Pakistan's religious minorities face severe marginalization in all aspects of life: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 16 (ANI): The religious minorities in Pakistan -- Shia, Ismaili, Ahmadiya and Bohri face severe marginalisation in all aspects of life -- violent attacks, social exclusion and harassment, reported International Forum for Right and Security (IFFRAS).
The government of Pakistan needs to take all-inclusive actions to defend, encourage and ensure the rights of all Pakistani citizens irrespective of their religious background, the report said, adding that the state must protect the equal rights of Pakistan's minorities in every domain of life.
This can be done through initiatives extending from constitutional, legal, political and educational reforms to affirmative initiatives in order to free from discrimination and inequality in society, reported IFFRAS.
The United States on December 2, 2022, designated Pakistan, along with China, Iran and Russia, as countries of particular concern under the Religious Freedom Act over severe violations, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Pakistan is culturally, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. Muslims constitute 96.28 per cent of the country's population, whereas Christians are 1.59 per cent and Hindus 1.60 per cent, reported IFFRAS.
Earlier, in June 2022, it was reported that the United States designated Pakistan as a 'Country of Particular Concern' in its annual International Religious Freedom Report.
In its 2000-page report, the section about Pakistan pointed to religious violence, religious discrimination and persecution, and the failure of law enforcers and judiciary to adhere to basic evidentiary standards, especially in blasphemy cases.
According to the report titled, 'Human Rights Observer 2022', by the Centre for Social Justice, at least 84 persons were accused under the sections of the Pakistan Penal Code tagged blasphemy laws. Three persons were extrajudicially killed, including the lynching of the Sri Lankan national Priyanka Kumara in Sialkot. Among the provinces, Punjab had the highest case of 68, followed by Islamabad Capital Territory at 7, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 5 and Sindh at 3.
The persecuted sections belong to the Christian, Shia, Hazara, Ahmadiya, Sikh and Hindu communities. Pakistan is infamous for oppressing and identifying the 'other' who is not a Sunni Muslim, reported IFFRAS.
The Ahmadiya community also experience violent incidents regarding the desecration of their gravestones and cemeteries, the report said, adding that in many cases, even buried bodies are forcefully exhumed by Islamist forces.
The state has often failed to defend religious minorities, particularly of the Ahmadis, and is often complicit in the destruction of their tombstones that carry the Muslim creed, it claimed.
In 2020 alone, 164 Ahmadi gravestones were defiled and 48 were documented in 2021, reported IFFRAS, adding that these statistics include cases where Ahmadis' bodies were exhumed after burial and disposed of in an unknown manner.
Moreover, the non-Muslim communities face the double brunt of forced conversion, it further claimed, adding that the number of such incidents surged in 2021 to at least 78 reported cases which should be treated as forced or questionable conversions.
2021, saw an upsurge of 80 per cent as compared to 2020 and 50 per cent as compared to 2019, it said.
According to data compiled by CSJ, the involuntary and forced conversions included 39 Hindu, 38 Christian, and one Sikh girls/women. The highest number of cases was reported in Sindh- 40, followed by 36 in Punjab, while one case each was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, reported IFFRAS.
Religious minorities in Pakistan, also suffer from the malice of land grabbing, it reported, adding that at present, there are reports of widespread abuse across the country, including land grabs with impunity and illegal seizure of property owned by Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Jews.
Further 'legalising' the brutal practice, on June 7, 2022, an amendment gave the power to sell, transfer, purchase and donate minority property from the federal government to the "ministry concerned", i.e., the Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, it reported.
People's Commission for Minority Rights (PCMR), a human rights advocacy group, criticized the ordinance for giving absolute power to an entity or a single person, expressing the fear that this change could lead to abuse of power and a loss of transparency.
According to the 2022 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, extremist and intolerant rhetoric put out on digital platforms or in public spaces by organizations or individuals, including government officials, politicians, and religious clerics, regularly go before attacks on religious minorities.
The spread of extremist Islamist ideology in Pakistan has shaped an atmosphere of cumulative bigotry, worsening prevailing partialities and inducing fear among religious minorities, reported IFFRAS. (ANI)