URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

Udenrigsudvalget 2024-25
URU Alm.del Bilag 183
Offentligt

A CULTURE OF

HATE-MONGERING

Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2022/23

Human Rights

Commission

of Pakistan

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

A Culture of Hate

Mongering

Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2022/23

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

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acknowledging the source.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this

publication. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan takes no

responsibility for any unintentional omissions.

ISBN 978-627-7602-35-2

Printed by Visionaries Division

90A Airlines Housing Society

Khayaban-e-Jinnah, Lahore

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Aiwan-e-Jamhoor

107 Tipu Block, New Garden Town

Lahore 54600

T: +92 42 3583 8341, 3586 4994, 3586 9969

E: [email protected]

www.hrcp-web.org

Acknowledgements

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is very grateful to Rabia

Mehmood for writing this report.

Disclaimer: This document has been produced with the

financial assistance of the European Union. The

contents of this document are the sole responsibility of

the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and can

under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the

position of the European Union.

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Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................... 1

Methodology .......................................................................................... 4

FORB and Pakistan’s Universal Periodic Review ............................ 5

Political parties and the religion card ................................................. 7

Violent restrictions on FORB ............................................................. 9

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.8

Forced conversions of minority women and girls ................. 9

Gender-based violence against minority women .................11

Blasphemy and religion-related offences ...............................11

Ahmadiyya-specific targeting...................................................13

Bails granted to persons charged with blasphemy ...............14

Blasphemy cases and numbers ................................................14

The rise of the anti-online blasphemy brigade .....................15

Surveillance and labelling of HRDs advocating FORB ......17

5.9

Risks to lives of defenders of victims of religious

discrimination ...........................................................................................17

5.10

5.11

5.12

5.13

5.14

5.15

5.16

5.17

5.18

Institutionalized intolerance ....................................................18

Social media and hate speech ..................................................19

Targeted killings and mob violence ........................................19

Attacks on religious practices and worship sites ..................20

Persecuting Ahmadis for Eid celebrations ............................21

Attacks on temples....................................................................22

Religious minorities targeted in death ....................................22

Sectarian aggression and Shia killings.....................................23

Crimes against Hindus..............................................................24

Recommendations ..............................................................................25

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

1 Introduction

Violence in the name of religion has increasingly become the status quo

in Pakistan. Regrettably, the sentiments of majoritarian Muslims remain

sacrosanct and given discriminatory preference over religious minorities

and sects. In the rare instances that law enforcement authorities manage

to rescue persons accused of blasphemy from religiously motivated mob

violence and the organized wrath of sectarian groups, their performance

of duty is hailed as heroic.

The period under review in this report, July 2022 to June 2023, shows

that the state machinery has learnt little from the brutal lynching of

Priyantha Kumara, the Sri Lankan national tortured to death by a mob

in Sialkot in December 2021, following allegations of blasphemy. Since

then, Pakistan has seen a series of lynchings, attempts at vigilante

violence and targeted killings in the name of religion.

The use of the ‘religion card’ by mainstream political parties and the

rhetoric of politicians who invoke religion in their electoral campaigns

have further solidified sectarian narratives. Pakistani citizens have

continued to pay for the security establishment’s Machiavellian reliance

on far-right Islamist groups to control political space. Despite the apex

court’s attempts to provide justice to victims of abuses of freedom of

religion or belief (FORB), the judiciary has not succeeded in protecting

religious freedoms and rights. Indeed, the state has institutionalized the

practice of arresting persons accused of religion-related offences on the

grounds of ‘maintaining peace’ and avoiding incitement to violence. The

state’s long-held—and erroneous—view that the absence of religion-

based offences would increase vigilante violence is actively used as an

excuse to restrict civic space and freedoms of religious minorities. Yet,

despite aggressive implementation of such laws, violence still takes place

on a significant scale.

There is also a marked difference between what state representatives say

publicly on global platforms and the discriminatory narratives they

espouse at home. While Pakistan is bound by international obligations

and recommendations that were accepted by the state during its

Universal Periodic Review (UPR), glaring violations of the same

international standards with regard to FORB remain a routine matter.

The duration under review also illustrates that the rise of the far-right

Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and its formalization as a political party

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are tied to an escalation in restrictions on FORB. Over the years, the

TLP’s brand of incitement, hate and violence, and the weaponization of

selective religious interpretations have caused immense damage to the

freedoms of religion and belief, and expression. Islamist parties,

including the Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (F), have used

their political influence and members of parliament to push back

religious freedoms. Legislation attempts by Islamist politicians to

broaden the scope of the blasphemy laws have been a major setback to

the possibility of an inclusive Pakistan.

