The Religious Intolerance in Pakistan
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan remains one of the most glaring examples of religious intolerance in the world. General Parvez Musharraf’s military dictatorship, barely a year old, has done little to protect the civil and political rights of non-Muslim minorities. With the continuation of the
Blasphemy Laws and the
Hudood Ordinances, it is clear that
governmental and legal structures elevate Sunni Islam over all other religious beliefs while sanctioning discrimination against non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims. Crimes against religious minorities such as Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis and Shiites persist while Sunni Muslim perpetrators face little or no consequences.
In addition to severely limiting freedom of speech and assembly, blasphemy laws alienate both moderate Muslims and non-Muslims. Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code imposes the death penalty on anyone found to have "by words . . . or visible representation . . . or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiled the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad." In 1991, the maximum prison sentence for outraging the religious feelings of any group was raised from two to ten years. In 1992, Section 123A of the Penal Code was amended to declare any act prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan a criminal offence.
In July 2000, General Musharraf promulgated an order reviving the Islamic provisions of the country's constitution, further criminalising any person or group whose beliefs deviate from accepted Muslim orthodoxy. Such a stringent policy supported the arrest of scores of members of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) prior to a rally planned for 8 July 2000. More recently, on 11 January 2001, 17 people were arrested for participating in an anti-"Blasphemy Laws" protest sponsored by the All Faith Spiritual Movement in Karachi. Though three Christian detainees were released six days later, the incident nonetheless demonstrates the methods of punishment and intimidation the government uses to attack the freedom of expression and assembly, particularly in relation to religious issues.
Like the blasphemy laws, the Hudood Ordinances require strict adherence to Muslim practices and blatantly discriminate against non-Muslims in a court of law. Criminalising extramarital sex, alcohol consumption and gambling, the Hudood Ordinances stipulate that
a non-Muslim’s evidence is inadmissible in cases liable for Koranic punishment and carries less weight than that of a Muslim in cases liable for "secular punishment." Indeed, in the latter type of cases, the law of evidence specifies that
two non-Muslim witnesses are needed in cases where one Muslim is sufficient. Lawyers who represent non-Muslims in cases under these provisions are themselves blacklisted by violent Islamic extremist groups.
Women have particularly suffered under the Hudood Ordinances, as they are frequently (and wrongfully) charged for sexual misconduct such as adultery. Approximately one-third of the women in jails in Lahore, Peshawar, and Mardan in 1998 awaited trial for adultery. Although most women tried under the ordinance are eventually acquitted, they must then endure the stigma of having been under suspicion.
Both the regimes of Prime Minister Sharif and General Musharraf have ignored the recommendations made in 1995 by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance. The Rapporteur advised that the Government "authorities should check that Hudood ordinances are compatible with human rights and urges that Hudood penalties, because they are exclusively Muslim, should not be applied to non-Muslims." Now, in fact, the Hudood Ordinances are stronger than ever.
Religious minorities are alienated and deprived of equal access to justice in other ways. For instance,
if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, the perpetrator may compensate the victim’s family monetarily. If a non-Muslim kills a Muslim, however, the perpetrator faces prison or the death penalty. Sharia courts are also inherently discriminatory against non-Muslims. The Federal Sharia Court (FSC) ensures that all legislative acts and judicial pronouncements, including those of the Supreme Court, are compatible with Islamic law. Additionally, three of the eight appointed members of the court need not even be professional judges. According to Asma Jehagir, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the structure of the sharia courts is evidence that, "The government wants to impose a Taliban-style theocratic rule in Pakistan."
Another area of institutionalised discrimination relates to the electoral system.
Minorities can only vote for candidates who do not represent districts or constituencies but whole populations of different minority groups spread across a wide region. Consequently,
minority candidates do not represent the specific interests of minority groups. Discontent with the segregated electoral system is mounting. As recently as 19 October 2000, religious minority members of the Joint Action Committee for People’s Rights staged a hunger strike in Lahore. In solidarity with the strikers, Mr. Farooq Tarq, General Secretary of the Labour Party, denounced the separate electorate as
"a scheme of religious apartheid that promoted intolerance and served the purpose of divide and rule."
