Christians in Pakistan chilled by assassination
Christian schools and colleges across Pakistan shut down for three
days to protest the March 2 assassination in Islamabad of Shahbaz
Bhatti, a Roman Catholic who was minister for religious minorities.
Christians and secular groups marched in the cities of Lahore, Karachi,
Hyderabad and Faisalabad to protest the killing.
The call for
action came at an ecumenical meeting chaired by Archbishop Lawrence
Saldana, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Pakistan. In a
press statement, church leaders said that if Pakistan "becomes a killing
field" of people "who exercise their freedom of conscience and
expression," then "criminals trying to take charge of the country" will
be emboldened.
Bhatti, 42, was ambushed and shot dead as he was
being driven to his office. He was a critic of Pakistan's blasphemy law,
which makes criticism of the Prophet Muhammad a capital crime in the
Muslim-majority nation.
