PAKISTAN “The Minorities Graveyard”

By Cyril Kamran

Pakistan is the sixth most populous country and with an area covering 796,095 km2 (307,374 sq mi), it is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area. With a population exceeding 180 million people

Pakistan is a diverse society with various ethnic and religious minorities. According to Western religious freedom and human rights monitoring groups, religious minorities in Pakistan face severe discrimination

In a 2011 book, Ishtiaq Ahmed wrote that “Some independent studies, however, suggest that the non-Muslims population of Pakistan is nearly 10 per cent and Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis make up four million each. It is generally noted that while majorities play down minority figures, the minorities inflate them. This is especially true of the Ahmadiyya community. Official statistics return less than half a million for them while the Ahmadis claim to be around ten million.”[1]

Imagine you are a person of Christian faith living as a citizen in persthe Islamic Republic of Pakistan: every moment your life is at risk. Imagine a Pakistani Muslim shouting that you have burned a page of holy Quran when you have not; or accusing you of having desecrated the Prophet Mohammed: you have hardly any chance of saving yourself. There would be no question of providing evidence or proof against you. You would be killed either by the mob or by the country’s legal system.

The Human Rights Watch noted that the condition of religious minorities deteriorated sharply in 2012, with the government unwilling or unable to provide protection against attacks by extremists or to reign in abuses committed by its own security forces.[2][3] Mass anti-Christian violence occurred in the 2009 Gojra riots and in the 2013 Joseph Colony riot and the 2013 Gujranwala riot.[4] Recent anti-Shia violence includes the February 2012 Kohistan Shia Massacre, the August 2012 Mansehra Shia Massacre[5]and the particularly deadly January 2013[6] and February 2013 Quetta bombings.[7] The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan was targeted in the similarly deadly May 2010 attacks on Ahmadi mosques in Lahore; the New York Times noted on that occasion that “Minority sects like the Ahmadis and the Shiites and have come under increasing pressure as religious extremism has taken hold, fomented by sectarian groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, formerly state-sponsored organizations.”[8]

Religious discrimination in Pakistan is a serious issue. Christians, Hindus and Ahmadi Muslims among other many other religious groups in Pakistan are routinely discriminated against. They are at time refused jobs, loans, housing and other similar things simply because of their choice of religious faith. Christian Churches and Ahmadi mosques and their worshipers are often attacked.

In 2011 religious intolerance was reported to be at its height, hundreds of minorities, women, journalists and liberals were being killed by Islamist fundamentalist extremists, while the Government remained mostly a silent spectator, often only making statements which condemned the ruthless acts of violence by the extremists but taking no real concrete action against them.[9][10][11]

https://www.persecutionofahmadis.org/pakistan-the-minorities-graveyard-by-cyril-kamran/