Akash Bashir

Akash Bashir (22 June 1994 – 15 March 2015) was a Pakistani layman and a former student of the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore, Pakistan. In December 2014, he joined the security team in charge of protecting the Church of Saint John in Lahore, in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Youhanabad. On Sunday, 15 March 2015, he blocked a suicide bomber who was about to enter the church. The bomber detonated his bomb outside the church, killing both of them. In January 2022, the cause for his beatification was opened and he was named a Servant of God by Pope Francis.

Life Bashir was born in the village of Risalpur. He was the second-youngest child and had an older sister and three brothers. As an infant, he was physically malnourished and struggled to survive his first summer alive. Due to religious persecution against Christians in the area, his family moved across the country to Lahore. In 2014 he volunteered as a security guard for the Church of Saint John. Being just over 18, he was the youngest security guard at the church and had to receive special permission from the priest.

Akash Bashir's funeral began the day after he died. Archbishop of Lahore Sebastian Francis Shaw presided over his funeral Mass. Reportedly hundreds of people venerated him in the streets as a "hero."

According to Gabriel Cruz, a Salesian missionary priest in Pakistan, "immediately after his [Bashir's] death, people made a small altar in front of the church where he died, as a sign of gratitude". After his passing, there was an increase in young men signing up as security guards at Catholic churches. Additionally, the Anglicans at the neighboring church built a memorial for him; many of the Anglican families attend the same school as the Catholics. Some Muslims have also publicly paid his memorial respects.