A devout Catholic, he spoke on behalf of all religious communities facing persecution

OTTAWA (CCN)



It’s been five years since the March 2, 2011, assassination of Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, but his fight for religious freedom continues in Canada and abroad.

Former cabinet minister Jason Kenney, said he, along with Catholic legislators around the world, have written to the Holy See in support of his beatification. The assassinated minister remains the inspiration for the Office of Religious Freedom.

“I admire him a great deal,” said Religious Freedom Ambassador Andrew Bennett. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for his witness.”

Ambassador Bennett said he is still not certain about the fate of his office (his contract has been extended to the end of March, when funding for the office ends) but he said he has spoken to Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion who assures him of the government’s commitment to religious freedom, in connection with other human rights such as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.

Shahbaz Bhatti also encouraged the formation International Christian Voice (ICV) founded by his Toronto-based brother Peter Bhatti 16 years ago. This group which sees itself as the “voice of the voiceless” has worked closely with the Office of Religious Freedom since its inception, and with then-Immigration Minister Kenney. ICV continues to raise awareness of the plight of religious minorities in Pakistan, especially among the Pakistani diaspora in Canada.

Bennett said that while Shabaz Bhatti was a devout Catholic, he spoke on behalf of all religious communities facing persecution, whether Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Shia Muslim, who ran afoul of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

“In his assassination he paid the ultimate price for religious freedom,” he said. He also paid a price for the truth of “human dignity” and the importance of the “freedom all human beings must have to practice their faith.”

The Ambassador said he finds Shabaz Bhatti a source of inspiration, especially on the days when the challenges of religious freedom seem overwhelming.

Kenney said he met Shahbaz Bhatti while on a visit to Pakistan in 2009.

“I immediately realized that he was a remarkable man, filled with courage and a profound Christian faith,” Kenney said in an email. “He described for me the plight of all of the persecuted minority communities of Pakistan, and his efforts, as the first non-Muslim Pakistani Cabinet Minister, to defend the afflicted.”

“In December, 2010 Shahbaz called me to say that he was afraid for his life,” Kenney said. “His friend and ally, the Governor of Punjab State Salman Taseer, had been assassinated for speaking in defense Asia Bibi, a poor Christian girl facing possible execution based on trumped-up blasphemy charges.”

Kenney said death threats continued, becoming “more frequent and intense.” Bhatti asked him to help spread the word about persecution in Pakistan in Canada and elsewhere.

“I helped him with his subsequent tour in February, 2011, during which he had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, met senior officials in Washington, DC, and spent several days in Canada,” Kenney said.

When in Ottawa, Kenney introduced him to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and privately told him the Pakistani minister could soon be assassinated.

“Before he left Ottawa to return to Pakistan, I encouraged Shahbaz to stay until the situation their de-escalated,” Kenney said. “He refused to do so, telling me that ‘I know the way of the Cross, and I am called to follow it. If I do not go back, who will defend the defenceless, who will be a voice for the voiceless.'”

“We paid a tearful goodbye to one another,” he said. “I had at the time the sense of a man preparing to embrace martyrdom.”

“Two weeks later I received an email from him in which he restated his determination to be ‘a sacrifice for the suffering humanity,'” Kenney said. Only hours later, he was assassinated.

“I had the privilege of attending Shahbaz’s funeral Islamabad, and we later helped to provide refuge to his family,” he said. “Having known and worked with Shahbaz remains one of the great honours of my life. I have joined other Catholic legislators in writing to the Holy See to endorse a cause for his beatification.”

“His presence in Ottawa, followed shortly by his assassination, helped to solidify the Harper government’s focus on religious freedom, and led the way to the creation of Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom, one of the many good fruits of his life and witness,” he said.

Ambassador Bennett said he has a framed portrait of Shahbaz Bhatti in his office, given him by his brother Peter. Bennett said Shahbaz Bhatti provides him with inspiration on the days when he finds the challenges of fighting for religious freedom overwhelming.

“International Christian Voice and Peter Bhatti have been a partner of the Office since the beginning,” said Bennett. He said Bhatti and other representatives of International Christian Voice and other groups representing South Asian and Pakistani groups “do wonderful work, advocating for religious freedom and keep the memory of Shahbaz alive.”

Peter Bhatti said his brother Shahbaz suggested he found International Christian Voice 16 years ago, years before his brother entered politics. About 1000 people in the Greater Toronto Area support the organization which marked the 5th anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti’s martyrdom March 5, at a dinner at the Canadian Coptic Centre in Mississauga.

Bennett said he also developed a good relationship with Dr. Paul Bhatti, who succeeded Shahbaz as an advisor to the Pakistani government on religious minorities. After Shahbaz’ assassination, Paul Bhatti, a surgeon, took over as head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, a group his younger brother had founded.

In Canada, International Christian Voice has punched well above its weight in raising awareness of the plight of persecuted Christians in Pakistan. Last fall, Peter Bhatti and other from the organization paid a 10-day visit to about 4,000 Pakistani Christians who had fled death threats in their home country and were trying to survive in Thailand. Bhatti said this group faces immigration problems there and has no money for rent, food or medical treatment.

His group and his brother Shahbaz, with the help of then- Immigration Minister Kenney and One Free World International, another religious freedom group run by Majed El-Shafie, were able to bring the family of a three year old Christian girl who was raped by Islamic extremists.

International Christian Voice and Kenney also helped get the family of Rimsha Masih to Canada in 2013. Masih, who is developmentally disabled, had been accused of burning a Koran.

The group’s website internationalchristianvoice.ca continues to raise awareness of various minorities facing persecution in Pakistan, among them a boutique worker who has been kidnapped by Muslim owners trying to convert her.

Support for Shahbaz Bhatti crosses party lines.

“It was a national tragedy for the people of Pakistan and all faith communities around the world that cabinet minister Shahbaz Bhatti was killed in Islamabad five years ago,” said Former Liberal cabinet minister and human rights advocate David Kilgour in an email. “An attack on one spiritual community or a member of one soon becomes an attack on others in many countries; Pakistan is probably no exception to this rule. Countries where all faiths can be practised freely, as required by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are better places to live for all.”

Kilgour also praised International Christian Voice for its “good work around the world.”

“One expert estimated the other day that about 80 per cent of those persecuted for their faith around the world today are Christians,” Kilgour said.