"I am deeply saddened by the assassination of Pakistan's Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti in Islamabad and condemn in the strongest possible terms this horrific act of violence," Obama said in a statement.
Pakistan's only Christian cabinet minister Bhatti, a vocal critic of the blasphemy law, was shot dead yesterday by Taliban militants in Islamabad, just two months after Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was gunned down for opposing the harsh act.
Demanding that the guilty be brought to justice, Obama said Bhatti was "clear-eyed" about the risks of speaking out, and despite innumerable death threats, he insisted on his duty to defend equal rights and tolerance from those who preach "division, hate, and violence."
He most courageously challenged the blasphemy laws of Pakistan under which individuals have been prosecuted for speaking their minds or practicing their own faiths, Obama said.
US Secretary of State Clinton also condemned the assassination.
"I was shocked and outraged by the assassination, reportedly by al-Qaeda linked terrorists, of Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti,"
Clinton told Senators at a Congre [...]
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