Pakistan’s Minority Affairs minister is remembered at a conference. He was slain for defending religious freedom and opposing the blasphemy law. His brother Paul speaks about forgiveness but also about the need for the truth about his death. He pledges that he will continue his work. The bishop of Faisalabad remembers him as someone who cared about his country in accordance with the ideals of the nation’s founder, Ali Jinnah. Lahore imam remembers him as a precursor in interfaith dialogue.

Rome (AsiaNews) – “We have forgiven the assassins because this is what the Christian faith teaches us and what our brother passed on to us;” however, we seek the “truth” and the continuation “of Shabbaz’s work for Pakistan and religious minorities”. This is what Paul Bhatti said at a conference organised by the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome. He is the brother of Pakistan’s Minority Affairs minister, killed on 2 March in Islamabad. As he recounted how during Shabbaz’s funeral the Pakistani flag flew at half-mast and the national anthem was played, Mgr Joseph Coutts, bishop of Faisalabad and newly elected president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, said, “The nation has lost a man of great integrity and morality”.

“Shahbaz Bhatti, a Life for Dialogue and Coexistence in Pakistan”, is the title of a conference organised by the Community of Sant’Egidio. The speakers included Paul Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance and newly-appointed religious minorities advisor to the Pakistani prime Minister, Mgr Joseph Coutts, bishop of Faisalabad and president of the Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, Syed Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad, Grand Iman Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, as well as Andrea Riccardi, from the Community of Sant’Egidio, and Marco Tarquino, editor of the Italian-language Catholic newspaper Avvenire.

“On behalf of my family and the Pakistani people,” Paul Bhatti thanked “Benedict XVI for his support and prayers. Although “We have forgiven” those who carried out the crime in accordance with the teachings “of our Christian faith and of our brother;” we still seek “the truth”. What is more, despite moments of profound sadness, “the witness of a man who loved the truth” and fought “against the introduction of Sharia, the Islamic law,” remains strong.

Paul Bhatti was recently appointed special advisor on minority affairs to the prime minister. Under the 18th amendment to the constitution adopted last year, a federal minister cannot take on the same department. Thus, former Senator Khatu Mal Jeewan, a Hindu, will be the new Minority Affairs minister after he was selected by the Election Commission in replacement of Shahbaz Bhatti.

During his address, Paul Bhatti spoke about his brother’s work on behalf of “flood and earthquake victims”, and his involvement in rural and women’s education, as well as his fight for life, inter-faith dialogue, freedom and the dignity of every human being.”

Similarly, he mentioned how, in the family, many suggested he quit or adopt more stringent security measures. In response, “he would tell us that he had put his life in the hands of Jesus and was not willing to bargain away his faith.”

“We shall continue his work,” Paul Bhatti said, “but we need everyone’s help”.

For Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, Shabbaz Bhatti was a “martyr of the faith” who tried “to interpret rather than abrogate the blasphemy law so that its abuse could end”.

A “colleague and friend”, he died to bring about changes to a law that creates innocent victims and to defend Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother of five who was sentenced to death under the same ‘black law’.

His fate was like Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab gunned down last January. Hence, Shabbaz is “martyr for the defence religious freedom”.

One of his victories was the 5 per cent quota for minorities in the public service, Mr Frattini noted.

Syed Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad, grand imam at the Lahore mosque, described Shahbaz Bhatti as an “ambassador of peace to the world.”

“We miss him, because his work in favour of inter-faith dialogue was fundamental,” the Muslim religious leader said. “But his brother will continue his work”.

Bhatti’s killing was a “murder against humanity”. He was a “precursor who first launched the idea of interfaith dialogue in Pakistan among Muslims, Christians and Hindus. He was the first who raised the issue of coexistence” in clear terms and at the political and social levels.

Like Shahbaz Bhatti, Imam Abdul Khabir Azad believes that “dialogue is the only thing that can bring peace” and for this, “we must be open to exchange of ideas”.

As the last speaker, Mgr Joseph Coutts, bishop of Faisalabad and president of the Bishops’ Conference, noted how much Bhatti cared for “all of Pakistan’s minorities”.

“He belonged to the nation,” the prelate said. “All of us are Pakistanis, equal to one another”, without distinction of creed.

Bhatti cared very much for “the ideals of Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan,” and was “sincere in his work”.

Mgr Coutts also spoke about a plan Shahbaz Bhatti envisaged to set up a centre for interfaith dialogue in Islamabad, a place surrounded by various places of worship according to religion. Such a structure “would allow everyone to meet together in a single, centrally located building that would be open to all so that everyone could just walk in.”

Although history will always have its extremisms, there will also be people “like Bhatti, Gandhi and Martin Luther King who worked for peace in the world.”

Lastly, Shabbaz Bhatti’s great legacy will be the promotion of interfaith dialogue as government policy. Thanks to him, the “first steps in that direction have been taken.” (DS)

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