The constitution states the government shall make Islamic studies compulsory for all Muslim students in state-run schools. There were a series of additional violent incidents targeting Ahmadis following the Tahir Naseem killing in a Peshawar courtroom. This was part of an increase in anti-Shia activity that month nationwide that included the shooting of a prominent Shia religious leader in Punjabs Mandi Bahauddin District and the shooting of a Shia employee of the National Bank of Pakistan in Islamabad. There were multiple reports of targeted killings of Shia Muslims in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, although because religion and ethnicity were often closely related, it was difficult to categorize some incidents as being solely based on religious identity. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, Section II. The FSCs review power applies whether the cases involve Muslims or non-Muslims. The text messages stated, Sharing of blasphemy, pornography, terrorism, and other unlawful content on social media and the internet is illegal. Throughout the year, Islamic organizations with varying degrees of political affiliation held conferences and rallies to support the doctrine of Khatm-e-Nabuwat. The population density in Pakistan is 287 per Km 2 (742 people per mi 2 ). Other NGOs also said that 2020 had seen an increase in blasphemy cases. It directs the state to endeavor to secure the proper organization of Islamic tithes, religious foundations, and places of worship. Pakistan population is equivalent to 2.83% of the total world population. Phillip Smyth was a Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute from 2018-2021. Civil society groups continued to state that the blasphemy laws disproportionately affected members of religious minority communities. Editorial note: This project covers the period through 2019. . In May 2000, the Shia Muslims based in the Gilgit district of the then Northern Areas began to agitate against the recently changed curriculum of government schools in the region. Reports continued of attacks on religious minorities holy places, cemeteries, and religious symbols. Several statues were destroyed. On June 25, an antiterrorism court sentenced five al-Qaida militants to 16 years imprisonment each for terrorist financing and possession of explosives. On December 15, the Lahore High Court acquitted a second Christian man, Imran Ghafur Masih, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. In modern times, the split has fostered battles for power and resources. Then, in the 2018 election, ASWJ and TLP were allowed to run in the election, winning seats in parliament. According to the SATP, the number of sectarian attacks by armed groups continued to decrease, corresponding with an overall decline in terrorist attacks. Community leaders continued to state the government did not take adequate action to protect its poorest citizens, including religious minorities, such as Christian and Hindu Dalits, from bonded labor practices. The Religious Affairs Ministry later issued a statement saying Ahmadis would not be included on the commission, given the religious and historical sensitivity of including Ahmadis in government institutions. Karachi, the financial hub of Pakistan, has witnessed at least four big anti-Shia rallies since September 11, held by different Sunni groups. Despite these problems some international organizations have researched and reported some statistics. Also in September, a Karachi court issued an arrest warrant for Abdul Jabbar, a Muslim man who allegedly abducted, forcibly married, and converted a teenage Christian girl in Karachi in 2019. The family was in another location, however, and survived. Members of religious minority communities stated public schools gave Muslim students bonus grade points for memorizing the Quran, but there were no analogous opportunities for extra academic credit available for religious minority students. The constitution requires the President and Prime Minister to be Muslims. Government officials and politicians attended and spoke at multiple Khatm-e-Nabuwat (Finality of Prophethood) conferences held in major cities and at religious sites around the country. Leaders in other NGOs agreed the actual number of blasphemy cases was likely higher, but uneven reporting and lack of media coverage in many areas made it difficult to identify an exact number. In some schools, however, non-Muslim students may study ethics. The six, all from Karachi, were returning from a pilgrimage in Iran; they remained missing at years end. The author of the article wrote that COVID-19 had been hidden since the 1960s to be used against Muslims.. A few Protestant groups conduct missions in Pakistan. For 40-year-old Tehseen, Kashif was her whole world. The constitution states no person shall be required to take part in any religious ceremony or attend religious worship relating to a religion other than the persons own. According to regulations, the only factors affecting admission to government schools are students grades and home provinces, although students must declare their religious affiliation on application forms. It is important to remember that Shia have a high birth rate since their religion allows adultery (Mut'a). Hindu community representatives welcomed the decision to return the temple to the community after 70 years. A media report said four people, including two Shia Muslims, one Ahmadi sect member and a US citizen who renounced the Ahmadi sect, were gunned down in September 2020. Islam is the largest and the state religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Sunnis are not only dominant but also the majority sect in Pakistan. You can add more than one country or area. The constitution defines Muslim as a person who believes in the unity and oneness of Almighty Allah, in the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethood of Mohammed the last of the