Bismilah ir Rahman ir Rahim
In the Name of God, the Lord of the Universe.
In the Name of God, the Lord of the Universe.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Compliments to the organizers of this memorial reference in honor of Shahbaz Bhatti. Thank you indeed for inviting me.
Seven years ago on this day Shahbaz Bhatti, the man who wanted to make this world tolerant, was assassinated in Islamabad.
He was assassinated in broad daylight just when he came out of his mother’s house.
He was 42 and a Federal Minister then.
A man of great promise was brutally cut down in the prime of his life.
We mourn his death.
But with the passage of time the mourning of death should give way to celebrating his life.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen I am here to celebrate the life that Shahbaz Bhatti lived, the values he cherished and fought for.
Who was Shahbaz Bhatti?
In his own words Shabaz was a man who wanted to “make this world beautiful by delivering a message of peace, togetherness, unity and tolerance”.
To make Pakistan and this world more beautiful and more tolerant, Shahbaz Bhatti launched interfaith initiatives.
He sought to demolish walls that divide, and replace them with bridges that unite and connect. He was an integral part of our struggle for restoration of democracy.
He preached tolerance, love and togetherness.
He pleaded harmony between faiths.
Prayer leaders invited him to speak in mosques.
He did much more than speaking.
He launched, for the first time a network of “interfaith harmony committees” at district level.
Today we have a broad based national consensus against on terrorism and extremism.
But a decade ago there was no consensus.
As a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the first minister of Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti strove to build a national consensus and finally in July 2010 religious leaders issued a joint statement denouncing terrorism. Shabaz Bhatti played a critical role in it.
Seven years ago on this day Shahbaz Bhatti, the man who wanted to make this world tolerant, was assassinated in Islamabad.
He was assassinated in broad daylight just when he came out of his mother’s house.
He was 42 and a Federal Minister then.
A man of great promise was brutally cut down in the prime of his life.
We mourn his death.
But with the passage of time the mourning of death should give way to celebrating his life.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen I am here to celebrate the life that Shahbaz Bhatti lived, the values he cherished and fought for.
Who was Shahbaz Bhatti?
In his own words Shabaz was a man who wanted to “make this world beautiful by delivering a message of peace, togetherness, unity and tolerance”.
To make Pakistan and this world more beautiful and more tolerant, Shahbaz Bhatti launched interfaith initiatives.
He sought to demolish walls that divide, and replace them with bridges that unite and connect. He was an integral part of our struggle for restoration of democracy.
He preached tolerance, love and togetherness.
He pleaded harmony between faiths.
Prayer leaders invited him to speak in mosques.
He did much more than speaking.
He launched, for the first time a network of “interfaith harmony committees” at district level.
Today we have a broad based national consensus against on terrorism and extremism.
But a decade ago there was no consensus.
As a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the first minister of Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti strove to build a national consensus and finally in July 2010 religious leaders issued a joint statement denouncing terrorism. Shabaz Bhatti played a critical role in it.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Shahbaz Bhatti wore several hats.
In 1985 he founded the Christian Liberation Front (CLF).
Its aim was to restore rights of religious minorities and to promote tolerance.
The country then was under a bigoted dictatorship.
It did not favor religious freedoms to the non-Muslims.
Freedoms as promised by the Quaid-e- Azam.
The dictatorship went far too far.
It even deleted the word ‘freely’ from the preamble of the Constitution in relation to the right to worship of non-Muslims.
That fraud on the Constitution was reversed only in the 18th Amendment spear headed by the PPP.
The word ‘freely’ in relation to professing religion by every citizen has been restored.
Shahbaz Bhatti wore several hats.
In 1985 he founded the Christian Liberation Front (CLF).
Its aim was to restore rights of religious minorities and to promote tolerance.
The country then was under a bigoted dictatorship.
It did not favor religious freedoms to the non-Muslims.
Freedoms as promised by the Quaid-e- Azam.
The dictatorship went far too far.
It even deleted the word ‘freely’ from the preamble of the Constitution in relation to the right to worship of non-Muslims.
That fraud on the Constitution was reversed only in the 18th Amendment spear headed by the PPP.
The word ‘freely’ in relation to professing religion by every citizen has been restored.
The Christian Liberation Front of Shahbaz Bhatti was a bold initiative.
The Front launched the first national campaign against misuse of blasphemy laws.
No wonder that it was violently opposed.
But he was not deterred.
In 2002 he co-founded the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA).
The APMA served as a megaphone and a platform for the rights of minorities and promoting interfaith harmony.
Bhatti was the elected head of the organization.
He joined the PPP, under my mother Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who held him in high esteem.
Bhatti was pained by the misuse of blasphemy law to settle personal scores.
In keeping with the vision of his leadership, he valiantly fought for fair investigations in the case of Aasia Noreen, the Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, a charge she always denied.
We pay homage to the courage of Shahbaz Bhatti.
PPP made Bhatti the first Minister for Minorities in Pakistan.
