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03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. However, violence is inevitable because the anger and anxiety on both sides seem to be mounting. Human Rights Report | Pakistan - Hindu American Foundation 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. 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. February 27, 2023 . On October 13, according to local media reports, Reeta Kumari, a pregnant Dalit Hindu woman, told the Sindh High Court in Sukkur that she had been abducted by a Muslim man, Rafique Domki, in Islamkot. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom, Section IV. The government has never executed anyone specifically for blasphemy. op-ed - Churn in Ladakh: Hot political winds in a cold desert There is no option to state no religion. National identity cards are required for all citizens upon reaching the age of 18. Victims said their attackers singled them out as vulnerable due to their religious minority identity. "No one knew where I was for 21 . The Shia population is around 20 per cent of the total population of Pakistan. Several historians argue that the Indian Shia elite played a. Police took him into protective custody and transferred him to a senior police officers office as the mob blocked the Indus Highway and demanded police hand over the alleged blasphemer. Most Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which is represented by the Barelvi and Deobandi traditions. The Sindh Hindu Marriage Act also applies to Sikh marriages. T he most intriguing aspect of Kashmir is the dynamic between the Shia and Sunni communities in the Valley. Shia Muslims Population - World Shia Muslims Population In July, Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam [protection of foundation of Islam bill] was passed by the Punjab assembly, which supported only the Sunni interpretation of Islam, provoking a huge backlash from the Shia community. Throughout the year, some government officials and politicians engaged in anti-Ahmadi rhetoric and attended events that Ahmadi Muslims said incited violence against members of their community. 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. Sunni groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba,. Shias live in terror as sectarian violence increases in Pakistan The Shia population in Pakistan is estimated as being 11.8% of the country's population. 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. In a letter written to the Interior Minister, the LHCBA quoted the section of the constitution stating that Ahmadis are non-Muslim. In September, unidentified gunmen killed two prominent members of the local Shia community in the Kohat District of that province. Pakistan: Rampant Killings of Shia by Extremists Minority rights activists criticized these advertisements as discriminatory and insulting. The Ministry of Interior maintained multitier schedules of religiously oriented groups it judged to be extremist or terrorist that were either banned or had their activities monitored and curtailed (Schedule 1) and individuals whose activities in the public sphere could also be curtailed, including during religious holidays such as Ashura (Schedule 4). Shia-Sunni rift on rise in Pakistan, but Imran Khan govt's - ThePrint (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics) However, according to data from the 2017 Census that was made unofficially available to a lawmaker, the Hindu population may have decreased by 0.19% from 1998. The incident was the first attack on a Hindu temple in Tharparkar in more than 30 years. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) designates religious affiliation on passports and requires religious information in national identity card and passport applications. When he and his sons returned to the house, they shot and wounded two of the Christian family members. Shia majority reduced to minority in Gilgit Baltistan: Barrister Hamid Reports continued of attacks on religious minorities holy places, cemeteries, and religious symbols. The Sindh provincial government has legislation allowing couples to seek divorce and granting Hindu women the right to remarry six months after a divorce or a spouses death. The court may suspend or increase the sentence given by a criminal court in these cases. The constant tension between Shia and Sunni has led to the creation of Shia-Specific organizations. On July 22, Saeed Amanat, a Muslim man, abducted a 15-year-old Christian girl on her way to church in Faisalabad, Punjab. It distributes the funds through a government-run charity as stipends for poor families and students, payment for medical treatment, and support to Sunni mosques and madrassahs registered with the government. The population of Pakistan in 2020 was 227,196,741, a 1.75% increase from 2019. 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. The embassy highlighted the principles of religious freedom and examples of interfaith dialogue in the United States on its social media platforms throughout the year. As a result, the maps are designed to give a general overview of where significant Shia population centers, zones of influence, and points of interest . 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 . Syed Kareem* has been in hiding for weeks. Other blasphemy cases continued without resolution. 