A concerning trend is that of the role of sections of the legal community,

which have amplified far-right rhetoric and become agents of

persecution of religious minorities. Certain bar councils, for instance,

have made it mandatory for lawyers to declare Ahmadis non-Muslim if

they wish to practice in that province. Given that the legal community

is supposed to enable recourse to justice and the rule of law, this does

not augur well for FORB in Pakistan.

Religious minorities and sects continue to suffer in life and death: in

addition to religiously motivated violence, they are subjected to

impediments in access to worship places, fear of attacks at home, work

and public spaces, profiling via arbitrary legal measures, desecration of

graves and exposure to bigoted speech. A blight on the country’s human

rights record, incidents of forced conversion have continued. The most

vulnerable segments of society, women and girls from religious

minorities, suffer repeatedly in the absence of national legislation against

this heinous practice and effective enforcement of child marriage laws.

Minority women are also subjected to gender-based violence, but these

incidents are underreported.

Lack of compliance with the landmark Supreme Court ruling by Justice

Tassaduq Hussain Jillani from 2014, coupled with a seeming

indifference to progressive judgements by the apex court and disregard

of rights guaranteed by the Constitution, have exacerbated violations of

FORB. Moreover, the restriction of civic space and targeting of human

rights defenders (HRDs) has hampered attempts to campaign for a

society where all marginalized groups can live with dignity and

protection.

This report is the fourth in a series of reports published by the Human

Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) since 2019, providing an annual

overview of the state of FORB in the country. Drawing on documented

incidents of violence, the spike in cases stemming from discriminatory

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laws, data on prisoners, interviews with HRDs, lawyers and persecuted

groups, and fact-finding missions carried out by HRCP in Punjab and

Sindh, this report illustrates how the freedoms of citizens of minority

faiths and those who do not subscribe to a majoritarian interpretation

of the state religion, remain under continuous assault.

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2 Methodology

This report is based on an analysis of published investigations by HRCP,

incidents of FORB abuses documented by the press, official documents,

open-source information, legal documents and legislation, social media

posts and visual evidence. The report notes that government

documentation of FORB violations is scarce; where it does exist, it is

sketchy and/or difficult to access.

HRCP has exercised due diligence in verifying and crosschecking the

credibility of its data in accordance with its methodology of monitoring

human rights violations. Where required, sources have been made

anonymous to mitigate any risks.

HRCP also wrote to the relevant provincial authorities to determine the

number of prisoners charged with blasphemy-related offences and/or

the total number of cases registered in each province, but at the time of

finalizing this report, only the Sindh authorities had shared such data.

The data for Punjab is already available on a government website.

To illustrate the scale of religion-related offences, HRCP also reviewed

and analysed data on blasphemy cases and forced conversions compiled

by independent nongovernment organizations and targeted religious

minority communities.

The information gathered has been assessed in light of the Constitution,

domestic law and international human rights standards, which Pakistan

is also obligated to fulfil.

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3 FORB and Pakistan’s Universal

Periodic Review

Pakistan underwent its fourth review by the UN Human Rights Council

in Geneva on 30 January 2022.

Domestic independent human rights

monitors, civil society collectives and international watchdogs all

pointed out key shortcomings and patterns of violations in their

respective submissions (see Box 1).

Box 1: Pakistan’s performance at the UPR

Even if the UPR is considered ‘friendly fire’ among member states, the review

brought to the fore Pakistan’s commitments on freedom of religion, belief,

expression and the rights of women and children. A significant number of

recommendations by member states (of 340 received in total) focused on forced

conversions, the minimum age for marriage, an end to child marriage and gender-

based violence, curbs on media freedoms, journalists’ security, custodial torture,

the death penalty, abuse of blasphemy laws, the persecution of the Ahmadiyya

community, and enforced disappearances. Discriminatory legislation that does

not comply with Pakistan’s international obligations, such as the blasphemy laws,

have repeatedly been questioned during previous cycles of the UPR.

However, Pakistan overwhelmingly supported recommendations on and/or that

intersect with FORB. These recommendations include strengthening practical

and legal measures to protect all minorities from discrimination and persecution,

from violence and incitement; protection of freedom of expression, especially of

activists and journalists; protection of HRDs; strengthening and enhancing the

capacity of national human rights mechanisms; protection of women and girls

from discrimination; ensuring the right to fair trial; and ensuring obligations

pertaining to the treatment of prisoners.

In the national report for the review submitted in the last quarter of

2022, Pakistan states that its government was ‘committed to curb[ing]

misuse of blasphemy laws’, that mechanisms and ‘administrative

safeguards’ had been instituted for this purpose and that the provincial

police force had been sensitized to the rights of religious minorities.

further stated that Section 211 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC)

guaranteed punishment for false accusations of blasphemy without

lawful grounds.

