Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom, Section IV. On December 24, the PTA issued a legal notice to two Ahmadi U.S. citizens requiring them to remove their website, trueislam.com, or face fines, sanctions, or potential prison sentences. According to government figures, the remaining 4 percent includes Ahmadi Muslims (whom national law does not recognize as Muslim); Hindus; Christians, including Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants, among others; Parsis/Zoroastrians; Bahais; Sikhs; Buddhists; Kalash; and Kihals and Jains. On December 2, the Secretary of State redesignated Pakistan as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, for having engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom, and announced a waiver of the sanctions that accompany designation as required in the important national interests of the United States. Civil society and legal sources said judges were generally hesitant to decide blasphemy cases due to fear of violent retribution. Pakistan's current population is estimated at approximately 185 million, of whom approximately 95 percent are Muslim. Groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and other governments, such as ISIS, also committed violent acts. The penal code does not explicitly criminalize apostasy, but renouncing Islam is widely considered by clerics to be a form of blasphemy, which can carry the death penalty. The womans family said she was pregnant at the time of her suicide and that police initially refused to file charges against the man because of his caste. The Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training held consultations with minority faith representatives during the year in a review of textbooks for derogatory material. The six, all from Karachi, were returning from a pilgrimage in Iran; they remained missing at years end. A complainant filed a criminal charge against them on May 3, triggering the police investigation. In August and September, increased security was provided throughout the country for the Shia communitys Muharram processions. Hindu community representatives welcomed the decision to return the temple to the community after 70 years. Three U.S. government cultural centers in Sindh Province and Islamabad held events to promote religious freedom. Both passed the recruitment test and had successful interviews but were denied appointment by the assistant manager. The Shia population is spread all over Pakistan. Civil society activists and media reported young Christian and Hindu women being abducted and raped by Muslim men. Department of State programs, including outreach activities such as speakers and workshops, helped to promote peacebuilding among religious and community leaders. The proposal named a prominent Hindu business owner and ruling PTI party leader as the commissions chair, along with other Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, and Kalash members. As one senior security official speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged: We cant ignore the role of regional and international powers in sectarianism in Pakistan Iran supports the Shia militia here.. Ahmadiyya community representatives reported the word Ahmadi was written on their passports if they identified themselves as such. According to the governments immigration website, the Ministry of Interior could grant visas to foreign missionaries invited by organizations registered in the country. Shia Muslims constitute 10 to 12 percent of the citizen population and an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the Eastern Province's population. The ministrys budget covers assistance to indigent minorities, repair of minority places of worship, establishment of minority-run small development projects, celebration of minority religious festivals, and provision of scholarships for religious minority students. There were a series of additional violent incidents targeting Ahmadis following the Tahir Naseem killing in a Peshawar courtroom. In a recent study conducted by the Law and Society Alliance, a New Delhi-based think tank headed by N.C. Bipindra, the population of G-B is now approximately 1.5 million, with around 39 per cent Shia, 27 per cent Sunni, 18 per cent Ismaili and 16 per cent Nurbakhshi. The Shias live in a state of relief and caution: relief at Article 370 being lifted, and caution that things won't get any better for them. According to the 2017 census results, the population is 1.6 percent Hindu, 1.6 percent Christian, 0.2 percent Ahmadi Muslim, and 0.3 percent others, to include Bahais, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians. Government officials condemned the incident, suspended more than 100 police officials for failure to stop the mob, and ordered the temple rebuilt. At years end, he was still being held at Camp Jail, Lahore, and had not been charged. The constitution establishes a Council of Islamic Ideology to make recommendations, at the request of the parliament and provincial assemblies, as to the ways and means of enabling and encouraging Muslims to order their lives in accordance with the principles of Islam. The constitution further empowers the council to advise the legislative and executive branches when they choose to refer a question to the council as to whether a proposed law is or is not repugnant to the injunctions of Islam.. Pakistan 2020 population is estimated at 220,892,340 people at mid year according to UN data. Representatives of the Bahai community said this policy particularly affected them because the Bahai World Center the spiritual and administrative center of the community was in Haifa, Israel. The four men were charged with defacing antiquities. Although the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act covers registration of Sikh marriages in that province, members of the Sikh community reportedly continued to seek a separate Sikh law so as not to be considered as Hindus for the purposes of the law. Shias in Pakistan are geographically spread across the. (July 2020 est.) On November 9, also in Peshawar, unknown gunmen killed an 82-year-old retired government worker who was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community while he was waiting for a bus. Unofficial estimates vary widely with regard to the size of minority religious groups. On July 13, hundreds of members of the Bheel community, including women and children, marched and demonstrated against the demolition of their homes by revenue officials