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. The government of Punjab, the countrys largest province, passed a series of measures against Ahmadi Muslim beliefs. Phillip Smyth was a Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute from 2018-2021. Neither the National Assembly nor the Senate had acted on the 2018 judgment by years end, but Ahmadiyya community representatives said that NADRA required Ahmadis to declare in an affidavit that they are non-Muslims to obtain a national identification card, another requirement of the high court judgment. The constitution reserves seats for non-Muslim members in both the national and provincial assemblies. I fear for myself and my family. With the police on their way to interrogate him, and fearing the violent fate that extremist Sunni groups in Pakistan inflict on those accused of blasphemy, last month Kareem and his family chose to disappear. 2020, in July, 2020, Pakistani police arrested three LeJ operatives who were allegedly planning to carry out an attack in . 2. Shia-Sunni rift on rise in Pakistan, but Imran Khan govt's silence may On October 25, a Hindu temple was vandalized in Nagarparkar, Sindh, during the nine-day Navratri celebrations. Then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs government had granted the land to build the temple in 2016. These terrorist outfits have committed horrendous crimes in this mountainous region . The large-scale presence of these constitution-phobic groups is a clear and present threat to civil and constitutional rule in Pakistan, added Naqvi. 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. The NCHR was also mandated to conduct investigations of allegations of human rights abuses, but legal sources said the commission had little power to enforce its requests. The country is home to the second largest Shia population after Iran. Members of parliament and officials of the Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Law and Justice held consultations with church leaders from prominent Christian denominations and with NGO representatives, but the denominations, church leaders, and NGO representatives had not agreed on elements of the draft law pertaining to divorce and interfaith marriage by years end. 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. Danesh Kumar, the adviser on minority affairs to the Balochistan Chief Minister, said the government had decided to hand over sacred sites of religious minorities in Balochistan to promote interfaith harmony. Governor Sarwar did not sign the bill, which was promoted by the PML-Q party, noting controversy about its provisions and concerns that it could be seen as anti-Shia. The stronghold of Barelvism remains Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan. By Rafiq A. Tschannen on October 11, 2020 ( 1 Comment) Shia-Sunni rift on rise in Pakistan, but Imran Khan govt's silence may be strategic . 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. According to technology companies and religious minority activists, the definition of objectionable content in the draft law was vague and subject to government interpretation. Sunni coalition to demand arrest of Shia clerics in Pakistan 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. On July 21, the government returned a 200-year-old Sikh gurdwara to the Sikh community in Quetta. Inflammatory anti-Ahmadi rhetoric continued to exist on social media and was at times spread by senior members of mainstream political parties. Khattaks brother, who witnessed the killing, named two suspects in his criminal complaint, including a friend of Khattak a lecturer from the University of Agriculture in Peshawar with whom Khattak had had a heated religious argument on October 4. Sectarian persecution of Shia Muslims has been a long-running fracture in Pakistan, exacerbated by the proxy wars fought on Pakistan soil by Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shia-majority Iran, as well as the US war on terror. According to a 2019 report by Pakistan's National Commission for Human Rights, an independent watchdog, at least 509 Hazara have been murdered for their faith since 2013. By law, madrassahs are prohibited from teaching or encouraging sectarian or religious hatred or violence. 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. 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. Local authorities did not allow the repair or unsealing of Ahmadi mosques damaged or demolished by rioters in previous years. 3. [see also: Population country ranks ] Nationality: 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. Dr Nauman Naqvi, an associate professor at Habib University in Karachi, said: Since Pakistans economic and political outlook appears increasingly troubled, the ruling power see Sunni majoritarian populism as the only option to secure stability, undercut democratic forces and distract from the grave political and economic crises that hover over Pakistan. In April 2021, Human Rights Watch spoke to one Pakistani Shia man who spent nearly a month in UAE detention and was released and deported in late December 2020. These attacks targeted gatherings of Shia individuals. The Khan government, meanwhile, has been accused of both turning a blind eye to rising sectarianism from hardline Sunni groups, which reportedly enjoy patronage from state and military officials, and also using their support for political gain at a time when the government is weak and the economy is collapsing. Students who identify themselves as Muslims must declare in writing they believe Mohammed is the final prophet. According to the constitution, there shall be no discrimination on the basis of religion in appointing individuals to government service, provided they are otherwise qualified.