However, the evidence suggests lack of prosecution of

those who have levelled false blasphemy accusations against innocent

parties.

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During the UPR, a member of the Pakistan delegation said that the

blasphemy laws were not discriminatory.

Contrary to this claim, the

blasphemy laws and their applications enable a list of human rights

violations, which disproportionately affect religious minorities. The laws

are also primarily applied in the name of majoritarian Sunni Islam. The

national report stated that one of the necessary safeguards to prevent

misuse of the blasphemy laws was that only officers with the ‘minimum

rank of superintendent of police could investigate the blasphemy cases.’

This claim is debunked by cases of blasphemy that are registered at the

police level by junior personnel such as station house officers and even

assistant sub-inspectors. Recommendations accepted by Pakistan

thematically also fall under the Sustainable Development Goals and the

state’s international obligations.

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4 Political parties and the religion card

Continuing the trend of previous years, political parties and legislators

used religious concepts as a weapon to score political points, and not

only among the far right (see also Box 2). In July 2022, the then newly

appointed chief minister of Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the

PML-Q, directed the provincial assembly to incorporate the concept of

finality of Prophethood (khatm-e-nabuwwat) into an oath through an

amendment in the form used to contract marriages (nikkah).

The policy

reflected the decades-long exclusion of the Ahmadiyya community. In a

dangerous breach of privacy and FORB, a Khushab leader of the PML-

Q wrote to the deputy commissioner with details of an Ahmadi man at

whose house community members had gathered to pray, demanding

that members of the community be evicted from the city.

Box 2: The ominous rise of the TLP

As a political party, the TLP—a far-right Barelvi group that has consistently

campaigned to protect and extend the blasphemy laws—continued to spread

hate rhetoric in public. The TLP has used its party

’

s stronghold in parts of Punjab

and Sindh to target Ahmadi and Christian minorities in blasphemy and religion-

related offences. TLP supporters either initiate or instigate violent attacks or

ensure that police cases are registered against non-Muslim citizens, using

intimidation tactics. For instance, of the ten cases registered against Ahmadis in

Punjab for holding private Eid-al-Azha celebrations in July 2022, nine were

lodged on TLP supporters’ complaints, according to the Ahmadiyya community.

One of the TLP’s organizing slogans is a brutal rallying cry for murders of alleged

blasphemers, which is widely chanted at its public congregations. The TLP’s

talking points and slogans have also been quoted by perpetrators of religiously

motivated violence as justification for its violent acts.

In September 2022, TLP

leader Muhammad Naeem Chatha Qadri, while addressing a public rally, incited

his listeners to kill Ahmadi newborns and attack pregnant Ahmadi women. The

cleric said that ‘any Ahmadi born [from then onwards] would not be left [alive]’ by

the TLP.

Mainstream political parties did not refrain from weaponizing religion.

In September 2022, leaders of the PML-N accused former prime

minister Imran Khan of the PTI of misusing religious references.

response, Khan and his party supporters protested that the PML-N was

putting his life at risk and threatened his adversaries with legal action.

Khan himself has frequently invoked religion in his electoral campaigns

and, after his ouster,

to rile his supporters into civil disobedience. In

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August 2022, journalist Waqar Satti was booked on charges of

blasphemy and defamation via social media posts in which he discusses

Khan’s comments with religious references.

The complainant against

Satti was a PTI office holder. In November 2022, Khan survived an

assassination attempt,

the motive for which was declared to be the

religious extremism

of the alleged perpetrator by the then incumbent

government.

Islamist political parties stuck to their agenda of widening religious

divides. In January 2023, JI leader Mushtaq Ahmed Chitrali tabled the

Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill to broaden the scope of the

blasphemy laws. The amendments of the bill were also specifically anti-

Shia, and sought to add ten years of punishment for insulting the

companions of the Prophet (PBUH). The bill was passed by the

National Assembly and then by the Senate.

At the time this report was

finalized, the bill had not yet been passed into law. Prior to tabling the

bill, Chitrali had campaigned against the publication of religious

scripture by the Ahmadiyya community.

Established in 2020, the National Commission for Minorities (a body

that is neither autonomous nor statutory) had excluded the beleaguered

Ahmadiyya community.

In December 2022, the then prime minister

Shahbaz Sharif announced that the Parliament would begin working on

a National Commission for Minorities draft bill.

It was eventually

passed by the National Assembly despite criticism from civil society

organizations, and was found to be inconsistent with the Paris Principles

and not in accordance with directives of the 2014 Supreme Court

judgement. A joint committee of civil society organizations presented

amendments to improve the draft bill.

