Politicians, Christian leaders and thousands of people at the funeral for Shahbaz Bhatti
Islamabad (AsiaNews) – The funeral of Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities, assassinated last March 2 by armed extremists, is underway in the Catholic church in Islamabad. Thousands of Christians, religious leaders, foreign diplomats and government officials, including Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other members of the executive are attending the ceremony. Yesterday, meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets in the capital, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Khushpur to protest against the brutal murder. The protesters bore signs, banners and chanted slogans against terrorism.
Later in the morning the body of Shahbaz Bhatti will be returned to his family, who solemnly followed its transfer from the morgue to the church of Our Lady of Fatima, in F / 8 neighbourhood of the capital, Islamabad, where the state ceremony is in progress. The authorities have set up a protective cordon around the area, consisting of a contingent of police and SWAT teams of rangers, with the roads closed to traffic.
The funeral is presided by Bishop. Anthony Lobo, along with the current pastor of the diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Mgr. Rufin Anthony and 18 other priests. Thousands of people are participating in the funeral, including senior government officials, along with Christian leaders and ordinary citizens. Prime Minister Gilani and two executive members have threatened to resign in protest against the brutal murder.
At the end of the function, the body of the former Catholic minister will be transferred by helicopter to Khushpur, his native village located in the town of Samundri, not far from Faisalabad, in the eastern province of Punjab. The family will fly together with the body, while the government has set up the means of transport to allow the faithful to attend the burial ceremony. Thousands of people are already gathered in Khushpur, waiting to give their final farewell to Bhatti.
Meanwhile, new information continues to filter through regarding the murder and the living arrangements of the minister to escape his foretold death. For some time, in fact, Shahbaz Bhatti had been in the sights of Islamic fundamentalists for his fight against the blasphemy law and the defence - along with the former governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who was also killed last January 4 - of Asia Bibi The 45 year old Christian sentenced to death on the basis of the "black law".
Bhatti was using his official residence as a screen but, in fact, lived in a rented house with his family in I-8 / 3 Islamabad. The capital was designed by former President Musharraf as a huge military camp and, as such, has no names to delineate areas. However, the terrorists must have known his habits well, because they surprised him leaving his dwelling and killed him with 30 rounds of gunfire.
Yousuf Nishan, a cousin of the federal minister, confirmed that he lived with his mother and family on the ground floor of the rented house. It seems that after the death of Taseer - killed by a bodyguard - Shahbaz Bhatti no longer trusted the bodyguards provided by the government.
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