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Gunmen shoot dead Pakistan minorities minister in Islamabad

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, March 2, IRNA -- Armed men on Wednesday shot dead Pakistan's Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti in Islamabad, police and doctors said.

Bhatti was travelling to the Prime Minister’s office to attend the cabinet meeting but was intercepted by gunmen in a car near his residence.

The gunmen, stated to be three or four, first fired and injured the minister’s driver and later sprayed Bhatti with bullets, police chief told reporters.

Family and police said that Bhatti, the only Christian minister in the cabinet, had received death threats after calling for amendments in the blasphemy law, which carries death penalty.

Bhatti was made head of a committee, who was assigned to propose amendments in the blasphemy law. Islamic parties had strongly opposed any amendment in the law.

Bhatti’s murder is the second high profile murder in Islamabad in three months.

In January, Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who had also opposed the law, was shot dead by one of his bodyguards. The bodyguard confessed that he murdered the Governor for his opposition to the law.

Minorities in Pakistan are campaigning for changes in the blasphemy, introduced by the military ruler General Zia-ul-Haq in 80s. They argue that some elements are misusing the law and that this trend must be checked.

Police said Bhatti left his residence in I-8 sector of Islamabad at 10:45 a.m. local time and first visited his mother in the same area. Visiting his mother before going to office was his routine practice and the police said the assassins had information about the minister’s movement.

The minister had no police escort at the time of the attack and the police chief said that investigations are underway as to who stopped the police escort from going to minister’s residence.

He was transferred to private Al-Shifa hospital in Islamabad in critical condition and hospital spokesman, Azmatullah Qureshi later said the minister died of wounds.

Taliban claimed responsibility and private TV channels said that a note, claiming the attack, was found at the attack site. The Punjab section of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakidstan or TTP, said it carried out the attack.

Police said the gunmen escaped in a car after the attack and the police launched a search in Islamabad while enhancing checks at entry and exit points in Islamabad.