School textbooks have long been insensitive to minority faiths and

amplified discrimination in society. However, the Single National

Curriculum policy brought these concerns to the fore. An HRCP fact-

finding mission to South Punjab in 2022 found that religious

discrimination had led to an increase in school dropout rates among

Christian and Hindu students in the Yazman area of Bahawalpur.

In October 2022, Sindh began teaching a religious curriculum to

students from seven minority faiths.

In March 2023, the National

Curriculum Council

issued no-objection certificates for publishing

religious curricula to be taught to minority students in schools run by

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the federal government. Previously, minority children were taught ethics

as a replacement for Islamic studies.

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5 Violent restrictions on FORB

5.1

Forced conversions of minority women and girls

We deeply regret the failure of the Parliament of

Pakistan to adopt further legislation that would

specifically address the issue of forced conversion and

marriage impacting minority women and girls. This

includes the Protection of the Rights of Religious

Minorities Bill (2020), which would have provided

protection and assistance to victims of forced

conversions, increased prison sentences for the crime

of kidnapping and forcibly converting underage

minority girls, and defining marriage between a Muslim

man and a minor of another religion as forced marriage,

and therefore null and void. This bill was rejected by the

Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and

Interfaith Harmony in September 2020, with some

members of the Committee arguing that minorities in

Pakistan already enjoyed sufficient rights while others

reasoned that forced conversions of minorities in

Pakistan was less of an issue in comparison to the

treatment of minorities in India.

— Communications by UN Special Procedures to the

Government of Pakistan — 26 October 2022

The UN Special Procedures’ communication to the then government in

October 2022 and the subsequent statement highlights the failure of the

state to protect children from religious minority backgrounds against the

risk of forced conversions.

Despite a list of violations linked to forced conversion, the crime has

continued, primarily in Sindh and Punjab, where the majority of Hindu

and Christian Pakistanis reside. An HRCP fact-finding mission

conducted in February 2023 found that Ghotki, Sindh, was the

‘epicentre’ of forced conversions.

In September 2022, a Hindu

teenager

Chanda Maharaj was abducted and later revealed to have been

converted to Islam. Maharaj was handed over to the

dar-ul-aman

[government-run shelter] and not allowed to meet her family.

December the same year, a Hindu man Laloo Kacchi was killed by a

Muslim man who had abducted his sister Laali Bai Kacchi in the Kunri

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area of Umarkot in Sindh.

By January 2023, the perpetrator had been

released on bail.

A Christian minor aged 13 was abducted by a Muslim

man from Tibba Samad Manga Mandi in Lahore, and then found to

have been married to her abductor (aged 38), according to the girl’s

parents.

In February 2023, a 17-year-old Hindu girl, Karishma Bheel,

was abducted and forcibly converted in Naukot, Mirpur Khas.

In June

2023, another Christian minor was reportedly abducted and forcibly

converted; she has not been reunited with her family, as per reports from

human rights monitors.

Data gathered by HRCP shows at least 20 cases of alleged forced

conversion in Sindh in 2022. Research by the Centre for Social Justice

(CSJ) shows an uptick in the number of cases of alleged forced

conversion in 2022, with a total of 124 cases, of which 81 were Hindu,

42 Christian and one Sikh; 45 of these girls were aged between 14 and

18, and 29 were younger than 18. Sindh had the highest number of

forcibly converted females at 82, Punjab 40, and Balochistan and

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with one each. In 2023, the CSJ verified at least

71 cases of alleged forced conversion in Sindh and Punjab. Of all

districts across the country, Mirpur Khas had the highest number of

cases, followed by Ghotki and Umarkot.

However, it must be noted

that local Hindu rights collectives working on documenting cases in real

time, with an extensive network on the ground, state and show that the

number of Hindu women and girls’ forced conversion is underreported

and much higher.

HRDs engaged in the campaign against forced conversion and working

closely with victims in Sindh and Punjab report that the large

constituency of victims of forced conversions are from low-income

households.

The data suggests the same. HRDs explained that the

procedures for recovering abducted victims work against families and

targeted communities, for instance, in the form of delayed first

information reports (FIRs). If the victims were traced by the police, they

were not allowed to meet their families during their stay at the

dar-ul-

aman.

Grooming and sexual violence were also perpetrated against

victims of forced conversion, according to HRDs and lawyers. This

situation indicates that the authorities fail to apply the relevant

provisions of the PPC,

which could protect victims and deal with their

families in a just and fair manner in accordance with due process.

There has been no progress on the legislation front to prevent forced

conversions. In June 2023, Hindu members of the Sindh

assembly

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raised the case of Sohna Sharma, a teenage Hindu victim of abduction

and conversion. They were met with heated arguments from the house.

