Pakistan’s Minorities Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti was killed in broad day light in Islamabad on Wednesday, Mar 2. He was the lone Christian in the Gilani cabinet. He is the second liberal voice to be silenced this year, the first being Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, who was known as the liberal extremist because of his view on blasphemy laws.

The reaction to the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti as compared to the reactions after Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was gunned down on Jan 4 is quite different in nature, though the cause of their death – Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law – is the same.

Firstly the protests against Bhatti’s murder, as reported in local media, are much more vociferous; there has been a huge out cry from Pakistan’s Christian community bringing up a more sectarian angle, which might introduce a new minority angle to the whole blasphemy debate.

Secondly, Bhatti was killed by a known terrorist organization – the TTP rather than an individual which was the case in the Taseer killing. Pamphlets left behind by the gunmen were purported to be from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab; written in Urdu, the pamphlets claimed   that Bhatti was eliminated because of his opposition to the blasphemy law. This is for the first incident that TTP has claimed responsibility for an attack through pamphlets.

So there is no ambiguity whether the killers should be tried in Anti-terrorism Court and about the gravity of their actions.

Thirdly,  there has been a strong condemnation of the assassination from religious parties like the JuI-F and the right wing media outlets like Nawa-i-Waqt, whereas in Taseer’s case, the statements released by both these very entities were more along the lines of ‘he asked for it.’ They may be guided by minority vote bank politics since there is this talk of a mid-term election but it is bound to create a strong divide between religious political parties and terrorist organizations, despite being on the same page for the blasphemy law.

It is not without significance, therefore, that the religious parties have begun to call Bhatti’s assassination a conspiracy. They want to condemn his killers and at the same time take every measure to avoid any possible dilution of the blasphemy law.

There is an interesting similarity between the Taseer and the Bhatti assassinations; both took place in the federal capital, Islamabad.  

The two leaders did not have the local security cover despite orders to the top police, according to reports in the News International and Dawn. In fact, Bhatti was not even provided the mandatory bullet proof vehicle. 

So the role and performance of Federal Capital Police will be called into question more so since Islamabad has earned the sobriquet of ‘Killing Field’.

Former Attorney General Muhammad Sardar Khan was murdered in sector G-11/2 of the city on Feb 3, 2010.

A year earlier in 2009, three brigadiers were targetted -Brigadier Moin ud Din, Brigadier Waqar and Brigadier Sohail. The same year, on Sept 2, former Minister for Religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi faced terrorist bullets.  

On 6th October 2003, Mulana Azam Tariq was murdered near the motorway toll plaza. A Chinese national was killed at a guest house on 30 April 2010 but the accused is yet to be traced.

In the wake of Bhatti’s assassination, the Interior Ministry has announced plans for a crack-down on illegal Afghans living in the Pakistan capital. Three years ago similar announcement was made in the wake of terrorist attack on Hotel Marriot amidst concerns that Taliban were encroaching into Pakistan’s north – moving from Peshawar in NWFP to Islamabad in Punjab.

Now, the two assassinations in a short span of two months are a clear indication, if further evidence is required, that the northern parts of Pakistan are increasingly falling prey to Talibanisation.