On 2nd March 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, then Federal Minister for Minority affairs had been shot dead by armed militants in Islamabad. Shahbaz was shot dead at the I-8/3 area of Islamabad by three armed assailants who could not be unidentified. Reports had claimed that outlawed and banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to details provided by police, Bhatti had been receiving death threats from clerics and had requested more security from the government, after which the Interior Ministry had provided him with four security guards. Bhatti had been dead on arrival at Islamabad’s Shifa hospital.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had also been saddened by Bhatti’s death and Secretary of State of the United States of America Hillary Clinton had also voiced her sadness over Bhatti’s demise.
“I was shocked and outraged by the assassination,” had been said by Hillary Clinton.
