Fury at funeral of Pakistan's assassinated minister
Shahbaz Bhatti's funeral was not the usual, quiet and sombre affair.
There was plenty of sound and fury as members of Pakistan's second largest religious minority, the Christians, mourned the death of their most popular leader.
One of the few remaining voices speaking out against the country's controversial blasphemy laws, Shahbaz Bhatti was silenced when he was shot dead by four gunmen near his mother's residence in Islamabad on Wednesday.
For many in his native village, Khushpur, in the central plains of Punjab - 430km (267 miles) from Islamabad - he was much more than a rare voice.
"He was a symbol of unity not only for the Christians, but for all religious minorities in Pakistan," said his cousin, Francis Lewis.
"For the first time in Pakistan's history, he brought all minorities together to speak with one voice on common issues, and this turned out to be his greatest sin."
Unhappy endings
As we drove down a dusty road into the village, we saw several houses hoisting black flags to mourn his death.
The village of some 10,000 people is predominantly Christian, with a church, several missionary schools and one of the highest literacy rates in the Faisalabad district.
Khushpur - whose name means "the dwelling of the happy" - has had its share of celebrities and their tragic endings.
As the crowds mourned Mr Bhatti's death in front of his village residence, an old woman among them threw up her arms and started a long, loud wail.
A bystander, a local schoolteacher, told me she was the relative of a former Faisalabad Bishop, John Joseph.
Bishop Joseph shot himself in the head in 1998 when a Christian, Yaqoob Masih, was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law.
"It was the same back then. The entire village mourned when Bishop Joseph's body was brought home. But then there was hope. Now the situation is more desperate," the schoolteacher said.
Traditionally, human rights groups in Pakistan have strongly supported minority rights and though organised groups of religious fanatics have grown stronger since the 1980s, repeated excesses against members of religious minorities often attracted condemnation.
The campaign to reform the blasphemy law and to prevent its misuse dates from the 1990s. It came closest to fruition this year when the parliament sent a draft amendment bill to a committee for vetting.
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