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| Population | 175 million |
|---|---|
| Religions | Muslim 95% Christian 1.5% Hindu 1.5% Other 2% |
| Christian Population | 2.5 million |
Christians and the Struggle for Religious Freedom
A vital booklet about religious freedom to inform, inspire and challenge you. Includes an explanation of what religious freedom means and examples of the challenges Christians face in our Persecuted and Forgotten? 2012 update.
Get the book or download your copyLatest news from Pakistan
- PAKISTAN & EGYPT: Suffering of Christian women exposed
- INTERNATIONAL: Aid to the Church in Need's call to defend religious freedom
- PAKISTAN: UK Christians remember Shahbaz Bhatti with peace concert
- PAKISTAN: Scotland's Cardinal O'Brien calls for Shahbaz Bhatti to be made a saint
- UNITED KINGDOM: Cardinal's tribute to Pakistan's "truly remarkable hero"
Pakistan - Country profile
The assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minorities on 2 March 2011 drew international attention to a growing crisis facing minorities in a country lurching towards extremism.
Mr Bhatti's rise to Cabinet status from lowly beginnings as a Catholic in a small village had given new hope both to his co-religionists and to Sikhs, Hindus and others who together represent barely five percent of the population. Shia Muslims and moderate Sunnis suffering discrimination also had reason to be grateful to him. By the time of his death, he had become an outspoken critic of human rights violations in his country – especially concerning religious freedom.
Mr Bhatti's death was a double-blow coming so soon after the murder of Salman Taseer, Governor of the Punjab. Both men's struggle for greater tolerance had centred on the case of Asia Bibi who in November 2010 became the first woman in Pakistan to receive the death penalty for blasphemy. The conviction of the 45-year-old mother of five rested on verbal insults she is alleged to have made against the prophet Mohammed.
Dishonouring the prophet punishable by death
Under 295B and 295C of the Penal Code, known as the blasphemy laws, dishonouring the prophet is a crime punishable by death, and disrespect to the Qur'an (for example tearing a page containing Quranic verses) receives a sentence of life imprisonment. Rarely had blasphemy law allegations ended up in convictions and the case against Bibi – apparently far from strong – seemed to show that extremism was now becoming institutionalised at the heart of law and government. Mr Bhatti, in particular, was seeking to combat a growing culture of intolerance towards religious minorities.
Church attacks, faithful killed, property confiscated
The last twelve months have seen reports of violations against religious minorities – churches attacked, Christians and others dying in suspicious circumstances, illegal confiscation of property owned by minority groups and sexual molestation of women. Many of these took place in the context of blasphemy law allegations – which were ongoing in 2011-12, often resulting in people – including pro-tolerance Muslims – being hunted down by Islamist mobs and forced into hiding and sometimes asylum abroad. Of particular concern as well was the denigration of Christians and other non-Muslims in the state curriculum.
The US State Department's Religious Freedom Report 2011 stated that "societal intolerance and violence against minorities and Muslims promoting tolerance [had] increased" over the previous year. The report accused the Pakistan Government of inaction: "The government rarely investigated or prosecuted the perpetrators of increased attacks on minorities... which deepened the climate of impunity." The report also criticised the state for "not taking adequate steps" to tackle blasphemy law abuses and reform of the controversial legislation.
UK aid policies criticised
In spring 2011 the UK Government sparked criticism with plans to double UK overseas aid to Pakistan to more than £400 million by 2015. Underlining the strong cultural and business links between the UK and Pakistan, Mr Cameron's administration said action was vital in support of the 36 million people in Pakistan reportedly below the poverty line. But many, including Scotland's Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of of St Andrews and Edinburgh, called on the UK to push for religious freedom in Pakistan as part of its aid discussions with the Pakistan authorities.
In October 2011 former Shadow Cabinet minister Ann Widdecombe, speaking as Aid to the Church in Need's special envoy on religious freedom, said that in many countries homosexuals and even hedgehogs "stand a better chance of representation" than Christians. Mr Cameron later told the BBC that "British aid should have more strings attached in terms of do you persecute people for their faith or their Christianity..."
