Pak Minority Affairs Minister killed by Taliban

Three to four gunmen ambushed the car of 42-year-old Bhatti, the only Christian member of the Pakistan Cabinet, at about 11.20 am local time and indiscriminately fired at him while sparing his driver, police said. He was hit by at least 20 bullets in the face, chest and stomach.

Bhatti, a Catholic, was attacked shortly after he drove out of his mother's house close to his official residence. Reports said he visited his mother every morning. Only Bhatti and his driver Gul Sher were in the car, a dark-coloured Toyota Corola Altis, and the minister was not accompanied by any security guard at the time of the attack in Islamabad's Sector I-8.

The minister was the second senior leader of the ruling PPP to be assassinated this year. On January 4, Punjab Governor Taseer was gunned down by a police guard who was angered by his opposition to the blasphemy law.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for killing Bhatti, who had openly campaigned for the reform of the blasphemy law, on behalf of his group.

He told PTI on phone from an undisclosed location that anyone proposing changes in the blasphemy law "will meet the same fate." The gunmen, who escaped after the brazen attack on Bhatti in broad daylight, threw several pamphlets in Urdu at the site of the attack that linked the killing to the minister's opposition to the controversial blasphemy law.

The pamphlets, issued in the name of 'Tanzim Al Qaida Tehrik Taliban Punjab', said anyone who insulted Prophet Mohammed or tried to change the blasphemy law would be given the "death sentence."

Bhatti had been receiving threats to his life for a long time for seeking changes in the blasphemy law which imposes the death penalty for insulting Islam. "There were three to four attackers who intercepted the minister's car a short distance from his home. The attackers targeted only the minister and not the driver," Islamabad police chief Wajid Durrani said.

Gul Sher, the driver, told reporters that the attackers drove into the path of the minister's vehicle and opened fire. He said he ducked below the dashboard when a bearded gunman clad in a shalwar-kameez began firing.

"The attackers were in a white (Suzuki Mehran) car... They fired a lot of bullets," Gul Sher said, adding that he took the minister to Shifa International Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

An autopsy performed at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences showed that Bhatti was hit by at least 20 bullets in the face, chest and stomach, Geo News channel quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Bhatti was on his way to a Cabinet meeting when he was attacked. The meeting, chaired by Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, observed two minutes' silence for Bhatti and condemned his killing. It also discussed the security situation in the wake of the assassination.

Small groups of Christians and other minority communities protested against the assassination here. Christians form an estimated 1.6 per cent of Pakistan's 185 million population.

The Vatican also condemned the murder of the Catholic politician as an "unspeakable" act of violence. Though Bhatti had been provided two escort vehicles with police and paramilitary guards, he had instructed the security detail to wait at his office as he visited his mother, police chief Durrani said.

He acknowledged that there was a threat to Bhatti's life and that was the reason why he had been provided two escort vehicles while other ministers were given only one.

"The protection given to him was not present and we have learnt that the minister had instructed the security detail to wait at his office," Durrani said. Bhatti had been receiving death threats since 2009, when he had spoken out against attacks on members of the minority Christian community at Gojra in Punjab province.

He received fresh threats, including from Taliban, last year after he backed Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed, and campaigned for reforms in the harsh blasphemy law.

Parliamentarian Akram Masih Gill, also a Christian, said he had been told by Bhatti that he had been receiving threats and had not been provided adequate security.
"He told me he had taken up the matter with Interior Minister Rehman Malik, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani," Gill told the media.

"Bhatti wanted some reforms in discriminatory law. His killing will affect Pakistan's honour across the world. The country's minorities are not safe and the Prime Minister has to take notice. The culture of tolerance in Pakistan is ending," Gill said.

President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani condemned the killing of Bhatti and pledged that such acts will not deter the government from eliminating extremism and terrorism. Zardari, who was in Karachi, said in a message that the government would "continue to stand firm in its stance and would not bow to the extremists and terrorists."

Gilani, in a separate message, said the persons involved in "this heinous crime will not be spared at any cost." He directed the Interior Ministry to conduct a thorough probe in coordination with all law enforcement agencies to arrest those responsible for the killing.