The TLP representative in the assembly even defended such

conversions to Islam.

The lack of progress in legislation or

implementing bills already passed in the provinces has been a consistent

obstacle to acquiring justice. The Ministry for Religious Affairs and

Interfaith Harmony invited infamous cleric, Pir Abdul Haq—known as

‘Mian Mithu’—who spearheads the campaign for forced or questionable

conversions in Sindh to an event on interfaith harmony.

In December

2022, Mian Mithu had already been placed under sanctions by the UK.

5.2

Gender-based violence against minority women

Violence against women from minority communities remained under-

reported in 2022/23. Although abductions and forced conversions of

minority women and girls also fall within the ambit of gender-based

violence, they are not included in mainstream discussions of this

category of abuse. However, some incidents of heinous gender-based

violence perpetrated against women from religious minority

communities do make it to the press at times, and yet do not meet the

degree of reportage and public discussion they merit.

In Karachi, a Muslim youth threw acid on a young Christian woman for

refusing his advances in 2023.

In Samundari, Faisalabad, a missing

Christian teenager was found dead after she had left the house with her

father.

A Hindu widow, Daya Bheel, was found murdered and her

body mutilated and dumped in a field in Hyderabad.

In Lahore in June

2023, a Christian woman and mother of three was raped and killed in an

acid attack by a Muslim man and his accomplices for refusing to marry

him.

Christian women subjected to domestic violence in marriages

remain especially vulnerable to gender-based violence without the

protection of law, as seeking divorce is difficult, primarily due to lack of

progressive development and amendments to the Christian Divorce Act

1869.

5.3

Blasphemy and religion-related offences

Years on, Junaid Hafeez, the teacher and scholar from Bahauddin

Zakariya University in Punjab who was charged with blasphemy in 2013,

remains incarcerated on death row in Multan. Hafeez’s case is

emblematic of the misuse of the blasphemy laws in Pakistan as well as

of the gross miscarriage of justice. It also shows how blasphemy

accusations are often linked to the repression of freedom of expression.

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In Sindh, Nautan Lal,

a Hindu principal of a school in Ghotki, remains

incarcerated for life on charges of blasphemy; his family was forced to

move cities out of concern for their safety. Lal’s counsel has appealed

his conviction in the Sindh High Court.

In addition to the hundreds

languishing in prisons, on death row or subjected to pre-trial detention

and lengthy unfair trials, a string of new cases of blasphemy were

registered across Pakistan from July 2022 to June 2023.

In a bizarre turn of events, in July 2022, the office of a mobile company

franchise in Karachi was attacked by a mob for an alleged insult to

revered historical Islamic personalities via the usernames of two wi-fi

devices. The manager and several staff members were taken into

custody. According to news reports quoting witnesses and social media

posts, a screenshot of the usernames was spread via WhatsApp, which

riled up the mob. Videos of men with batons vandalizing property at the

market were shared on social media platforms.

In September 2022, a Christian man, Imran Rehman, was arrested on

charges of blasphemy under sections of the Prevention of Electronic

Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 and Anti-Terrorism Act 1997

for sharing an

allegedly controversial message on WhatsApp. In November, his family

and lawyers claimed he was tortured in custody.

In July 2023, an anti-

terrorism court rejected his plea for the elimination of terrorism charges.

Rehman’s lawyer told the press that his client had been traumatized and

detained in a cell with inmates suffering from mental ailments.

October 2022, the police managed to save Mehwish Imran, a woman

accused of blasphemy in Karachi, when a mob gathered outside the

station to punish her for the alleged desecration of Islamic scriptures.

Her husband claimed she had a mental illness. However, she was

booked under section 295-B of the blasphemy laws.

Cases of people

accused of blasphemy suffering from mental health problems after

imprisonment and/or imprisoned despite their mental ailments is

nothing new but remains underreported.

In Islamabad in November 2022, a Christian sanitation worker was

arrested for sharing allegedly blasphemous Facebook posts on

WhatsApp. His family spoke up about his arrest after two months.

The

district court in Lahore also rejected post-arrest bail pleas of two people

arrested on blasphemy charges in November 2022. One had allegedly

shared insults to revered Islamic figures via WhatsApp and was arrested

for running a Facebook group featuring allegedly sacrilegious posts.

December the same year, a man in Azad Jammu and Kashmir was

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sentenced to death for committing blasphemy via a Facebook post by

the additional sessions court.

The same month, a resident of Dir was

given life imprisonment because of an allegedly blasphemous post

shared via WhatsApp.

In May 2023, two Christian teenagers, one of

whom was a minor, were booked for blasphemy in Lahore.

