Hindus face systemic economic, political, and educational discrimination in Pakistan and are denied the distribution of rations (File)
Human rights groups such as HRCP and the Human Rights Watch’s 2019 Country Report on Pakistan have estimated that over 1,000 Hindu young girls across the country are stolen from their families and forced to convert to Islam annually.
Human rights and religious freedom conditions continued to deteriorate at an unprecedented rate in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan during 2019-2020. Pakistan’s widespread violation of human rights and its tolerance of human rights violations by non-state actors demonstrate a blatant disregard for its obligations under international human rights norms. As a result, Pakistan remained on the U.S. State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for its “systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom” against its religious minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and Shia Muslims. But despite rampant human rights violations and war crimes committed by numerous Pakistani regimes, historically, Pakistan’s actions have largely been tolerated by the international community due to the country’s strategic location and perceived importance in the region.
Status of Human Rights, 2019-2020
Religious Freedom
The blasphemy laws, restrictions on the Ahmadiyya Muslim faith, and forced conversions of Hindu, Christian and Sikh girls particularly plagued religious minorities, having reduced them to second-class citizens, leading to gross human rights violations by both the state and non-state actors.
Although the Constitution purportedly guarantees religious freedom to its citizens under Articles 20-22 (National Assembly of Pakistan, 2012), minorities have been unable to practice their faith without fear of attacks or persecution. For example, Article 20 states, “Every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion; and every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions,” has proven meaningless.
Freedom of religion is severely limited and “subject to law, public order and morality.” (National Assembly of Pakistan, 2012) Consequently, actions or speech deemed derogatory to Islam or the Prophet Mohammed are not protected. Moreover, the Constitution requires that laws be consistent with Islam and imposes elements of Koranic law on both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. (National Assembly of Pakistan, 2012) Furthermore, many of the rights theoretically provided for in the Constitution are subordinated to government regulations and constitutional injunctions shaped by Islamic law first introduced in 1977, thereby denying equal protection and religious freedom to non-Muslims.
Specific laws protecting the equal rights of Pakistani citizens are similarly absent from the legal system, including laws protecting underage minority girls from forced conversions and marriages and although a law officially recognizing Hindu marriages, the Hindu Marriage Act, was finally passed in 2017 it has yet to be implemented. Discriminatory Provisions in the Legal System Islam has been institutionalized in the Constitution and pervades all aspects of the legal system. Article 2 of the Constitution proclaims that Islam is “the State religion of Pakistan” and recognizes the Koran and Sunnah is the highest source of law, not to be contradicted by secular laws, while Article 31 protects and promotes the Islamic way of life and moral standards, among many other provisions. In July 2020, the Punjab Provincial Assembly went even further, bypassing the protection of the Islam Foundation Bill, which made Sunni Islam the only viable form of Islam for Pakistanis.
Additionally, Article 203A–J establishes the power and jurisdiction of the Federal Shariat Courts, while Articles 227–231 provide that all laws must be in conformity with Islamic injunctions and create an Islamic Council to advise Parliament and Provincial Assemblies on whether laws contradict Islamic injunctions.
(National Assembly of Pakistan, 2012) The Islamization of laws has also affected women’s rights in Pakistan across religions by increasing the bar against rape, punishments for adultery, and reducing the relative weight of women as witnesses.
The Pakistani Constitution lays out explicit restrictions on non-Muslims, such as Article 41(2), which provides that an individual must be Muslim to hold the office of President of Pakistan. Similarly, it requires that high office holders take the oath of office by invoking an Islamic prayer, regardless of whether they are Muslim. The oath starts with, “In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful,” and ends with “May Allah Almighty help and guide me, (A’meen).” And freedom of speech under Article 19 of the Constitution is “subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan.” This constitutional clause partly provides the justification for criminalizing blasphemy under the penal code.
The Blasphemy Laws
The blasphemy laws codified by Pakistan’s Penal Code (Sections 295B and C, and 298A-C) impose severe punishments for perceived insults to the Prophet Mohammed or desecration of the Koran and prohibit Ahmadiyyas from using Islamic terminology and symbols and from “preaching their faith or posing as Muslims.” (Pakistan Penal Code) Punishments range from imprisonment for three years and a fine to life imprisonment and the death penalty. (Pakistan Penal Code).
