Shahbaz Bhatti was a man in search of fame. Although Pakistani government minister, ran without an escort. It was not even a "political" in the common meaning of the term. That for minorities was for him a true vocation, and in his country the concept of minority is not the West, referring to the normal interplay of public opinion in which those who have more free votes in government and those who are less comply, and can peacefully express their dissent. Being in the minority in Pakistan is synonymous with marginalization, isolation, poverty, and persecution. The biggest mistake of Bhatti was to belong to these minorities, as a Christian. His greatest strength was to be a true Christian, that is without compromise with the world and with the knowledge that their mission does not end with death and violence of the enemies will never win. But who was really
Shahbaz Bhatti and why the Islamic fundamentalists have so brutally murdered on 2 March? He himself describes: "I just want a place at the feet of Jesus I want my life, my character, my actions speak for me and say that I am following Jesus." Words that would do credit to any Christian, any place and time. Bhatti, however, was born and lived in Pakistan of the twenty-first century: a country where freedom of religion is limited and where there is the shameful laws against blasphemy and blasphemous to where (the face of religious freedom and secularism that the Europeans love it ...) you do not intend any offense to worship only and exclusively to Allah and Islam, which is devoted 96% of the population. And probably no country in the Islamic religious intolerance is reaching alarming levels as in Pakistan since the case of Asia Bibi has become known to international public opinion, for Christians there is no truce while the 45 year old farmer of Punjab risk stoning for having politely criticized the prophet Mohammed, the On 4 January, the governor of that province, Salman Taseer (Muslim), was assassinated by his bodyguard for having expressed their opposition to the blasphemy law. In Pakistan, fundamentalist violence is not so much a political issue as a cultural problem, sadly rooted in the people. The government in Islamabad - which Shahabz Beat, the only Christian minister was part - tepidly condemned the attacks and is proving powerless (perhaps conniving?) Before the destructive fury of the fanatics. On the other hand, there is a large part of religious people blinded by hate. Not only the application of the blasphemy law is far restrictive and that many sentences are imposed for specious reasons: he is acquitted he sees his life endangered, vulnerable to attacks by fanatics who seek to summary justice in place of the courts. The few Christians in the country, for their part, have a hard time turning the other cheek. Has aroused great anger because the government's decision to block, for safety reasons, the entrance to the church where the funeral was held the minister killed: even the victim's family have been left out.
The real problem is not the strategy to be adopted from the inside: it is that Christians remain silent in order not to give his side reprisals (as he had hoped the bishop of Lahore, Lawrence Saldanha), whether aloud reclaim their rights, they are always under fire. The biggest responsibility is, rather, out of the international community and NGOs will have to exercise the necessary pressure on Islamabad to repeal or at least mitigate the blasphemy law.
While the situation lends itself to international diplomatic dilemmas hamletic and too many disturbing shadows, the light is right counterpoint to the testimony of Shahbaz Bhatti, a man who, before the needy, the poor, the hungry and thirsty never pulled back, even at the cost of their lives. The commitment to human and Christian Bhatti were for one thing. "I say that as long as I live, until his last breath, I will continue to serve Jesus and this poor, suffering humanity," he said in an interview the minister assassinated. "I do not want popularity, I do not want positions of power," insisted. He then took their positions in government, for pure spirit of service. As is often ruthless in the dynamics of power, Bhatti had been proposed to abandon its humanitarian ambitions in exchange for a rapid rise in prestigious roles. He had the courage to say no, at the cost of threats and attempted attack against himself and against his family. But Shahbaz Bhatti, aware that, as Tertullian says, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians," had long since accepted their fate, whatever it would be: "I consider myself privileged if (...) Jesus would accept the sacrifice of my life. I want to live for Christ and for Him I die. I feel no fear in this country. "
(Source: Luke Marcolivio, optimism, March 10, 2011)
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