5.4

Ahmadiyya-specific targeting

Cases of blasphemy and religion-related offences combined with PECA

charges tend to be applied disproportionately against the embattled

Ahmadiyya community. The year 2023 began with the arrest of an

Ahmadi man on charges of 295-B and 298-C, the FIR for which was

registered in December 2022. Two more police cases were filed against

Ahmadis in Punjab and one in Karachi.

In December 2022, section 295-C of the blasphemy laws was

posthumously added to the charges in a 2020 FIR that was originally

filed under 295-A, 153-A and section 11 of PECA,

against the chief of

administrative affairs of the Ahmadiyya community. This addition took

place on the complaint of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to the

judicial magistrate in Lahore.

In an interview for this report, the

community perceived this targeting of its senior leadership as part of a

malicious campaign. The community challenged the FIA’s jurisdiction

in investigating PPC cases, specifically where blasphemy offences were

included in the FIR. However, in 2022, the Lahore High Court

dismissed the petition, stating that PECA and PPC offences could be

tried together, without addressing the issue of FIA jurisdiction.

Sections 298A–C

of the PPC are widely used to restrict the religious

freedoms of Ahmadi Pakistanis. Statements by the community,

interviews with HRCP and police actions show that police officials’

limited interpretation of these sections exacerbates the targeting of

Ahmadi worship sites, desecration of graves and removal of religious

inscriptions from Ahmadi-owned properties.

In March 2023, the UN Special Rapporteurs on minority issues, FORB,

freedom of expression and independence of judges and lawyers wrote

to the Government of Pakistan to communicate their concerns over

‘violent attacks’ on Ahmadis, ‘hate speech’ and incitement to violence

by anti-Ahmadi campaigners and authorities including the police and bar

councils. They further emphasized that despite their requests for

‘remedial actions’ by the authorities’, the community’s safety had

continued to deteriorate.

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5.5

Bails granted to persons charged with blasphemy

There were some positives in 2022/23, which should give civil society

some semblance of hope. In two proceedings, the Supreme Court

granted bail to three Christian youths in August 2022.

However, post-

arrest bail did not guarantee their safety as far-right groups and TLP

activists were known to have begun agitating against the bails. In at least

one case documented for this report, one of the accused who was

granted bail fled Pakistan in difficult circumstances after word of his

release was spread among far-right groups.

In May 2023, a Christian

woman and a Muslim man were granted bail by the Lahore High

Court.

5.6

Blasphemy cases and numbers

Punjab leads in terms of the number of cases of blasphemy recorded

across Pakistan by various institutions.

Table 1 provides data as of

December 2023. Of 552 prisoners jailed for blasphemy offences, 485

were under trial, 44 had been convicted and 23 were either

‘unconfirmed’ as condemned or on death row. Prior to December,

according to the ‘crime-wise’ population data for Punjab’s prisons,

uploaded by the authorities, the total number of prisoners on blasphemy

charges was 431 in August 2023.

This illustrates an increase of 121 (or

28 percent) in the space of one quarter.

Table 1: Number of prisoners jailed for blasphemy offences in Punjab

in 2023

under PPC sections 295 A–C

Male (adult)

534

Under trial (male)

470

Convicted (male)

‘Unconfirmed’

condemned (male)

Male (juvenile)

Under trial

(juvenile)

Convicted (female)

‘Unconfirmed’

condemned (female)

Female

Under trial (female)

552

Total

485

On death row

(male)

Source:

Punjab government, Prisons Department.

In Sindh’s prisons, by November 2023, 82 were incarcerated on

blasphemy charges, out of which 78 were under trial and 4 were

convicted, according to data from the Sindh Prisons Department.

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Karachi had the highest number of blasphemy-accused in Sindh at 47,

including 2 women, Hyderabad had 14 prisoners, Larkana 9, Mirpur 5,

and Naushero Feroze, Ghotki and Dadu had 1 prisoner each.

The CSJ has documented cases of religion-related offences as of

September 2023, reporting 200 cases of blasphemy in 2023 and 171 in

2022 (Table 2). So far, the highest number of blasphemy cases recorded

in a year was in 2020, with 208 cases.

Table 2: Number of blasphemy cases in 2022, by faith, region and city

Muslim

Ahmadi

Christian

Hindu

Not

specified

Total

171

Punjab

112

Sindh

Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa

Islamabad

Balochistan

AJK

Total

171

Karachi

Chiniot

Khan

Gujranwala

Faisalabad

Lahore

Other

Total

171

Source:

Centre for Social Justice.

5.7

The rise of the anti-online blasphemy brigade

In 2022, the FIA Cybercrime Wing arrested 81 accused in 65 cases of

blasphemy.