prophets, and does not believe in, or recognize as a prophet or religious reformer, any person who claimed or claims to be a prophet after Mohammed. It also states that a person belonging to the Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, or Parsi community, a person of the Qadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves Ahmadis), or a Bahai, and a person belonging to any of the scheduled castes is a non-Muslim.. These observers said the general refusal of lower courts to hold timely hearings or acquit those accused persisted due to fear of reprisal and vigilantism. Following the address, the Special Adviser convened an interfaith roundtable discussion at Karachi University, which included Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Parsis. Those wishing to be listed as Muslims must swear they believe Mohammed is the final prophet and must denounce the Ahmadiyya movements founder as a false prophet and his followers as non-Muslim. Ahmadiyya community members said they were surprised by this instance of a senior government official condemning anti-Ahmadi violence, but added that they do not expect it to become the new norm. The constitution prohibits discriminatory admission based on religious affiliation to any governmental educational institution. Similar to the previous year, some Sikh and Hindu places of worship reopened during the year. The government of Punjab, the countrys largest province, passed a series of measures against Ahmadi Muslim beliefs. The Sindh High Court on October 27 originally upheld the validity of the marriage, citing the marriage certificate that indicated the girl was 18 years old, and ruling that she had converted to Islam and married of her own free will. It has quasi-judicial powers and may refer cases for prosecution but does not have arrest authority. According to the CSJ, 2020 saw the highest number of blasphemy cases in a single year in the countrys history. A local jihadist group and a violent protest movement are driving renewed sectarian strife in Pakistan. Hundreds of Shia Pakistanis gathered on Saturday to bury 11 coal miners from the Hazara community killed by the armed group ISIL (ISIS), ending a week of protests that sought to highlight the. Since 2019, the NCHR has been without a mandate for a second four-year term and lacked newly appointed commissioners, making it effectively nonfunctional throughout the year. The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony is responsible for organizing participation in the Hajj and other Islamic religious pilgrimages. Some personal laws regulating marriage, divorce, and inheritance for minority communities date from prepartition British legislation. The 342-member National Assembly has 10 reserved seats for non-Muslims. According to the SATP, at least 10 persons were killed and three injured in 10 incidents of sectarian violence by extremist groups during the year. The constitution states that no person attending any educational institution shall be required to attend religious instruction or take part in any religious ceremony relating to a religion other than the persons own. Ahmadiyya Muslim community representatives continued to state that Ahmadi families were unable to register their marriages with local administrative bodies, known as union councils, since those councils considered Ahmadis to be outside the authority of the Muslim Family Law of 1961. According to Shia community estimates, There are approximate 320 Million to 350 Millions Shia's lives in the world. Ayaz also spoke at a seminar on interfaith harmony at the cultural center at the National Library of Pakistan in Islamabad. Information Minister Shibli Farazs announcement that the Cabinet had decided against including an Ahmadi Muslim representative on the new commission contributed to a wave of hate speech against Ahmadis, according to community representatives. On October 10, 1993, the then Central government had announced elected . Pakistan ranks number 5 in the list of countries (and dependencies) by population. Minority rights activists said most government employment advertisements for janitorial staff continued to list being non-Muslim as a requirement. Authorities also consult the ministry on matters such as blasphemy and Islamic education. The Special Adviser went on to meet with federal and provincial government officials and civil society leaders in Islamabad and Lahore. Department of State programs, including outreach activities such as speakers and workshops, helped to promote peacebuilding among religious and community leaders. Three U.S. government cultural centers in Sindh Province and Islamabad held events to promote religious freedom. Many have observed that outrage against Shia. Perpetrators of societal violence and abuses against religious minorities often faced no legal consequences due to a lack of follow-through by law enforcement, bribes offered by the accused, and pressure on victims to drop cases. Salman Khan, the head of the Muslim family, remained at large. When he and his sons returned to the house, they shot and wounded two of the Christian family members. At least 40 cases were registered against Shias in one month 11.0%. Religious minority community members also stated the government was inconsistent in safeguarding against societal discrimination and neglect, and that official discrimination against Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadi Muslims persisted to varying degrees, with Ahmadi Muslims experiencing the worst treatment. The five wafaqs each represent major streams of Islamic thought in the country: Barelvi, Deobandi, Shia, Ahle Hadith, and the Jamaat-i-Islami, which is considered ultraconservative. 0.5% Shia, and 0.3% Ahmadi. The attackers relationship to organized terrorist groups was often unclear. Following petitions, the court reversed its decision and declared the marriage illegal under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act and ordered the girl placed in a shelter after she refused to return to her parents. 