer beside a bullet-pocked pavement, holding a handful of brass Kalashnikov bullet cases.”
Walsh added, “As they left the gunmen flung pamphlets on to the road that blamed President Asif Ali Zardari’s government for putting an ‘infidel Christian’ in charge of a committee to review the blasphemy laws. The government insists no such committee exists. ‘With the blessing of Allah, the mujahideen will send each of you to hell,’ said the note.

This latest news shows that the police are backtracking from a previous claim that police investigators in Pakistan were developing a theory that the murder of Mr. Bhatti was due to a “family dispute,” not religious extremism, according to a story on August 9, in the Express Tribune English daily newspaper.

However, this claim was strongly criticized by Christian groups in Pakistan. “This is just another cover up. They want to show that Shahbaz was not killed by religious extremists,” Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), told ENInews on August 12, 2011, from his office in Lahore.

Now the police have backed away from this strange assertion and are finally going after the real culprits.

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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Pakistani police claim Shahbaz Bhatti murder due to 'family dispute'

However, Christians reject this theory and say it is a huge 'cover up'

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries


ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Police investigators in Pakistan are developing a theory that the murder of Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was due to a "family dispute," not religious extremism, according to a story on August 9, in the Express Tribune English daily newspaper.

Shahbaz Bhatti

Mr. Bhatti was the first Federal Minister for Minorities from 2008 until he was assassinated on March 2, 2011 in Islamabad.

Quoting an unidentified official associated with the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the assassination, the Tribune said "Shahbaz's murder is said to be linked to a 'chronic rivalry' with relatives who lived in Faisalabad five years ago."

According to a story written by Anto Akkara for Ecumenical News International (ENInews), Bhatti, 42, the first Christian in the Pakistani cabinet, had "vigorously campaigned for minority religious rights in Pakistan, which is 95 percent Muslim."

He went on to say, "He had criticized the country's blasphemy law, which makes it a capital crime to insult Islam, before he was ambushed and sprayed with bullets on March 2, 2011, as he was leaving for his office in Islamabad. Groups claiming ties with the Islamic Taliban and al-Qaida later claimed responsibility for the murder."

Shahbaz Bhatti had also campained for the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has been sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy.

Christian groups, said Akkara, criticized the police investigation, based on the news reports. "This is just another cover up. They want to show that Shahbaz was not killed by religious extremists," Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), told ENInews on 12 August from his office in Lahore.

Blood stained car after assasination of Mr. Bhatti

According to the Tribune story, a member of the JIT team claims that two or three of the murderers converted to Islam and fled Pakistan. The report also quoted the official as saying that while names of the culprits have not been identified yet, "we will approach Interpol for their arrest."
Azariah said there is now no confidence in the Bhatti probe. "Nothing is going to happen with this investigation. The people have lost faith in the process," he said. The NCCP groups the country's four mainline Protestant churches. "The investigators seem to ignore even the claim of an Islamic party owning up to the murder," he added.

Cecil Choudhary, executive secretary of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), co-founded by Bhatti, told ENInews that the news represented "an extremely alarming twist" in the investigation. "It has deliberately been taken onto another track in order to clear the Islamic extremists, who categorically claimed responsibility for the murder," he said. APMA plans to organize street protests to demand a judicial enquiry into the assassination. "We want the truth to come out," he said.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Justice and Commission of the Catholic church, told ENInews that the "family feud" theory is unfounded. "Bhatti is my third cousin and I know him from childhood. We have the same relatives. The allegation of family and property feud is only to defame a bold champion of minority rights," he said.

The Express Tribune, based in Karachi, Pakistan, is published in collaboration with the International Herald Tribune.

A recent meeting of the Central Executive Committee of The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (AMPA) was held in Islamabad and presided over by Dr. Paul Bhatti (brother of the murdered minister) and Chairman of the Alliance.

At the gathering, the participants "strongly condemned" the latest developments released to the media, in which the Police investigators have attributed the Bhatti's assassination to a property dispute between relatives rather than a religiously motivated murder, subsequently diverting the case away from reality.

Members of Human Rights Focus Pakistan protesting the murder fo Shahbaz Bhatti

In a message to ANS, a spokesperson for AMPA said that those at the meeting "stated that the investigation has deliberately been taken onto another track in order to clear the actual culprits, who have categorically claimed responsibility for the murder. They further stated that turning the investigation into personal enmity and dispute over property is an attempt to sabotage the great sacrifice that Shahbaz Bhatti rendered for the rights of minorities.

"They said that such distortion of facts has sent a wave of anxiety and anger among the religious minorities.

The participants stated that the religious minorities of Pakistan rejects this investigation and demands the formation of a Judicial Commission under the supervision of a High Court Judge to investigate this highly sensitive case and uncover the hidden motives behind the assassination.

"The participants also stated that in case of any further delay in arresting the murderers and uncovering the conspiracy behind the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the religious minorities will be compelled to launch a countrywide protest, until their demands are met.

"They also demanded of the Government to revisit all laws discriminating against minorities and to take concrete measures to curb its misuse.

The meeting concluded with the participants paying homage to Shahbaz Bhatti for his endeavors in seeking to improve and protect the rights and equality of religious minorities in Pakistan, they expressed that Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti, through the sacrifice of his blood, had raised the heads of the religious minorities with pride."

The spokesperson added, "They stated that Shahbaz Bhatti was a bold, committed and courageous activist who dedicated his entire life for the cause of the religious minorities of Pakistan. He fearlessly raised a voice for the rights of minorities, justice, religious freedoms and was murdered as he stood firmly against the growing misuse of the Blasphemy Laws. They pledged not to let his sacrifice go to waste.

"The Alliance vowed to carry forward the mission of their Shahbaz Bhatti until success or martyrdom.
"At the end of the meeting a special prayer was offered for the integrity and prosperity of Pakistan and for peace and harmony within the country."

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Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries. You can follow Dan on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel "Red Dagger" which is available this link.