Rehman Malik,Sherry Rehman on Taliban hit list

Former minister Sherry Rehman has faced threats from militants since she called for changes in blasphemy law.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said that he along with ruling PPP leaders Sherry Rehman and Fauzia Wahab was on the top of the list of persons who could be targeted by militants and extremist elements like the Taliban.

“Today I am under threat. Number one is me,maybe next time you may not find me here,” Malik said while responding to a debate in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament on the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti.

“Sherry Rehman is at number two (and) Fauzia Wahab is at number three,” Malik said,referring to political personalities who faced threats from militant groups like the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

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“We have the intercepts,but that doesn’t mean that will scare us. It gives me more strength and we will fight till the last Taliban is eliminated because that is the survival of our country,” he said.

Earlier,Malik was criticised by members of the treasury and opposition benches for his handling of the security situation across the country.

Bhatti,the only Christian member of the federal cabinet,was gunned down by Taliban militants near his home here on Wednesday.

The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the assassination,saying Bhatti was killed for challenging the country’s controversial blasphemy law.

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Former minister Sherry Rehman,a close aide of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto,has faced threats from militants and extremists since she called for changes in the blasphemy law last year.

The PPP lawmaker has rarely been seen in public in the past few months. Rehman currently lives in the southern port city of Karachi and has not attended recent sessions of Parliament.