ROME: An influential Jesuit magazine close to the Vatican criticized what it said were shortcomings in Pakistan's religious tolerance, saying that Christians and other minorities were often the target of violence by Islamic fundamentalists.
"In Pakistan, unfortunately like in many countries with a Muslim majority, religious freedom is not guaranteed in practice as promised by the constitution," wrote the Civilta Cattolica magazine in this week's edition.
Christians, Shiites and members of the Ahmadi Muslim sect all suffered from acts of violence and persecution, it said, adding that particularly at risk were Muslims who converted to Christianity or who left the Sunni majority to join other Muslim sects, often facing expulsion from their communities, loss of political and civil rights and even death.
"For the fundamentalists, the conversion of a Muslim to another religion, especially Christianity, is felt as an insult to Islam, as a real treason punishable with the death penalty," the magazine wrote.
n the article, titled "Pakistan between formal democracy and Islamic fundamentalism," the magazine called on the international community to do more to improve human rights in the Asian country.
"We believe the international community should not remain inactive and silent in the face of such facts that mortify dignity and contradict fundamental rights such as freedom of conscience and religion."
Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani rejected the suggestion that the minorities in the Islamic nation didn't enjoy basic rights and were being victimized.
"Absolutely incorrect," he told The Associated Press, adding that Christians and other minorities had representation in the parliament, provincial assemblies and even at the local government level.
"Christians, Sikhs and other minorities have equal rights" in Pakistan and "we reject" what the magazine has reported, he said.
