Speaking by phone with AsiaNews a day after the coldblooded execution of Pakistan’s Minority Affairs minister, the Dominican priest remembers a he close friend who fought for the rights of Christians. Fr Channan, who is prior vice provincial at the Ibn-e-Mariam monastery in Lahore, had known Bhatti for more than 15 years, from the time when the minister stayed at the Dominican centre in Lahore during his university days.
“The murder shows that we live in an inhuman society,” he said. “We are surrounded by extremists and terrorists, people who justify the murder of others in the name of religion.”
Fr Channan, who also runs the Dominican Peace Centre in Lahore, found Bhatti to be a man with “a restless soul for the rights of the oppressed and minorities.”
Opposed to the use and abuse of the blasphemy law, the minister fought until the end for religious freedom in Pakistan.
Together with Salman Taseer, the Punjab governor who was murdered by fundamentalists, he came to the defence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
His death “is a great loss for Pakistani Christians,” the clergyman said.
Father Anbu, SVD, national secretary of the Ecumenical Commission of the Indian Catholic Church, expressed his sorrow for Shahbaz Bhatti’s death.
“In the short span of two months, the country lost another minister who stood for certain values and for justice for minorities,” he said. “Today, Pakistan needs people of strong will to promote human dignity and justice, in Pakistan and other countries.”
For Fr Anbu, at such a time of pain and suffering, the Christian community must wipe its tears and continue the struggle against all forms of violence and fundamentalism. “Peace must prevail above all else,” he said. (N.C.)