Police arrest suspected killer of Shahbaz Bhatti

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Islamabad: June 23, 2011. (AKI) Police in Islamabad have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the killing of former federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, who was shot dead in March, local media reports said. The police are interrogating the suspect, who was traced through his cell phone, the Express Tribune daily said on Thursday. Police on 19 June arrested the suspect, Hafiz Nazar Muhammad, who is believed to have worked with Bhatti, a Pakistani Christian, for the past 10 years. The police said they wanted to interrogate him about his accomplices. Nazar had phoned a minorities’ lawmaker from Sargohda Tahir Nazeer Chaudhry and claimed he knew Bhatti’s assassins, according to investigators. Nazar pretended to be a Christian pastor and had a personal grudge against the minister, the Express Tribune quoted unnamed police sources as saying. But no witnesses or evidence has yet been presented to prove that Nazar was involved in the killing, the sources add. Bhatti, the only Christian in the federal cabinet, was killed in Islamabad on 2 March by three unidentified gunmen. The killers, reportedly belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, left a note stating they had killed Bhatti for raising his voice against the blasphemy laws. Before his murder, Bhatti had voiced his fears that he believed he would be “the next target” following the assassination of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in early January for speaking out against the blasphemy law.

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"Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" By Nazir S Bhatti

On demand of our readers, I have decided to release E-Book version of "Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" on website of PCP which can also be viewed on website of Pakistan Christian Congress www.pakistanchristiancongress.org . You can read chapter wise by clicking tab on left handside of PDF format of E-Book.

nazirbhattipcc@aol.com , pakistanchristianpost@yahoo.com