PECA 2016 and sections of the PPC (295A, 295C, 298,

298A) are included in the FIA’s mandate of inquiry and investigation.

Its Counter-Terrorism Wing also deals with cyber-terrorism and

blasphemy and in the first six months of 2023, the wing lists one case of

blasphemy in its quarterly achievements.

The FIA has set up units for

addressing blasphemy complaints on social media, messenger apps and

the internet at large, at each station of the Cybercrime Wing.

In addition to members of bar councils, bodies of lawyers working to

advocate the discriminatory blasphemy laws, multiple groups across the

country work in a dedicated manner to identify blasphemy committed

online, primarily on social media, but also on WhatsApp groups and

communication (see Box 3). These include the Tehreek-Tahaffuz-e-

Namoos-e-Risalat Pakistan (TTNRP)—the Movement for Protection

of the Sanctity of Prophethood—which is an off-shoot of Islamabad’s

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Lal Masjid affiliate, the Shuhahda Foundation. The 2023 new year’s

message issued by the TTNRP explicitly lists that in addition to pursuing

cases of blasphemy online, their battle includes ‘defeating the Ahmadis’.

In March 2023, the TTNRP issued a self-congratulatory press release

about an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar that had awarded a death

sentence to a resident of Mardan who had allegedly committed

blasphemy via a WhatsApp group in Talagang, Punjab. The accused also

had terrorism charges lodged against him.

The TTNRP repeatedly

claims and lists that it has been instrumental in obtaining death

sentences for nine accused in blasphemy cases.

Box 3: Blasphemy allegations and social media

Since the passage of PECA 2016, it has been used to curb all forms of speech,

stifle dissent and target HRDs. The blasphemy accusation campaign against the

five bloggers and rights defenders who were forcibly disappeared for three weeks

in January 2017 was one of the first cases that received significant attention for

establishing a connection between blasphemy via tech or the internet. Prior to

that, Junaid Hafeez was accused of blasphemy via Facebook comments in

2013,

and an Ahmadi youth was accused of a blasphemous Facebook post in

Gujranwala in 2014.

However, it was only 2017 onwards that organized

attempts to witch-hunt people for online expression or to fabricate blasphemy

evidence using social media or messenger apps for vested agendas, began to

emerge. The concepts of

gustakh-e-rasool

and

tauheen-e-risalat

are widely

abused by lawyers and by informal but organized collectives that have been

strengthened by the TLP since its registration as a political party.

The other group at the forefront of this battle to pursue blasphemy cases

is the Legal Commission on Blasphemy of Pakistan (LCBP), a collective

comprising primarily right-wing lawyers with a dominant presence in

Punjab. All such groups are formalized by self-declared defenders of

majoritarian Islam. Due to a rigorous campaign by these groups for strict

state action against alleged insults to Islam and figures declared revered

by majoritarian Sunni Islam, an uptick in online blasphemy complaints

was reported by the FIA and these lawyers’ collectives. The Ministry of

Religious Affairs quoted an FIA report in July 2023, which confirmed

400,000 complaints of online blasphemy and linked it to obscenity.

A month prior in June, at an event hosted by Ahl-e-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat

in Rawalpindi, a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Mufti

Muhammad Zubair, stated that a blanket ban on social media would be

acceptable if it would counter online ‘blasphemy’.

The LCBP’s account

on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) boasts of several cases of

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alleged blasphemy committed online that were pursued by the law

collective. In early 2023, during an address to Sargodha’s district bar, the

LCBP chief announced that the law office had established direct

communication with the additional director overseeing the ‘blasphemy

unit’ of the FIA’s Cybercrime Wing to register FIRs against blasphemy-

related offences.

The Ahmadiyya community has also been subjected to repeated cases

of alleged blasphemy and offences committed via technology in what

appears to be a coordinated campaign spearheaded by Lahore-based

cleric Hassan Muawaiya.

He has submitted FIRs and complaints and

petitioned cases against the beleaguered community or is affiliated with

individuals who have. Muawaiya has also directly and indirectly

threatened at least two human rights defenders in 2021 and 2022 for the

latter’s work.

5.8

Surveillance and labelling of HRDs advocating FORB

A glaringly repressive attack on collective freedoms of religion,

expression and association took place in 2022 when the CSJ office was

targeted. In July, the CSJ made a joint submission to Pakistan

’

s fourth

UPR cycle.

The NGO was first smeared for having engaged in ‘anti-

state’ activity and defaming Pakistan by raising forced conversions and

blasphemy law-related abuses in its submission to the Human Rights

Council via a news report published in an extensively read Urdu daily,

Jang.