whom they said were in collusion with an influential landlord of the area in Mithi, Sindh. Over the past month, Pakistan has seen an unprecedented rise in attacks and arrests of its Shia population, who make up between 15% and 20% of the Sunni-majority country, the largest Shia community outside Iran. In late December, the PTA publicly used this new authority for the first time to demand the removal of sacrilegious content. The directorate would be empowered to inspect printing presses, bookstores, and publishing houses and confiscate books before or after they are printed if they are judged to contain objectionable content. The girl remained in a government shelter for several months before returning to her parents. February 27, 2023 . Representatives of the Kalash, an indigenous group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, continued to report their youth were under pressure from Muslim schoolteachers and others to convert from their traditional beliefs. It stated that more than 40 cases against religious minorities were registered under the blasphemy laws in August alone. by Senge Sering in Baltimore Post Examiner, Feb 27, 2023 The writer is the President of Gilgit Baltistan Institute in Washington D.C. After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. We call upon authorities to ensure the safety of all Pakistanis.. According to the NGOs Center for Legal Aid, Assistance, and Settlement (CLAAS) and the Pakistan Center for Law and Justice, there were also reports of religious minority women being physically attacked by men. According to an unofficial and unverified estimate, between 700 and 5,000 Pakistan Shias from Karachi, Parachinar, and Gilgit-Baltistan, recruited by Iran, went to Syria to fight against the. According to civil society and media, armed sectarian groups connected to organizations banned by the government, including the LeJ, TTP, and the once-banned anti-Shia group SSP, continued to be responsible for violence and other abuses against religious minorities. Instances of torture and mistreatment by some police personnel were part of broader human rights concerns about police abuses against citizens of all faiths reported by local and international human rights organizations; some police agencies took steps to curb abuses by incorporating human rights curricula in training programs. 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom: Pakistan, An official website of the United States Government. According to Pew Research Center, adherents of Shiite Islam in Pakistan make up between 15-20% of the country's total population. In December 2019, the parliament passed and Modi signed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which allows for the fast-tracking of citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian. The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and requires all provisions of the law to be consistent with Islam. Sunni Muslims who want to distribute zakat themselves may request an exemption, and Shia Muslims are exempted by filling out a declaration of faith form. Several minority rights advocacy groups dispute the provisional results of the 2017 census and state the numbers underrepresent their true population and their political influence, because minority seats in the national and provincial parliaments are allocated based on census figures. According to Ahmadiyya leaders, the government effectively disenfranchised their community by requiring voters to swear an oath affirming the finality of the Prophethood of Mohammed, something that they stated was against Ahmadi belief, in order to register as Muslims. The division between Sunni and Shi'a is nearly as old as Islam itself, having stemmed from a disagreement in AD 632 about who should succeed . In a statement, the Pakistan Hindu Council condemned the killing as well as two other July incidents of violence towards Hindu citizens in the district. Pakistan: Shia Muslims . In 2020, the provincial government began to implement the act, and NADRA began registering Hindu marriages in Sindh, according to Hindu community activists. The NCHR is also mandated to monitor the governments implementation of human rights and review and propose legislation. Some activists reported receiving death threats because of their work. Ahmadi community leaders said they saw the requirement to designate Mohammed as last of the prophets as directly targeting them. Sunnis represent approximately 75 percent of this population and Shias 20 . Shias in Pakistan reputedly account for about 20 percent of the population or 42 million out of the population of 210 million making it the second largest Shia population in the world . Updated April 2020 About the Authors. In court proceedings, the girl retracted her video statement and said she wanted to return to her parents. Members of religious minority communities said there continued to be an inconsistent application of laws safeguarding minority rights and enforcement of protections of religious minorities at both the federal and provincial levels by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Human Rights. Phillip Smyth was a Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute from 2018-2021. If represented by a Muslim lawyer, however, non-Muslims may consult the FSC in other matters, such as questions of sharia or Islamic practice that affect them or violate their rights. For 40-year-old Tehseen, Kashif was her whole world. Edit: August and September of 2020 has seen a renewed attack on Shia Muslims within Pakistan. The PTA cited public complaints against an unauthentic version of the Quran uploaded by the Ahmadiyya community on the Google Play Store and information that portrayed Mirza Masroor Ahmad as a Muslim on Wikipedia, which the PTA characterized as misleading, wrong, deceptive, and deceitful. The PTA successfully removed the same Quran application from the Apple Store in July. On January 21, the center in Khairpur hosted a Religious Freedom Day event at which 25 students discussed the importance of being able to practice religion freely in Pakistan. Shias account for 15-20% of the Muslim population in Pakistan. Doha. Shias are around 20% of the world muslim population. The constitution requires the President and Prime Minister to be Muslims. At the same time, NGOs reported that sometimes lower-ranking police would file charges of blasphemy, rather than a senior police superintendent who had more authority to dismiss baseless claims, or that police