Pakistan’s political elite suffered yet another body-blow yesterday, with the assassination of the government’s only Christian minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, gunned down outside his home by thugs in vernacular costume.

In a sign of the retreat of the ruling party on the question of enacting more tolerant laws, Prime Minister Gilani pledged in Parliament earlier this year that the government had no intention of pursuing the reform agenda on the blasphemy laws. An alliance of conservative religious parties showed their strength in the major cities in early February, staging rallies of tens of thousands that called the government lackeys of the United States, and too reliant on a reform agenda. Alarmed by the rising tide of militant sentiments, senior American officials suggested to Mr. Zardari and Mr. Gilani that they make public speeches on the need for tolerance — “Churchillian” presentations, said one diplomat — but the leaders had cited lack of security and fear for their lives.

Mr. Bhatti had expressed nervousness about speaking out and had shunned public appearances, his aides said. One of Mr. Bhatti’s favorite sayings came from the inaugural address in 1947 of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who declared that Pakistan would not be a theocracy, and all religions would be respected. “I am receiving threats on speaking against the blasphemy law but my faith gives me strength and we will not allow the handful of extremists to fulfill their agenda,” Mr. Bhatti said shortly before his death.

The international advocacy group Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Mr. Bhatti’s killing represented the “bitter fruit of appeasement of extremist and militant groups” in the last several months. It called for an “urgent” reappraisal of the “political cowardice” that had overtaken the ruling party in the government, the Pakistan Peoples Party.

We’re reminded of Omar Ali’s epitaph-in-waiting for Pakistan’s ruling class: “They have armed, trained and encouraged their own executioners in the course of a demented scheme of trying to wrest Kashmir from India while laying the foundation for a mini-empire in central Asia.”

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 at 10:30 am.