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. According to AsiaNews, once Khan learned the family was Christian, he ordered them to leave immediately, because Christians are enemies of Islam. After harassing the family for a few days, Khan gave them a 24-hour ultimatum to leave. In July, a teenager killed U.S. citizen Tahir Naseem in a Peshawar courtroom, where Naseem was on trial for blasphemy. 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 outside Iran. On October 9, a Hindu teacher was attacked by a Muslim man with an axe on her way to her school in Mithi, Sindh. Religious community representatives estimate religious groups not identifying as Sunni, Shia, or Ahmadi Muslim constitute 3 to 5 percent of the population. In late December, the PTA publicly used this new authority for the first time to demand the removal of sacrilegious content. Some court judgments have considered the marriage of a non-Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man dissolved if she converts to Islam, although the marriage of a non-Muslim man who converts remains recognized. CLAAS helped both file an antidiscrimination petition in the Lahore High Court. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) designates religious affiliation on passports and requires religious information in national identity card and passport applications. Several historians argue that the Indian Shia elite played a. 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. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. Shiite Muslims protest in Karachi, Pakistan, against a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan, on Jan. 30, 2015. In December, using expanded authorities granted by the government in November, the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority publicly demanded the removal of sacrilegious content from the Google Play Store and Wikipedia. As of years end, the case was awaiting prosecution. 3.72; Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019; US 18 Dec. 2019), or "some 17-26 million people" ( Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019). Updated April 2020 About the Authors. Following complaints by some Sunni groups, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority temporarily suspended 24 News from broadcasting, citing Jaffars comments as hate-inciting content.. The law bans the sale of Ahmadiyya religious literature. Unfortunately, due to the history that Pakistan has had, especially with regards to security, this remains a huge problem, said Chaudhry. The Punjab Sikh Anand Karaj Marriage Act allows local government officials in that province to register marriages between a Sikh man and Sikh woman solemnized by a Sikh Anand Karaj marriage registrar. The Shia Muslim population in Pakistan is estimated to be between five and 20 per cent which is not considerable given that over 95 per cent of Pakistan's population are Muslims . Two days later, the 21-year-old student found himself the subject of a police report, accused of violating Pakistans draconian laws on blasphemy. According to a Punjab government official, Sarwar had no intention of signing the bill until there was a consensus that it would not harm religious minorities. Between 1998 and 2017, Pakistan's average population growth rate was 2.40%. By law, madrassahs are prohibited from teaching or encouraging sectarian or religious hatred or violence. The charges carry up to three years imprisonment and a fine. By one estimate, in Pakistan, the Shias are. Representatives of religious minorities said a glass ceiling continued to prevent their promotion to senior government positions, but one NGO also stated that due to insufficient higher education opportunities compared to the majority religious community, few religious minorities met the qualifications to apply for these positions. The province-level Sindh Hindu Marriage Act and the national-level Hindu Marriage Act (applying to federal territory and all other provinces) codify legal mechanisms to formally register and prove the legitimacy of Hindu marriages. Doha. The rallies came after police charged Shia cleric Taqi Jaffar with blasphemy on August 30 for criticizing two companions of Mohammed during a Karachi Muharram procession. On July 22, the Punjab Provincial Assembly passed the Protection of Foundation of Islam Bill, which prohibits the printing and publication of objectionable material in the province. 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. February 27, 2023 . Pakistan's blasphemy laws have come under hefty criticism, as. Their families believe they were taken into custody by the intelligence. On September 10, police saved a Hindu trader from a mob that accused him of committing blasphemy and called for his death in Kashmore, Sindh. In 2018 the Islamabad High Court issued a judgment requiring citizens to declare an affidavit of faith to join the armed forces, judiciary, and civil services and directed parliament to amend laws to ensure Ahmadis did not use Islamic terms or have names associated with Islam. The non-Pakhtun population of Pakistan is predominantly Barelvi. Pakistan has the third largest Shia population after India and Iran. In May, the Cabinet approved a Religious Affairs Ministry proposal establishing a National Commission for Minorities housed within the ministry. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement. Her family said she had been kidnapped and forcibly converted. Vali Nasr claims the Shia . Non-Muslims may not appear before the FSC. In February, a crowd occupied and vandalized a 100-year-old Ahmadi mosque in Punjab. 