Liberal Pakistan minister assassinated

Pakistan’s federal minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was shot dead in Islamabad near his home on Wednesday, media reports in Pakistan said, but the state-run television in the Islamic South Asian nation has not immediately confirmed the news.

Reports said Bhatti was leaving his house in a car in Sector 1-8 when he was fired at by unknown assailants.

He was taken to hospital but died on way, reports said.

The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) confirmed the news, reports said.

Bhatti was known for his campaign for amending the blasphemy law in Pakistan, a move that earlier saw the killing of another prominent Pakistan politician- Punjab province governor Salman Taseer.
Taseer was killed in January by one of his bodyguards after he tried to save a woman held under blasphemy law from death penalty.

Details of the killing of Bhatti are awaited.