The assassination two days ago by Taliban militants of Religious Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti (who sustained 30 bullet wounds from machine gun fire) coming so soon after the January 4 murder of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab, aroused in Pakistan's beleaguered Christian community a sense that they had nothing to lose by going public with their protests. It also created a temporary but shallow defensiveness in Pakistani Islamic circles.
The minister, who was gunned down for criticizing the country's anti-blasphemy laws, was the cabinet's only non-Muslim and a practicing Catholic. The country's Catholic prelates publicly voiced their sorrow and indignation. Christian schools closed for 3 days as a sign of mourning and the Joint Committee of Fathers warned: “If the country becomes a killing field for liberal individuals who exercise their freedom of conscience and expression, it will only embolden the criminals trying to take charge of Pakistan,” The protesters held crosses, placards and banners condemning the murder and briefly blocked the road in front of Lahore Press Club.
This reaction was in sharp contrast to the paralysis that gripped Christians and liberals following the Taseer assassination. That touched off a wave of conservative religious demonstrations in support of the blasphemy laws. Pakistani lawyers volunteered to defend the assassin pro bono and he was extended VIP treatment by his jailers.
Many politicians were too frightened to attend Taseer's funeral, and even the government backtracked from its own proposal to amend the blasphemy laws to prevent them from being used for personal vendettas.
One of the few exceptions to this paralysis was Shahbaz Bhatti himself. In his last interview to the Pakistani Daily Times, Bhatti praised Taseer's courage for standing up against the blasphemy laws which were being exploited for political, religious and personal gains. Bhatti expressed his revulsion for the glorification of the assassin and particularly condemned the lawyers who were defending him and promised to take it up with the Bar Council. The Governor’s murder, he said, "was religiously motivated, backed up by political actors with a planned conspiracy.” Finally he took on the Muslim clerics head on and proclaimed that Pakistan's minorities had sacrificed more than "these handful radical forces who only make Fatwas (edict) to aggravate the situation and exploit people rather going for a solution."
Although he had received many threatening messages and telephone calls he refused to take additional security precautions because after all Taseer had been murdered by his own bodyguard.
Islamic leaders condemned the murder halfheartedly. They criticized the victim for being remiss about security precautions. They also hinted that the assassination was the work of foreign elements who wanted to besmirch Pakistan.
Veteran religious scholar Mufti Naeemsupported this conspiracy theory as did the Islamist newspaper, the Nation: "Links between foreign intelligence agencies like RAW [ India's Research & Analysis Wing Intelligence Service A.U.] , MOSSAD and CIA and militants have been suspected. RAW is even known for having provided financial and military support to spread violence in Pakistan. It is pretty much apparent that those who have carried out the attack on Minister Shahbaz Bhatti would have in mind the consequences for our image abroad and the anxiety it would create within the religious minorities."
Nawaz Kharal, spokesman for the Sunni Ittehad Council, which represents the Barelvi current of Sunni Islam,differentiated between the murders of Taseer and Bhatti. The Council had signed a statement of support for the Taseer's killing. The second killing was superfluous because Bhatti was merely criticizing the blasphemy laws whereas Taseer had it coming since he wanted to abolish them.
Although the government headed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari resolved to oppose the "slide towards extremism", it was criticized at home and abroad for its timidity and refusal to act against clerics who had issued religious death sentences against the 2 victims.
Ms. Mariv Sirmed a human rights activist warned "If we're not able to recognize now that the enemy is within this country, and stand up against them together, then I don't think Pakistan is going to survive."