Persecution of Christians in Pakistan
July 2010: Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his brother Sajid, 24, were shot dead outside court where they were due to be tried for allegedly writing a pamphlet critical of the Prophet Mohammed. (Source: BBC News, 20 July 2010)
November 2010: Christian Asia Bibi was sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed after fellow farm workers asked her to justify her faith. Amid calls for her life to be pardoned, an imam from Peshawar offered a reward for Asia to be killed. Read more
January 2011: Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab Province, was shot dead, apparently by one of his own bodyguards. Mr Taseer’s had criticised the Blasphemy Laws, and called for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row, to be pardoned . Read more
March 2011: Shahbaz Bhatti, Minister for Minorities and the only Christian serving in the cabinet, was gunned down by four extremists. He had spoken out against Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws. Read more
March 2011: Christian Today reported that three churches near Islamabad and Hyderabad were attacked by armed men, with two killed. The violence came after US Pastor Wayne Sapp burned a copy of the Qur'an.
April 2011: Asia News reported that Islamist group Tahreek-e-Ghazi Bin Shaheed ambushed a Protestant clergyman and his family, opening fire on his car and seriously wounding the minister's 24-year-old son. The Rev Ashraf Paul, had earlier received threats and demands for money but he refused to pay.
April 2011: Asia News reported that Sehar Naz, a 24-year-old Christian woman, was abducted and raped by a man claiming to be a police officer.
May-July 2011: Asia News reported that Farah Hatim, a Christian woman aged 24, from southern Punjab, was abducted by Zeehan Ilyas and his brothers Umran and Gulfam and was forced to convert and marry one of her kidnappers. The incident sparked international outrage but when the Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission brought a case against her abductors, the Supreme Court ruled she should stay with her new family.
May 2011: Bookshop owners Gulzar Masih and his son Suleman fled Sialkot they after they were accused of burning a copy of the Qur'an. Fr Naeem Taj suggested that the burnt pages were planted to frame the Christian businessman. "The blasphemy law is being once more as a pretext to settle a personal score," said the priest. (Source: Asia News, 11 May 2011)
June 2011: Islamist extremists called for a ban on the bible, claiming some passages were "blasphemous" and "pornographic". Read more
July 2011: A petition with more than 6,000 signatories was presented at 10 Downing Street, calling for action to reform Pakistan's notorious blasphemy laws. Read more
August 2011: Muslim leaders in Gojra, Punjab Province, asked a Christian crowd for forgiveness for the extremist attacks two years previously which left eight people dead, saying the attacks were contrary to the "spirit of Islam". Read more
October 2011: Saqib Masih, a 22-year-old Christian man, was killed and 37 others were injured when a mob of around 60 extremists descended on the village of Mian Chiannu, Punjab., to claim a plot of land "sold" to two Muslims by a workman. It was alleged that the worker had no right to sell the land since it had been allocated to him by the government. (Source: Barnabas Fund, 13 October 2011)
August 2011: Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad labelled the appointment of a government minister for national harmony as a "down-grade" for Christians and other minorities. The appointment was a replacement for Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minorities, who was assassinated in March 2011. Read more
November 2011: Christian prisoners in the Pakistan's jails are suffering severe discrimination, according to a Catholic lawyer. Mr Bhatti said that Christians are marginalised and disadvantaged throughout Pakistani society, but the situation in prisons is "particularly precarious". He said: "Christians are disadvantaged in the distribution of food, clothing and medicines, as well as in their ability to practise their religion. Read more
December 2011: 24-year-old Catholic Khuram Masih was accused of burning pages of the Qu'ran. He was falsely accused by his Hindu girlfriend, with whom he was living out of wedlock, after she was threatened by the Muslim owner of their house. Read more
January 2012: The Punjab government was accused of "brutal injustice" after bulldozing homes, a school and a church at a Church-owned site in a district of Lahore. Read more
March 2012: Research by the Catholic bishops' National Council for Justicw and Peace showed that up to 30 percent of Christian and Hindu women in employment have faced sexual harassment. The report also showed that 43 percent faced religious discrimination in the workplace, schools and other educational establishments and in their local neighbourhoods.
March-April 2012: Christian woman Shamin Bibi, a mother of five aged 42, was beaten and stripped of her clothes by local Islamist thugs. They lambasted the family for dressing smartly and said they should only wear outfits befitting their status as manual workers belonging to a minority religious group. Mrs Bibi filed a case with the police, but a month later no progress had been made.
Last updated: 16/05/2012