Shabhaz Bhatti

Despite receiving death threats, Pakistan’s minister for minorities, a Christian, said he will not give up his battle to guarantee religious freedom for all the country’s people.

“Threats and intimidation follow one after the other.

I take them all seriously, however my life mission is to protect religious freedom, minority rights, justice and equality.

I will continue to do so without hesitation,” said Shabhaz Bhatti, the minister.

In an interview Dec. 4 with Fides, the Vatican’s missionary news agency, Bhatti said he hoped for the abolition of anti-blasphemy laws, which make insulting the Quran an offence punishable by life imprisonment or death.

Bhatti commended President Asif Ali Zardari for showing sensitivity toward minority issues and for forming a commission to reexamine the blasphemy law and possibly end it.