WCC NEWS: Pakistan: WCC condemns murder of Minority Affairs official

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World Council of Churches - News

WCC CONDEMNS MURDER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS OFFICIAL IN PAKISTAN

For immediate release: 02 March 2011

In a letter to the prime minister of Pakistan, the general secretary of
the World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed “great shock and dismay”
at the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistan government minister
for Minority Affairs. Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit noted that reports indicate
that Bhatti “was assassinated by religious extremists because he was
critical of the controversial blasphemy law in Pakistan.”

Condemning the “deplorable killing”, the general secretary indicated
that “we also are concerned about the vulnerable situation in which
Pakistan’s minority communities are living.” He continued, “We urge
the government of Pakistan to take all necessary measures to provide
safety and security to the Christian minority in Pakistan, and other
minorities, and not to be deterred by the violent crimes committed by
religious extremists.”

Shahbaz Bhatti, the only member of the federal cabinet from the minority
Christian community in Pakistan, was ambushed by four gunmen on the
morning of Wednesday 2 March near his home in Islamabad. The banned
Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the hate crime soon
afterwards.

In his letter to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Tveit wrote:
“The World Council of Churches calls upon Your Excellency’s government
to swiftly undertake the investigation necessary to identify the assassins
and bring all who are responsible for this brutal murder to a court of
law.”

Full text of the letter (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=16f178180b7f8333d293 )

Statement by Bishop Samuel Azariah, presiding bishop of the Church of
Pakistan and member of the WCC Central Committee (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b85c35f891879be2db60 )

WCC member churches in Pakistan (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=35f8cc88ce0d6f5b35bc )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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