At the time he said that he was accepting the position to help the marginalized and also to send a message of hope to the hopeless.
The message of the PPP, which has been struggling for the rights of the disenfranchised for five decades.
Bhatti once said: “Jesus is the nucleus of my life, and I want to be his true follower through my actions by sharing the love of God with poor, needy and suffering people of Pakistan.”
The mission Shahbaz had undertaken was not an easy one.
The path he had chosen to tread was embedded with thorns.
He knew the dangers.
He had received death threats not once, but many times over.
But he was not deterred.
He knew the way and was not afraid to lead.
A few weeks before his assassination Bhatti told the media that threats and warnings will not force him to back down.
The Front launched the first national campaign against misuse of blasphemy laws.
No wonder that it was violently opposed.
But he was not deterred.
In 2002 he co-founded the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA).
The APMA served as a megaphone and a platform for the rights of minorities and promoting interfaith harmony.
Bhatti was the elected head of the organization.
He joined the PPP, under my mother Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who held him in high esteem.
Bhatti was pained by the misuse of blasphemy law to settle personal scores.
In keeping with the vision of his leadership, he valiantly fought for fair investigations in the case of Aasia Noreen, the Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, a charge she always denied.
We pay homage to the courage of Shahbaz Bhatti.
PPP made Bhatti the first Minister for Minorities in Pakistan.
At the time he said that he was accepting the position to help the marginalized and also to send a message of hope to the hopeless.
The message of the PPP, which has been struggling for the rights of the disenfranchised for five decades.
Bhatti once said: “Jesus is the nucleus of my life, and I want to be his true follower through my actions by sharing the love of God with poor, needy and suffering people of Pakistan.”
The mission Shahbaz had undertaken was not an easy one.
The path he had chosen to tread was embedded with thorns.
He knew the dangers.
He had received death threats not once, but many times over.
But he was not deterred.
He knew the way and was not afraid to lead.
A few weeks before his assassination Bhatti told the media that threats and warnings will not force him to back down.
Ladies and Gentlemen
May I take this opportunity to say that we share the concerns over the misuse of blasphemy laws.
This is the concern of not only the Christian community but of all of us.
It is my concern too.
These laws have been used as a tool by extremists to settle personal scores.
They have been used to grab properties of Christians and other non-Muslims.
The blasphemy laws carry mandatory death penalty.
We must prevent their misuse. We will.
May I take this opportunity to say that we share the concerns over the misuse of blasphemy laws.
This is the concern of not only the Christian community but of all of us.
It is my concern too.
These laws have been used as a tool by extremists to settle personal scores.
They have been used to grab properties of Christians and other non-Muslims.
The blasphemy laws carry mandatory death penalty.
We must prevent their misuse. We will.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The PPP believes in defending the rights of all minorities.
For the first time it provided for four seats in the Senate for non Muslim Pakistanis.
Senate elections are due tomorrow.
For the first time it provided for four seats in the Senate for non Muslim Pakistanis.
Senate elections are due tomorrow.
The PPP has nominated Mr. Anwar Lal Dean, a Christian to the one reserved seat from Sindh.
In addition we have nominated Ms. Krishna Kohli, to a general seat for women.
During the last PPP government it was decided that August 11 will be observed as the “Minorities Day” every year.
It was done to imbibe the true meaning of the Quaid’s speech on August 11, 1947 before the Constituent Assembly.
In that historic speech the Quaid laid down the state policy in the following words.
“You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with business of the state”. If we want a stable and prosperous Pakistan we must revert to this foundational principle enunciated by the Quaid.
A great disservice done by dictatorship is the drift away from the path envisioned by the Quaid.
It was a great disservice to privatize Jehad.
The project “private jehad” has brought the state and society face to face with existential threat.
We must dismantle the project “private jehad”.
We must drive out from our midst the militants, extremists and religious fanatics. We will.
We will fight sectarianism, militancy and extremism.
We will fight it for peace and security.
We will fight it and restore the confidence of the people, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike.
We must drive out from our midst the militants, extremists and religious fanatics. We will.
We will fight sectarianism, militancy and extremism.
We will fight it for peace and security.
We will fight it and restore the confidence of the people, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike.
I also wish to pay tribute to those courageous individuals who have suffered for the cause of interfaith harmony.
Those who have suffered for upholding the right of the non Muslims freely to profess and practice their religion.
They are the heroes and heroines of the nation.
They are the heroes and heroines of the nation.
The bigots and extremists continue to exploit religion based laws.
They want to impose on the people their own version of religious edicts.
The PPP rejects their narrow and bigoted narrative of Islamic tenets.
We will continue to oppose and resist them.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Shahbaz Bhatti’s assassination at the hands of bigots was not just a loss of a political party; it was a loss of the nation.
May the soul of Shahbaz Bhatti rest in eternal peace.
Thank you.
Shahbaz Bhatti’s assassination at the hands of bigots was not just a loss of a political party; it was a loss of the nation.
May the soul of Shahbaz Bhatti rest in eternal peace.
Thank you.
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