The Christian member of the Pakistan government killed by Islamic fanatics on Wednesday gave an interview last year which shows he had received threats and knew he was likely to die. Shahbaz Bhatti, who was Minister of Minorities, opposed Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law, condemned by Pope Benedict at the start of the year.

In the short video Bhatti says: “I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. I know what the Cross means, and what it means to follow the Cross. And I’m ready to die for the cause of my suffering community, and I will die to defend their rights.”

The threats, he says, will not deter him.

“I prefer to die for justice and for the rights of my community than compromise with these threats”.

Bhatti was killed in a hail of bullets in his car outside his mother’s home. He had long asked for bulletproof glass for his car windows.

The Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome, to which Bhatti was closely connected, said the last person the murdered minister spoke to by phone, just 15 minutes before his death, was a member of the community.

“He was a humble and brave man who dedicated his political activity to enabling the peaceful coexistence of the different religions in his country,” said Marco Impagliazzo, the Community’s president.

The funeral is today.

 

 

Austen Ivereigh is a Fellow in Contemporary Church History at Campion Hall, at the University of Oxford, and a biographer of Pope Francis. In 2020 he collaborated with Pope Francis on his Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future, published by Simon & Schuster.