Islamabad, Mar 2: Pakistan's Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who had sought changes in the controversial blasphemy law, was today assassinated in a gun attack here, the second top leader of the ruling PPP to be killed this year for demanding reform of the harsh statute.
42-year-old Bhatti's car was ambushed near his residence by three to four gunmen in Sector I-8 at about 11.20 am local time in a brazen attack.
Only Bhatti and his driver Gul Sher were in the car and the minister was not accompanied by any security guard at the time of the attack, police said.
Bhatti, the only Christian member of Pakistan's Cabinet, was the second senior leader of the ruling PPP to be assassinated in nearly two months. On January 4, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was gunned down by a police guard who was angered by his opposition to the blasphemy law.
"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 told reporters.
The driver ducked below the dashboard as the gunmen fired indiscriminately at the minister. At least eight bullets hit Bhatti, Durrani said.
The attackers, who were travelling in a white car, were clad in shalwar-kameez. The gunmen escaped after the brazen attack.
The gunmen threw several pamphlets in Urdu at the site of the attack that linked the attack on Bhatti to his opposition to the controversial blasphemy law.
The pamphlets, issued by 'Tanzim Al Qaida Tehrik Taliban Punjab', said any one who insulted Prophet Mohammed would be given the death sentence.
The pamphlets also said any sort of blasphemy or change in the blasphemy law would not be tolerated.
Bhatti was rushed to Shifa International Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Hospital spokesman Azmatullah Qureshi said Bhatti was hit by several bullets.
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.
Reports said Bhatti visited his mother, who lives a short distance from his official residence, every morning.
Bhatti was attacked shortly after he drove out of his mother's home.
"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 threats to his life 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."
The extremist elements are trying to destabilise the country but such attempts will fail, he said.
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 investigation in coordination with all law enforcement agencies to arrest those responsible for the killing.
"The death of Mr Shahbaz Bhatti is a great loss to the country as well as the government at a time when the whole nation was trying to build bridges between the believers of different faiths and sects in order to establish peace and harmony," Gilani said.
Pakistan "is united to fight such elements who want to create disruption in society and spoil the image of the country," he said.
After the killing of Bhatti, Taseer's daughter Shehrbano said the minister was a "good man who worked hard to protect minorities."
"This is a sad day for Pakistan. Can't believe another family is going through this," she said in a post on the social networking website Twitter, adding that the country has lost "another mighty heart."
Abdullah Haroon, Pakistan's envoy to the UN, said Bhatti was very popular, not just among the Christian community but also others. "We should definitely support his thinking," he was quoted as saying, adding "whoever has committed this act (attack on Bhatti), it is reprehensible." PTI