would not carry out a thorough investigation. Religious community representatives estimate religious groups not identifying as Sunni, Shia, or Ahmadi Muslim constitute 3 to 5 percent of the population. Speakers at these rallies warned Shia of dire consequences, including beheadings, if they continued to blaspheme against the Prophet Mohammeds companions. In May, after the government announced that Ahmadis would be excluded from the National Commission for Minorities, Religious Affairs Minister Qadri said on a popular television show, Anyone supporting Ahmadis is not a Muslim. Ahmadiyya Muslim community representatives stated that the Urdu-language press frequently printed hate speech in news stories and editorials, some of which could be considered as inciting anti-Ahmadi violence. The government may use the antiterrorism courts, established as a parallel legal structure under the 1997 Antiterrorism Act, to try cases involving violent crimes, terrorist activities, and acts or speech deemed by the government to foment religious hatred, including blasphemy. No casualties were reported. Following the killing of U.S. citizen Tahir Naseem in July, JUI-F leader Mufti Kifayatullah celebrated the accused killer for his act of justice. Some political figures, including the ruling PTI Partys Sindh provincial president Haleem Adil Sheikh, who is also a member of the Sindh Provincial Assembly, changed their social media profile pictures to that of Naseems killer. Jaffar made his remarks in Arabic, which were then aired on a popular Karachi news station, 24 News HD. Armed sectarian groups, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the once-banned anti-Shia group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which is connected to other organizations banned by the government as extremist, and groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and other governments, continued to stage attacks targeting Shia Muslims, including the predominantly Shia Hazara community. Pakistan 10 - 15 10 - 15 Palau -- --Palestinian territories <1 <1 Panama <1 <1 Papua New Guinea <1 <1 Paraguay -- --Peru <1 <1 . By law, decisions of the FSC may be appealed to the Supreme Courts Shariat Appellate Bench. The constitution states, Subject to law, public order, and morality, every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice, and propagate his religion. It also states, A person of the Qadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves Ahmadis) is a non-Muslim. The courts continued to enforce blasphemy laws, punishment for which ranges up to the death penalty. Azerbaijan - 65-75% . . The Shia population in Pakistan is estimated as being 11.8% of the country's population. Human rights and religious freedom activists and members of minority religious groups continued to report that they exercised caution and, occasionally, self-censorship when speaking in favor of religious tolerance because of a societal climate of intolerance and fear. A June 2020 online survey by the Netherlands-based Gamaan Group found 37% of Iranians identifying as Muslims of which 32% are Shia Islam, 5% Sunni Islam and 3% Shia . The government continued to prohibit citizens, regardless of religious affiliation, from traveling to Israel. Some community representatives said Christians continued to face difficulties in registering marriages with Islamabad union councils because the councils claimed they had no authority to deal with unions recorded by Christian marriage registrars (usually church authorities). A local jihadist group and a violent protest movement are driving renewed sectarian strife in Pakistan. Though Kareem had meant it as a post of religious devotion, it caught the attention of an extremist Sunni Muslim group, who called him a traitor to Muslims. Members of this religious group have suffered persecution specifically from Mughal Emperors. The 342-member National Assembly has 10 reserved seats for non-Muslims. The government has never executed anyone specifically for blasphemy. According to the Center for Social Justice, a national nongovernmental organization (NGO), at least 199 individuals were accused of blasphemy offenses, a significant increase over 2019 and the highest number of blasphemy cases in a single year in the countrys history. Community leaders continued to report that the government hindered Ahmadis from obtaining legal documents and pressured community members to deny their beliefs by requiring individuals wishing to be listed as Muslim on identity cards and passports to swear Mohammed was the final prophet of Islam and the Ahmadiyya movements founder was a false prophet. AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Roman Catholic Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, reported that two members of a Christian family were shot and wounded after buying a house in a neighborhood inhabited primarily by Muslims on June 4 in the Sawati Phatak Colony of Peshawar. In all these cases, judges repeatedly delayed hearings, adjourned hearings without hearing arguments, or sent appeals to other judicial benches. The protesters said that when they opposed the illegal evictions of villagers, they were charged in fake cases by revenue officials. Speaker of the Punjab Provincial Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) party leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi made numerous statements denouncing Ahmadis and any effort to undermine the status of Mohammed as Islams final prophet. Civil society groups continued to state that the blasphemy laws disproportionately affected members of religious minority communities. 2.4.1 The Shia Muslim population is estimated to be between 20 and 40 million (in . The group also painted slogans insulting the Ahmadiyya community. Sunni coalition to demand arrest of Shia clerics in Pakistan. The 16-year-old suspect was being tried as a juvenile; the two coconspirators were a prayer leader and a young lawyer involved in the blasphemy complaint against Naseem. According to 1961 Census -- the first in the state after Partition, Muslims constituted 68.3 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir's population. The girls family said they feared she had been forced to convert and marry a Muslim. Sunnis are generally believed to be 80-85 percent of the Muslim population, and Shia Muslims, including Hazara, Ismaili, and Bohra (a branch of Ismaili), are generally believed to make up 15-20 percent.
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