This Courageous Pakistani Man is Continuing His Brother's Good Work to See the Harsh Laws against Christians Repealed

Leah Marieann Klett : Jan 18, 2016
Gospel Herald

"My life and profession changed after the assassination of my brother. That was a situation I never expected to be in," he added calmly. "I was not aspiring to be a politician, but it happened. I think God's ways are different, and it happened."

(Pakistan)—Five years after the murder of a Pakistani Christian politician, his brother is continuing to fight against the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which have caused the deaths and unjust incarceration of scores of people. (Photo via Gospel Herald)

On Mar. 2, 2011, Pakistan's first Christian minister of minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, was shot and killed by a Muslim extremist group after being accused of blasphemy, or desecrating the Koran.

Following the assassination, Bhatti's brother, Paul Bhatti, founded a trust in his brother's name and then was himself appointed the minister for national harmony and minority affairs.

"My life and profession changed after the assassination of my brother," Bhatti, a former surgeon, told Religion News Service.

"That was a situation I never expected to be in," he added calmly. "I was not aspiring to be a politician, but it happened. I think God's ways are different, and it happened."

Paul is seeking to repeal Pakistan's stringent blasphemy laws, which often carry life in prison or the death penalty as punishment. Often, the laws are used to reinforce the oppression of groups and individuals that are already marginalized—particularly Christians, who make up just 4% of the country's population.

He told the news outlet that Christians in Pakistan are being persecuted because of the wrong assumption that their actions are aligned with Western nations.

"The West is considered like a Christian, and Christian people somehow seem to represent the West," he said. "A lot of people have hatred in their hearts against the West."

He added, "Some of the innocent Muslims who don't have the possibility of engaging with Christians or other minorities genuinely believe that Christians or other religions are their enemy, because they're told by some people."

Pakistan, the world's second largest Muslim country, is ranked #6 on the Open Doors 2016 World Watch List of the worst persecutors of Christians, and has received the maximum score in the violence category.

Engage, a nonprofit based out of Islamabad, Pakistan, has also launched a new campaign seeking to challenge the legality of the country's...

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