For the fifth time in as many days, a bomb ravaged through Pakistan killing innocent Pakistanis. Muslims killing other Muslims they considered less Muslim than themselves. This time the target was the shrine of 13th century Sufi saint Sakhi Sarwar in District Dera Ghazi Khan. This time more than 40 were killed. That number is likely to rise.

This was, once again, a target killing of a Sufi shrine. As so many times before, this time the victims of this heinous murder were devotees at a Sufi Shrine. As so many times before, this time the murder was committed by a mere child (reportedly 15-16 year old and reportedly now in custody amongst the wounded). A child who is himself a victim in so many ways. A child who grew up in displacement and got the idea instilled and cemented into his mind that the short-cut to heaven was to blow other Muslims up!

The tragedy at Sakhi Sarwar was the logical culmination of another tragedy – the indoctrination of hate. Hate kills. Hate killed again today.

Murder was committed at Sakhi Sarwar  today not merely by a boy-murderer dreaming of an easy ticket into heaven. Murder was committed at Sakhi Sarwar today by the purveyors of hate who have sanction from society – sanction given by our tacit silence. Hate kills. Yes. But so does silence. Silence killed again today.

Ms. Asiya Nasir – Christian Member National Assembly (MNA), elected on a reserved seat from NA-322 (Balochistan-III) on an MMA (Mutihada Majlis i Amal; a coalition of religious parties) ticket, interestingly with JUI(F) affiliation – made this hard-hitting and courageous speech on the floor of the Pakistan National Assembly on March 4 before leading a token walk-out of minority and other members from the Assembly on the issue of Shahbaz Bhatti’s assassination.

The speech should be listened in full, not just for its heartfelt passion and its cry of pain, but also because no matter how much you think you know about Pakistan, you are bound to learn things you did not know. Asiya Nasir speaks to us not simply as a Minority or Christian MNA, but as a Pakistani. And it is as a Pakistanis that we must respond.

The 30 year old Asiya Nasir – wife of Nasir Masih and mother of a son and two daughters – has much to say and ask that we really have no response or answers to. But we should all be grateful to her for raising her voice as a Pakistani and asking questions that we have ignored – indeed, hidden – for too long. We are better off today because these questions have been asked.

Shahbaz Bhatti – Pakistan’s Minister for Minority Affairs, son of Jacob Bhatti, defender of minority rights and tolerance in Pakistan, and the only Christian Minister in the current cabinet – was gunned down today by the enemies of Pakistan, the enemies of humanity, and enemies of all that is decent and right.

Today, once again, we have one less good Pakistani amongst us. Today, once again, all of us should be ashamed at the intolerance that we have bred and tolerated around us.

Here is a report from Dawn on the news:

Gunmen shot and killed Pakistan’s government minister for religious minorities on Wednesday, the latest attack on a high-profile Pakistani figure who had urged reforming harsh blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam.

Shahbaz Bhatti was on his way to work in Islamabad when unknown gunmen riddled his car with bullets, police officer Mohmmad Iqbal said. The minister arrived dead at Shifa Hospital and his driver was also wounded badly, hospital spokesman Asmatullah Qureshi said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, saying the minister had been “punished” for being a blasphemer.

Witnesses said the attackers scattered leaflets signed by “The Qaeda and the Taliban of Punjab” at the attack scene, which read: “This is the punishment of this cursed man.”

Taliban militants had called for Bhatti’s death because of his attempts to amend the blasphemy law.

“He was a blasphemer like Salman Taseer,” spokesman Sajjad Mohmand said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Gulam Rahim was coming from a nearby market when he saw Bhatti’s car drive out of his house. Three men standing nearby with guns suddenly began firing at the vehicle, a dark-colored Toyota.

Two of the men opened the door and tried to pull Bhatti out, Rahim said, while a third man fired his Kalashnikov rifle repeatedly into the car. The three gunmen then sped away in a white Suzuki Mehran car, said Rahim who took shelter behind a tree.

Pakistani TV channels showed Bhatti’s vehicle afterward, its windows shattered with bullet holes all over. It was not immediately clear why Bhatti, a member of the ruling Pakistani People’s Party, did not have bodyguards with him.

After Salman Taseer’s assassination, Bhatti said he was also receiving death threats, telling AFP that he was “the highest target right now”.

But he had insisted that he would work as usual.

“I’m not talking about special security arrangements. We need to stand against these forces of terrorism because they’re terrorising the country,” Bhatti said at the time.

“I cannot trust on security…. I believe that protection can come only from heaven, so these bodyguards can’t save you.”

Pakistani government leaders condemned the attack.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited the hospital and offered condolences to Bhatti’s grieving relatives.

“Such acts will not deter the government’s resolve to fight terrorism and extremism,” he said, adding that the killers would not go unpunished.

“This is concerted campaign to slaughter every liberal, progressive and humanist voice in Pakistan,” said Farahnaz Ispahani, an aide to President Asif Ali Zardari. “The time has come for the federal government and provincial governments to speak out and to take a strong stand against these murderers to save the very essence of Pakistan.”

Bhatti’s friend Robinson Asghar said the slain minister had received threats following the death of the Punjab governor. Asghar said he had asked Bhatti to leave Pakistan for a while because of the threats, but that Bhatti had refused.

Pakistan’s information minister, Firdous Ashiq Awan, said Bhatti had played a key role in promoting interfaith harmony, and he was a great asset.

“We are sad over his tragic death,” she said, adding that the government would investigate why he did not have a security escort.