ASIA/PAKISTAN - Zardari meets with family of Shahbaz Bhatti: his brother Paul close to becoming Minister for Minorities

Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) – Paul Bhatti, the oldest brother of Shabhaz, the Minister for Minorities who was killed on 2 March, seems close to taking his brother's position as the new Federal Minister for Religious Minorities in Pakistan. The appointment, note sources of Fides, could be ratified in coming days. Paul Bhatti, the surgeon who lived in Italy for six years, arrived in Pakistan for the funeral of his brother, and has just been elected the new Director of the “All Pakistan Minorities Alliance” (APMA), the network founded by Shahbaz Bhatti in 2002 to defend religious minorities. Delegates from the APMA met for an emergency meeting the day after the Minister's death and elected Paul, certain that he “is the right person to continue Shahbaz' mission,” they advised Fides.
Yesterday, the family of Bhatti, (his mother, four brothers and a sister) were received by the President of Pakistan Ali Zardari, who declared: “Bhatti's sacrifice for the Country, for religious minorities, to promote interreligious harmony and tolerance will not be in vain and will be remembered for long to come.”
The President noted that, at the request of the Pakistan People’s Party – the ruling party, to which Zardari belongs, as does the Premier Gilani – Paul Bhatti, new Director of the APMA and held in esteem by the PPP, has been appointed “Special consultant” for Religious Minorities to the Government. This appointment, say our sources, means that Paul is close to being officially appointed as Minister.
In recent days Zardari expressed his personal wish to appoint a family member of Shahbaz Bhatti to the seat he left vacant. Other names of Christian candidates have also been circulating, such as Javed Michael, Khalid Gill (also from the APMA) and Jacob Daniel, all politicians close to the PPP (see Fides 7/3/2011). Paul Bhatti, fled from Pakistan in 2002 and was welcomed in Italy. He lived and studied in Treviso, becoming a doctor, specialising in emergency surgery. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 9/3/2011)