‘Violent attacks and high levels of everyday discrimination’ – MRG launches new online resource on religious minorities in today’s Pakistan

Religious minorities in Pakistan face severe discrimination and persecution, many cases of which go unreported, and often with lack of adequate avenues for redress, says Minority Rights Group International (MRG) in a new online resource pack.

’The delay in Asia Bibi’s case last week brought renewed international attention to Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws. Religious minorities continue to be disproportionately targeted by these laws, living in fear of the violence which such allegations often lead to,’ says Carl Söderbergh, MRG’s Director of Policy and Communications. ’But the blasphemy legislation is only one of the many daily challenges confronting Pakistan’s religious minority communities, which MRG’s new online resource makes clear.’

According to Reports from Pakistan: Tracing the challenges of religious minorities, 2016 has not only seen violent attacks against Pakistan’s religious minorities, such as the Easter attack against Punjab’s Christian community, or the targeting of Hazara Shi’a in Balochistan, but also high levels of everyday discrimination providing a backdrop to these incidents.

Highlights include:

• A timeline of reported incidents from August 2015 to May 2016 on Attacks against Christians
• Interviews with victims and survivors of the Easter Sunday suicide blast at the Gulshan-i-Iqbal park in Lahore
• Case study and interviews with residents of Majnu ka Tila, a temporary home for Pakistani Hindus in Delhi
• Documentary film – Shaheedo Tum Kahan Ho (O martyrs! Where are you?) – an account of targeted killings against Shi’a Hazara, includes interviews with family members, makes a plea for tolerance
• Backgrounders on freedom of religion or belief and religious minorities

Though predominantly Muslim, Pakistan includes a wide variety of religious minorities, reflecting its long and complex history. Hindus and Christians make up the largest minorities, but there are also many smaller religious groups such as Bahá’i, Buddhists, Kalasha, Parsis, Sikhs and Zikris.

Between 10 and 25 per cent of the Muslim population are Shi’a – a sect of Islam that, while fully recognized by law, does not in practice enjoy the same status and privileges as the Sunni majority. Even more marginalized are the country’s Ahmadis. While their exact numbers are unknown, they include hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of Pakistanis who, while identifying as Muslims, have for decades been designated ‘non-Muslims’ in the Constitution.

This new online resource highlights ongoing violations of religious freedom and minority rights that have been collected by local rapporteurs, as well as case studies which help bring to the fore the lived realities of Pakistan’s religious minorities. 

Pakistan is in 8^th place in MRG’s Peoples under Threat 2016 global survey, which ranks countries where communities are most under threat of mass killing or genocide.

Notes to editors

• Minority Rights Group International is the leading international human rights organization working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples. We work with more than 150 partners in over 50 countries
• This online resource complements more in-depth MRG publications surveying the situation facing religious minorities in Pakistan and the annual updates on the situation for its minorities in MRG’s State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
• For more information and interviews with Carl Söderbergh and local representatives in Pakistan contact:

Emma Eastwood, Senior Media Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 020 7422 4205
M: +44 7989 699 984
Twitter: @MinorityRights
Skype: eew_mrg

Photo: Hindus from Pakistan.

Credit: Mirza Arif Beg.