Persecution News 2016: Murdered Pakistani Christian's Brother Continues Fight Against Blasphemy Law
The brother of a Pakistani Christian politician who was murdered five years ago is now continuing the fight against the country's blasphemy law.
On Mar. 2, 2011, Pakistan's minister of minority affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was gunned down by an extremist group after being accused of blasphemy. He was the country's first Christian Cabinet member, according to Crux.
Paul Bhatti used to work as a surgeon in Europe and in Pakistan, but his brother's death became a catalyst for a big change in his life. While he originally had no plans to follow his brother's footsteps in the political world, he later became the nation's minister for national harmony and minority affairs, the report details.
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"My life and profession changed after the assassination of my brother," Paul told RNS in an interview conducted during a conference in Rome that tackled Christian persecution. "… I was not aspiring to be a politician, but it happened. I think God's ways are different, and it happened."
It is worth noting that Shahbaz had backed Christian mother Asia Bibi, who was thrown in jail after being accused of blasphemy. The deceased politician had said that he expected bad things to happen to him because of what he was doing, especially for his repeated campaigns against Pakistan's blasphemy laws, Christian Today reports.
To continue what his brother started, Paul is at present exerting all efforts to have Pakistan's blasphemy law repealed. Human rights organizations think the controversial law is often used by extremists to persecute Christians, and the accused are given the death sentence or other serious penalties, the report relays.
For Paul Bhatti, Christians in Pakistan are being persecuted because of the wrong assumption that their actions are aligned with Western nations, but he does not blame all Muslims for the situation. He explained there are many people who see Christians as representatives of the West, thus their hate for the Western government become directed at Christians.