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). The population share of Hindus dropped a little from 22.06 per cent in 1911 to 20.48. Police intervened on multiple occasions to quell mob violence directed at individuals accused of blasphemy. On July 21, the government returned a 200-year-old Sikh gurdwara to the Sikh community in Quetta. Islamic and minority religious leaders endorsed the code. note: provisional results of Pakistan's 2017 national census estimate the country's total population to be 207,774,000. country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data): 5. Ahmadi representatives said the wording of the declaration students were required to sign on their applications for admission to universities continued to prevent Ahmadis from declaring themselves as Muslims. However, the vehement sectarian resurgence began in 2017 when the Pakistani government began making concessions to the extremist Sunni Muslim groups. Azerbaijan has the second highest Shia Muslim population in the world accounting for 83.6% of the total population while the sect accounts for 85% of the Muslim population in the country. Human rights activists reported numerous instances of societal violence related to allegations of blasphemy; of efforts by individuals to coerce religious minorities to convert to Islam; and of societal harassment, discrimination, and threats of violence directed at members of religious minority communities. The Shia population in Pakistan is estimated as being 11.8% of the country's population. Although a sizeable. In contrast, even the baseless and fake cases from the other side are being entertained by police, she said. In May, the Cabinet approved a proposal creating a National Commission for Minorities within the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Population of males is 106018220 and females is 101344632. (July 2020 est.) Many social media users celebrated Naseems killing. According to legal advocacy groups, some lower courts continued to conduct proceedings in an intimidating atmosphere, with members of antiblasphemy groups, such as the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), often threatening the defendants attorneys, family members, and supporters. The U.S. government estimates the total population at 234.4 million (midyear 2020 estimate). In May, Daniel Masih appealed to the court in the Sargodha District of Punjab, urging authorities to rescue his brother Bashir and his family from bonded labor under a Muslim landlord. In July, the Department of State issued a statement following the killing of Tahir Naseem expressing outrage over the killing and noting that Naseem had been lured from his home in the United States by individuals who used blasphemy laws to entrap him. According to religious minority activists, provincial governments also often failed to meet quotas for hiring religious minorities into the civil service. International and local media, as well as Christian activists, reported that young Christian women, many of them minors, were specifically targeted by Chinese human traffickers because of their poverty and vulnerability. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom, Actions of Foreign Forces and Nonstate Actors, Section III. The Punjab provincial government adopted three anti-Ahmadi measures: in May, a resolution that Ahmadis not be permitted to join the federal governments National Commission for Minorities unless they acknowledge they are not Muslims; in June, a new curriculum law that requires school textbooks to state the finality of the Prophet Mohammed; and in July, the Protection of the Foundations of Islam bill giving the provincial government authority to censor objectionable materials and inspect any publishing house or private home for banned Ahmadi literature. In August, a case was opened against three Ahmadi men after an official of a religious seminary approached police complaining that the men sacrificed an animal on Eid al-Adha. . The statement also called on the government to reform its blasphemy laws and court system and to ensure that the suspect in Naseems killing be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Students who identify themselves as Muslims must declare in writing they believe Mohammed is the final prophet. 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. On November 20 in a rural area of Punjab, a teenage boy killed Ahmadi doctor Tahir Ahmad and seriously wounded three of his family members. The group also painted slogans insulting the Ahmadiyya community. Islam is the state religion in Qatar. Hindu activists in Sindh reported discrimination against the Hindu community during COVID-19 food-relief efforts by private charities. Shia Muslims 1.1 Demographics. Members of religious minorities, particularly lower-caste Hindus, complained of forceful evictions from their homes and villages by individuals desiring their land with assistance from government officials. At least three top Twitter trends praised the killer and called him the savior and pride of Pakistan. According to technology companies and religious minority activists, the definition of objectionable content in the draft law was vague and subject to government interpretation. According to eyewitnesses, police officials in at least four police vans cordoned off the area and arrested Soomro, who initially resisted. (Goyal, 2020) There has been an even greater decline in major cities with historically large Hindu populations. According to the governments immigration website, the Ministry of Interior could grant visas to foreign missionaries invited by organizations registered in the country. . 3.72; Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019; US 18 Dec. 2019), or "some 17-26 million people" (Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019). According to Ahmadiyya community leaders, authorities continued to target and harass Ahmadi Muslims for blasphemy, violations of anti-Ahmadi laws, and other crimes. Despite her filing a complaint, police did not open a case initially. 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..
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