Awwal 28, 1432 H/March 3, 2011, SPA -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday he was saddened by the assassination of a Pakistani cabinet minister, who was shot outside his mother's home in Islamabad earlier in the day. Attackers from al Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban movement in Punjab province claimed responsibility, calling the victim, Shahbaz Bhatti, an "infidel Christian." Bhatti, a human-rights campaigner who opposed a strict Islamic blasphemy law in Pakistan, was aware of threats against his life. Obama, in a statement released by the White House, said he "fought for and sacrificed his life for the universal values that Pakistanis, Americans, and people around the world hold dear," including rights to free speech and religious freedom. Obama said the perpetrators of the attacks should be brought to justice, and people who share Bhatti's vision of tolerance and religious freedom should live free of fear.
