Paul Bhatti


Dr. Paul Jacob Bhatti is a Pakistani politician. He is the former federal Minister incharge of National Harmony and Minorities Affairs.
He served as Minister under the government of President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari.

Biography

Early life

He received an MBBS from the University of Padua in Italy. He also attended the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium. He received an FRCS from the University of Padua, and a Masters in Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery from the same university in 2006.

Medical career

He worked as surgeon in various hospitals of Italy, Pakistan, Belgium, United Kingdom and France until 2011.

Politics

Dr. Paul Bhatti worked closely with his late younger brother Shahbaz Bhatti to uplift the marginalised and oppressed sectors of his country. He is committed to promote religious freedom, human equality and social justice. He was the main advisor and financial supporter to Shahbaz Bhatti with his fight against all types of injustices in Pakistan.
After the assassination of his brother Shahbaz Dr. Bhatti was elected Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, a movement founded by his late brother Shahbaz Bhatti. He established a welfare organisation Shahbaz Bhatti Memorial Trust to continue the vision and the mission of his late brother Shahbaz who he was assassinated on 2 March 2011. The SBMT was officially inaugurated by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, on 11 August 2011 at Awar e Sadar in Islamabad.
During his position of Minister he has visited several religious institutions, for example churches, mosques, temples, gurdwaras, etc., to motivate religious scholars to promote interfaith harmony. It was particularly during his visit, on April 2012, to the Holy Redeemer Cathedral of Multan that the Minister for National Harmony, Dr. Paul Bhatti, lauded the Cathedral as a symbol of interfaith, peace and friendship among many people. He voiced a strong message of religious harmony in area were religious intolerances are very frequent.
He was involved in protection of Rimsha Masih blasphemy case, a girl who was falsely accused of blasphemy by an imam named Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti,, who later was detained himself on 1 September 2012, for desecrating the Quran himself and tampering with evidence.
Dr. Bhatti's main focus is on political, social and economical stability in his own country thus bringing about a peaceful society, where people from diverse faiths can live together without fear. To achieve these objectives, he is working on the following:
Within these areas of focus, Dr. Bhatti affected the following:
Dr Paul Bhatti continues his struggle as Chairman of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance and Shahbaz Bhatti Memorial Trust. Further, he requests that the international community may support his struggle to bring peace in Pakistan specifically in establishing a justice and advocacy network and to uplift marginalised sectors of society through inter-religious dialogue and relationship, education and economic empowerment.
On 22 October 2013 Dr. Paul Bhatti with Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Greg Giokas inaugurated a new solar-powered irrigation plant-irrigation in the village of Khushpur in Punjab.
On 2 July 2014 Dr. Bhatti participated as keynote speaker at the event organised on the occasion of The United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and To mark the beginning of the Italian Presidency of the European Union.