NCJP report highlights violence and abuses against Pakistan’s minorities
The commission’s Human Rights Monitor 2011 not only describes human rights violations but also offers proposals to improve society and help the country. The study includes emblematic cases of persecution and data on blasphemy murders and indictments against non-Muslims. In 2010, 40 people were charged for blasphemy; 37 were murdered.
Lahore (AsiaNews) – The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Bishops’ conference of Pakistan has released Human Rights Monitor 2011, an annual report on religious minorities in Pakistan that describes in detail the violence they had to endure last year and in the first part of this year. In addition to proving an exhaustive overview of the situation, it also provides proposals to guarantee all Pakistanis more rights and freedom.
In the preface, NCJP’s executive secretary, Peter Jacob, remembers a talk he had with activist and journalist Aziz Siddiqui before the first edition was released in 1997. The “NCJP kept doing this report all these years with limited means and skills,” Jacob writes, yet the “journey to improve human conditions and reclaim human dignity must continue with zeal and with all possible means.”
The 2011 report contains stories, comments, complains about discrimination. It highlights the various forms they take: forced seizures of land, attacks against churches and other places of worship, violations of religious freedom, forced conversions, racist verbal abuse and discrimination, anti-minority laws, crimes against women, abuses by law enforcement agencies and political groups, and last but not least, the country’s blasphemy legislation and its effects on Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Specific cases are described to illustrate the deadly violence of the ‘black law’. The cases of Robert Fanish Masih, a Christian man accused of blasphemy who died in prison, (see Fareed Khan, “Punjab: young Christian man accused of blasphemy killed in prison,” in AsiaNews, 18 July 2009) and that of Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother of five sentenced to death on the same charges (see Jibran Khan, “Christians, Muslims, NGOs mobilise for Asia Bibi, against “obscene” blasphemy law,” in AsiaNews, 15 November 2010) are updated.
The report also looks at the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer (Jibran Khan, “Punjab governor assassinated, he had called for Asia Bibi’s pardon,” in AsiaNews, 4 January 2011) and the death of two Christian brothers, charged with blasphemy and killed in front of a courthouse (see Fareed Khan, “On trial for blasphemy, two Christian brothers murdered in Faisalabad,” in AsiaNews, 19 July 2010)
Christians as well as members of other religious minorities like Hindus and Sikhs are victims of abuses, harassment as well as psychological and physical violence. Ahmadis, who are deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims because they do not consider Muhammad as the last prophet, fare even worse.
Women are attacked in the sanctity of their home or in their place of work. Some are abducted and forced into prostitution; others are forced to marry Muslim men and convert to islam.
The study notes that last year at least 40 people were charged under the blasphemy law, including 15 Christians, 10 Muslims and 6 Ahmadis.
About 37 people were killed with the law as their justification, including 18 Christians and 16 Muslims.
Between 1986, when the law came into effect, and 2010, 1,081 people were charged under it, including 138 Christians, 468 Muslims and 454 Ahmadis.
Last year, 32 Christians were forcibly converted to Islam out of 43 cases. (DS)
In the preface, NCJP’s executive secretary, Peter Jacob, remembers a talk he had with activist and journalist Aziz Siddiqui before the first edition was released in 1997. The “NCJP kept doing this report all these years with limited means and skills,” Jacob writes, yet the “journey to improve human conditions and reclaim human dignity must continue with zeal and with all possible means.”
The 2011 report contains stories, comments, complains about discrimination. It highlights the various forms they take: forced seizures of land, attacks against churches and other places of worship, violations of religious freedom, forced conversions, racist verbal abuse and discrimination, anti-minority laws, crimes against women, abuses by law enforcement agencies and political groups, and last but not least, the country’s blasphemy legislation and its effects on Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Specific cases are described to illustrate the deadly violence of the ‘black law’. The cases of Robert Fanish Masih, a Christian man accused of blasphemy who died in prison, (see Fareed Khan, “Punjab: young Christian man accused of blasphemy killed in prison,” in AsiaNews, 18 July 2009) and that of Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother of five sentenced to death on the same charges (see Jibran Khan, “Christians, Muslims, NGOs mobilise for Asia Bibi, against “obscene” blasphemy law,” in AsiaNews, 15 November 2010) are updated.
The report also looks at the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer (Jibran Khan, “Punjab governor assassinated, he had called for Asia Bibi’s pardon,” in AsiaNews, 4 January 2011) and the death of two Christian brothers, charged with blasphemy and killed in front of a courthouse (see Fareed Khan, “On trial for blasphemy, two Christian brothers murdered in Faisalabad,” in AsiaNews, 19 July 2010)
Christians as well as members of other religious minorities like Hindus and Sikhs are victims of abuses, harassment as well as psychological and physical violence. Ahmadis, who are deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims because they do not consider Muhammad as the last prophet, fare even worse.
Women are attacked in the sanctity of their home or in their place of work. Some are abducted and forced into prostitution; others are forced to marry Muslim men and convert to islam.
The study notes that last year at least 40 people were charged under the blasphemy law, including 15 Christians, 10 Muslims and 6 Ahmadis.
About 37 people were killed with the law as their justification, including 18 Christians and 16 Muslims.
Between 1986, when the law came into effect, and 2010, 1,081 people were charged under it, including 138 Christians, 468 Muslims and 454 Ahmadis.
Last year, 32 Christians were forcibly converted to Islam out of 43 cases. (DS)
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See also
Pakistani Church against being called a ‘minority’
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