Pakistani Christian official’s slaying stirs fear, discord

KHUSHPUR, Pakistan — For generations, this village in Punjab province has been a rare oasis of religious harmony. Muslims and Christians attend each other’s weddings and are buried in the same cemetery. Church bells and Islamic calls to prayer ring out from spires a few muddy streets apart. In recent years, a soccer tournament with mixed-faith teams became a regional attraction.

The man most identified with this achievement was Shabbaz Bhatti, the son of a local Catholic schoolmaster, who grew up to become a passionate advocate for minority rights and, two years ago, the first Christian member of the federal cabinet. When religious conflict flared elsewhere, Khushpur’s 5,000 residents felt shielded by Bhatti’s high-profile stature.

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But since March 3, when Bhatti was gunned down by Islamic extremists in the capital, Islamabad, a jittery gloom has permeated his village and the poison of suspicion has begun to creep into people’s thoughts. At the soccer field last week, a sign said, “Play for Peace,” but a rifleman was posted to guard the afternoon match and not one Muslim player showed up.

“Shabbaz Bhatti taught us to hold our heads high, but now we feel we are not safe,” said a Christian player in his 20s named Shehzad. Asked about relations with young Muslims, he shook his head sadly. “There is a gulf between us now,” he said. “Things seem normal, but inside they don’t accept us. This incident has made them more powerful, and we both feel it.”

Bhatti’s slaying, which came amid growing attacks on religious minorities, has also opened rifts within the Christian community over how to respond. On Jan. 6, Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, a critic of Pakistan’s harsh Islamic blasphemy laws, was gunned down by his Muslim bodyguard. Since then, there have been scattered incidents of violence, including attacks on churches in the cities of Lahore and Hyderabad.

Some church officials are asking their members to turn the other cheek. Father Anjum Nazir, the parish priest in Khushpur, frowned in worried disapproval last Sunday when someone showed him a pamphlet for a protest in Lahore. “Throwing stones and burning things will do nothing to help our cause,” he said after Mass in the red brick church built a century ago by Italian missionaries. “Christ teaches us to pray for peace and harmony.”

Christian legislators and activists close to Bhatti are eager to take to the streets and demand rights for Pakistan’s estimated 20 million Christians. Unless new leaders quickly take his place, they warn that religious minorities — including Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmadis — will retreat into fearful shells as Islamist groups grow stronger.

‘We feel like orphans’

Christians in Pakistan have not always faced persecution. For decades, foreign missionaries ran Pakistan’s best schools and colleges. Discrimination grew in the 1980s under the “Islamization” campaign of the dictator Gen. Zia ul-Haq, but religious minorities found a patron in Benazir Bhutto, the liberal leader who became prime minister twice in the 1990s.