Pakistan

Shahbaz Bhatti murder: Gill demands formation of judicial commission

Demand made at a time when Islamabad police have decided to close the case "for want of evidence".

Zahid Gishkori June 28, 2011

ISLAMABAD:

State Minister for Minorities’ Affairs Akram Masih Gill has demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate his predecessor Shahbaz Bhatti’s murder. The demand was made at a time when the Islamabad police have decided to close the case “for want of evidence”.

“I have forwarded a proposal on behalf of minority representatives in parliament to the prime minister for the constitution of a judicial commission,” Gill told The Express Tribune. Recommendations by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Minorities have also been clubbed with the proposal.

Earlier, SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan informed parliamentarians that a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) interrogated 519 suspected across four districts adjacent to the federal capital, but not a single lead has turned up. “We are about to close the case file… We are not optimistic about any further development,” he added. The JIT also questioned Mumtaz Qadri, self-confessed assassin of former governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, regarding Bhatti’s killing, as well as Tehrik-e-Islami activists, but to no avail.

Recommendations for Ministry of Non-Muslim Affairs

The committee has suggested the formation of a ministry of non-Muslim affairs as an alternative to devolution of the minorities’ affairs ministry to the provinces. “If the religious affairs ministry can function at the Centre, why is there a problem with the ministry for minorities’ affairs?” Gill questioned. “If there is any legal complication to form the ministry, the federal government should address minorities’ issues,” suggested MNA Dr Nelson Azeem.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (2)

abdul sami | 13 years ago | Reply ET, there is something wrong with your website. some Articles appearing in your latest news sections never show up on your homepage anywhere.it has happended to a lot of articles in the recent past.let's see if this article appears on your front page under any heading. also,what's up with your comments section.comments written earlier appear after 6,7 hours whereas comments written later appear first !! kindly remove the bugs in your IT related issues.

faiza anwar | 13 years ago | Reply nothing will come of any commission as non-muslims are treated as worse than animals in the land of the pure.our attitude is that we have already made it 97% muslim, only 3% more to go. we don't accept nonmuslims as part of our society but have an attitude of ' tolerating their presence' instead of 'accepting them as equal citizens of pakistan' . bhatti was murdered because he dared to speak against a sadistic law made by an islamic fascist who wanted to take our country back to the dark ages.he may be dead now ,but the poisonous bigoted hatefilled laws and ordinances which he left behind continue to destroy the lives of the people of pakistan.We need to roll back zia's islamisation programme which has given us nothing but jihadi fasaadis. our govt. needs to start a de-islamization programme to bring this society back to one of tolerance and acceptance. our depraved fixation with proving 'my prophet is better than your prophet' has brought us bloodshed and destruction and nothing else.

Replying to X