According to the U.S. Department of State, in 2019, “at least 84 individuals were imprisoned on blasphemy charges, at least 29 of whom had received death sentences…” (U.S. Department of State, 2019). For instance, Shagufta Kausar, a Christian woman, is on death row for allegedly sending out so-called blasphemous text messages. (Aqeel, 2019) On a rare positive note, in response to international pressure, on January 29, 2019, the Supreme Court upheld its decision overturning the conviction of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was on death row for alleged blasphemy. Bibi, however, was forced to leave Pakistan on May 7, 2019, after death, threats made it unsafe for her to remain.
Temples/Religious Sites
Pakistan is home to several ancient Hindu temples and pilgrimage sites, but there has been a drastic decline in the number and condition of Hindu temples since the country’s partition in 1947. Thousands of temples have been destroyed, illegally encroached or converted into mosques since then, particularly in the period following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India. Many of the existing temples there are also suffering from decay and neglect.
There have been numerous attacks on temples, pilgrimage sites, and religious leaders but Government authorities and law enforcement have failed to protect temples, and the Hindu community is unable to repair their temples or build new ones.
On January 26, 2020, an Islamist mob vandalized and burned sacred Hindu scriptures at the Mata Rani temple in Chachro, Tharparkar, Sindh.
In July 2020, the partially built wall of what would have been the first Hindu temple in Islamabad was destroyed by Islamists. And after initially allowing the construction of the temple and even providing a financial grant, the federal government reversed course under pressure from Islamists and Muslim clerics, who ruled that a Hindu temple should not be built in the Muslim country of Pakistan. Media outlets and ordinary citizens also campaigned against the temple, further marginalizing the small Hindu community.
In August 2020, a private developer illegally demolished a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Hanuman and the homes of 20 Hindu families living nearby in Lyari, Sindh.
On a positive note, the government renovated the Sikh holy site, Gurdwara Durbar Sahib, in Nankana, on November 9, 2019. The creation of a visa-free accompanied the opening of the site transit corridor for Sikh pilgrims travelling from India; however, the opening was marred by the inclusion of visible propaganda materials/signs and leaders supporting the separatist Sikh Khalistan terrorist movement in India. The Indian government alleges that the corridor is an attempt to create a cross-border infrastructure that will be used by the Pakistani military intelligence to foment the Khalistan movement in India.
Kidnapping and Forced Conversions
Abductions and forced conversions continue to haunt minority communities in Pakistan and have particularly targeted young Hindu and Christian girls. Often, after being abducted, these girls are forcibly married to random men, raped, sold into human trafficking rings, or forced into prostitution. Several Islamic seminaries in Sindh incite their Muslim students to convert Hindu girls, telling them that it is the equivalent of Haj-e-Akbari or the greatest religious duty for Muslims. These seminaries hold the kidnapped Hindu girls against their will, convert them to Islam, and subsequently force them to marry Muslim men, often twice their age. Threatened into silence and fearful for the safety of their families, the girls are then taken to a local court by their abductors, where a judge usually sanctions the legality of the marriage and conversion.
Human rights groups such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Human Rights Watch’s 2019 Country Report on Pakistan have estimated that more than 1,000 Hindu and young Christian girls across the country are stolen from their families and forced to convert to Islam annually.
And between January 2004 and May 2018, there were 7,430 reported cases of abductions of Hindu girls in Sindh province, while the actual number of cases is estimated to be much higher.
There were also several incidents involving other non-Muslim girls during the reporting period. In August 2019, a Sikh girl, Jagjit Kaur, was abducted by a Muslim man, Mohammad Hassan, who was a member of the fundamentalist Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization.