Not surprisingly, religious minorities generally comprise the poorest sectors of society. As Peter Jacob, executive secretary of Pakistan’s National Committee for Justice and Peace, asserts,
"Economic and political deprivation is not merely the bottom line but a clearly manifested motive of religious persecution." Most disturbing is the abundance of unpunished harassment and killings suffered by religious groups at the hands of the legal system and other members of the Sunni Muslim majority.
HARRIS BHAI THIS IS FOR YOU:
Out of a population of 2-3 million, tens of thousands of Pakistan’s Christians live in city slums while sixty percent of them live in rural areas, where they are particularly vulnerable to abuse. In these areas, according to Archbishop Simeon Pereira, who is the most senior representative of the Catholic Church in Pakistan,
"Any Muslim who has a grudge against a Christian can accuse him of [blasphemy]. "Christians have definitely suffered under the blasphemy laws.
In April 1998, Ayub Masih, a Christian man, was sentenced to death for allegedly speaking favourably about Salman Rushdie during a dispute with a Muslim villager. He was the fourth Christian to be sentenced to death in Pakistan in the 1990s. Unable to get Ayub released, Bishop Joseph, a widely respected non-violent activist for minority rights in Pakistan, shot himself in the head.
Churches have been vandalised by Islamic extremists and Christian villages have been looted and burned, leaving thousands homeless. There have also been shocking cases of rape and murder. On their way home from working at a factory, eight Christian women, seven of whom were teenagers, were raped at gunpoint by Muslim men in May 2000. In 1998, four Muslim men raped a seven-year-old Christian girl named Nageena. In both cases, the perpetrators have gone unpunished while the victims and their families have been threatened with facing the "consequences" if they seek justice. Accused by his daughter’s attackers, Ghulam Masih, Nageena’s father, was put on death row for allegedly killing an old woman in his village.
Besides Christians, other religious groups face cruel and inhumane treatment. Tens of thousands of Hindus serve as bonded labour to powerful landowners, and Hindu rights activists and community leaders are subject to harassment and arrest by the authorities.
ISLAMIC UNITY:
The
Ahmadis, members of a Muslim sect created in the nineteenth century, are denied rights of expression. By law, they are classified as a non-Muslim minority and are thus forbidden to use Muslim burial grounds. Several Ahmadi mosques remain closed. As recently as 30 October 2000, gunmen opened fire on worshippers coming out of a crowded mosque in Khatiala village in Sialkot district, killing five people.
Tensions with
Shiite Muslims also continue. In 1999, the U.S. State Department reported that 300 people were killed in Sunni and Shiite conflicts over the last two years. Sunni perpetrators of violence against Shiites are rarely prosecuted. The prosecutions that do take place precipitate further violence against Shiites as shown in January 1999 when, in response to the conviction of Sunni extremists, motorcycle gunmen opened fire upon a Shiite religious service in Karamdad Qureshi, killing at least sixteen people. Shiite militants are believed to be behind the recent killings of five Sunni Muslims in Karachi on 28 January 2001. The week before, a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric was shot dead outside a Karachi mosque.
Clearly, religious minorities in Pakistan are de facto second-class citizens. In addition to facing direct discrimination in laws such as the Blasphemy Laws and the Hudood Ordinances, in the courts and the electoral system, religious minorities face severe mistreatment from militant members of the Muslim majority. Musharraf’s regime has allowed religious intolerance to continue (some argue in order to maintain popular support), and, judging from the general’s suspension of democratic institutions in 1999 and the introduction of the perversely named National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance, the culture of governmental and Sunni Muslim impunity will worsen.
-Human Rights Features
source:
The Religious Intolerance in Pakistan