After the victim’s brother lodged a complaint with the police, an Islamic mob attacked and vandalized the local Sikh holy site, the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, in January 2020. There have also been several Christian girls abducted and forcibly converted to Islam, including Myra Shehbaz in April 2020 and Huma Younus in October 2019. Other cases include four Christian girls, between 13 and 16 years of age, who were kidnapped together and gang-raped by Muslim men, and an 11-year-old Christian girl kidnapped and gang-raped for three days.
Islamic Extremism and Sectarian Violence
The Pakistani military establishment has long utilized terrorist/militant groups to pursue its foreign policy interests in India and Afghanistan and support its domestic priorities. Pakistan’s military-intelligence establishment has engaged in a proxy war in India’s state of Jammu and Kashmir since the late 1980s by supporting terrorist groups there leading to several cross-border attacks in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani sponsored terrorist groups, including the February 2019 attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pulwama that killed over 40 Indian security personnel.
After the Pulwama attack, Pakistan attempted to protect JeM leader Maulana Azhar Masood from censure at the United Nations and carried out an international propaganda campaign on Kashmir.
Government officials, such as Prime Minister Imran Khan, further exacerbated tensions with India by unilaterally threatening nuclear war after India fully and democratically integrated Jammu and Kashmir into the Indian Union through the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution.
In addition, Pakistan has also supported Khalistan militants seeking to create an independent Sikh nation in the Indian state of Punjab. Moreover, several groups operating freely throughout the country promote Islamic rule, violent jihad (holy war), and hatred towards non-Muslims.
Social, Educational, and Institutional Discrimination
Hindus and other religious and ethnic minorities face systemic economic, political, and educational discrimination in Pakistan. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, Hindu and Christian labourers in the Lyari area of Karachi were denied emergency food aid by the Saylani Trust Fund, a local charity coordinating its activities with the Sindh provincial government. According to several Hindu labourers, Saylani Trust workers outrightly denied the distribution of rations to Hindus, as they claimed that rations were specifically for Muslims. Though they eventually received some rations, the assistance was not nearly enough.
Beyond the public school system, there has been a proliferation of Islamic schools, madrasas that further perpetuate hatred towards minorities. Although exact figures are unavailable, there are between 13,000 to 20,000 madrasas, most teaching the fundamentalist Deobandi approach to Islam, that provide basic schooling, religious education, as well as boarding and lodging to approximately 1 million boys from lower-income families.
Finally, remedial measures to purportedly increase the political representation of religious minorities through reserving ten seats in the national parliament have been ineffective. This is due in part to the President’s ability to disband the legislature at his discretion, which may pre-emptively curtail demands for major constitutional changes.
Suppression of Ethnic Minority Rights
In addition to religious freedom violations, the government’s suppression of the civil and human rights of ethnic minorities continues unabated. Human rights activists and organizations have long reported on the forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture of political and ethnic rights activists across Pakistan. According to Pakistan’s own state-run agency, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, there are 2,178 unresolved cases of enforced disappearances, though estimates from rights groups are much higher.
In Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the interim constitution places legal restrictions on political rights and freedom of expression by banning parties that do not explicitly endorse Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan.
Similarly, government employees are required to express their support for accession. At least 100 Kashmiri civil rights activists have been killed in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in the last two years, a region ranked by Freedom House as “Not Free” in their 2020 Freedom in the World Report.
Refugees
According to Hindu community leaders in Pakistan and NGOs in India, approximately 5,000 Hindus take refuge in India annually. Similarly, nearly 12,000 Pakistanis (mainly Christians) filed asylum claims in Thailand, many of whom are threatened with deportation, and an estimated 10,000 Ahmadiyyas have sought asylum in Germany, the UK, and the U.S.
Pakistani Christian refugees in Thailand faced legal limbo in terms of their residency status and were placed in overcrowded camps. The Thai government has even convicted Pakistani asylum seekers for overstaying their visas and sent them back to Pakistan.
Finally, conditions in India where most Pakistani Hindus flee as refugees were no better. Some have settled in overcrowded makeshift camps that lack potable water and formal electric connections. Until the 2019 passing of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which expedites the path to citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, they lacked the requisite legal status to apply for jobs, acquire bank loans, and buy property. The law only provides relief to those refugees that were already settled in India before 2015.
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