In September 2022, another news item quoting the Ministry of

Interior appeared in

Jang,

accusing the CSJ of ‘negative propaganda’

against Pakistan.

These reprisals continued in the following months. The Office of the

Registrar, Joint Stock Companies, issued notices to the CSJ and alleged

that its UPR submission was beyond the ‘permitted’ mandate of the

organization. This was used as an excuse to delay renewal of its periodic

registration. The CSJ petitioned the Lahore High Court in 2022 against

notices from the Office of the Registrar. In January 2023, the court

adjourned the case hearings indefinitely till further notice.

This has

been a widely used tactic to label and undermine the work of NGOs and

HRDs—declaring their work to be against ‘national interests’.

5.9

Risks to lives of defenders of victims of religious discrimination

For years, the lawyers and HRDs who provide legal counsel to victims

of the blasphemy laws have done so at great cost to their safety. The

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2013 murder of Rashid Rehman, lawyer of Junaid Hafeez, remains a

sobering example of this reality. The harassment and intimidation of

these lawyers continues across the country. From 2022 to 2023, at least

two human rights lawyers, with a history of taking up cases of the

blasphemy accused were subjected to malicious targeting. One Christian

lawyer and HRD eventually had to leave the country after a sustained

series of threats by members of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Lawyers

Forum, a TLP affiliate. Prior to leaving Pakistan, he was forcibly

displaced and had to relocate at least twice to save his life and protect

his loved ones.

In 2023, an Ahmadi lawyer and HRD, who had been representing the

community for decades in court, was arrested and jailed for months for

having the prefix ‘Syed’ attached to his name. An FIR with charges 298-

B and 298-C was registered against him; as of end-June 2023, he was still

in jail. The senior lawyer who represented him was also manhandled by

a group of pro-blasphemy law lawyers on the court premises.

In April

2023, an Ahmadi lawyer from Lalian, Chiniot, who represents Ahmadis

accused of blasphemy, was attacked by a man affiliated with the Khatm-

e-Nabuwwat seminary.

The targeted HRD sustained injuries and was

admitted to hospital.

These attacks on HRDs also expose the impunity with which right-wing

lawyers and their supporters operate in the courts. Lawyers and fact-

finding officers who routinely appear for cases in court, have to navigate

a toxic and even dangerous work environment, as they are confronted

with the TLP or Khatm-e-Nabuwwat forums’ senior lawyers. In the

court room, the far-right and their lawyers tend to speak over the judges

and intimidate them into silence during proceedings.

5.10 Institutionalized intolerance

Bar associations have taken exclusionary measures that amplify the

dangerous far-right rhetoric and contribute to persecution in the name

of religion. In May 2023, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council made it

mandatory to sign an affidavit that declares Ahmadis non-Muslim, for

lawyers to practice in the province.

This decision was taken by the

executive council of the bar council. Similarly, the Gujranwala Bar

Council has also made it mandatory to sign a similar affidavit for

inclusion in this lawyers’ body.

It must be noted that declaring

Ahmadis non-Muslims when applying for a national identity card or

passport—and now when signing marriage contract in Punjab—and the

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discriminatory amendments in Section 298 are used to justify further

anti-Ahmadi actions adopted by institutions. Such measures encourage

profiling of the persecuted group in a society where public disclosure of

their religious identity places a target on their back.

5.11 Social media and hate speech

While we have seen the suspension of some accounts that incite hate on

platforms such as X (Twitter) and Facebook (Meta), the far-right still

uses YouTube, Tiktok, X, Instagram and Meta for nefarious campaigns

that create space for targeting religious minorities and/or advancing

narratives around violence in the name of religion. HRDs from minority

communities are frequently smeared online in hateful commentary.

Moreover, rights defenders and religious minorities do not have access

to the relevant authorities in the social media companies that run these

platforms. Therefore, in cases of emergency when social media is used

for campaigns of incitement to hate and violence, there is no pathway

for the affected groups to have the smear campaign terminated.

5.12 Targeted killings and mob violence

Religiously motivated killings triggered by allegations of even suspected

blasphemy can be premeditated murders in Pakistan. In August 2022,

an Ahmadi man was stabbed to death in Chenab Nagar, Punjab.

His

attacker quoted and chanted slogans of the TLP.

In February 2023, a

Christian man was killed in North Waziristan.

In the same month, a

Pakistani-Norwegian man was shot dead by a young man in Kharian,

Punjab.

100

On 31 March 2023, a Sikh trader was shot dead in

Peshawar,

101

and within days a Christian sanitation worker was killed in

the provincial capital.

102

Eventually, both targeted killings in Peshawar

were claimed by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

103

In June

2023, two Sikh men were shot at, resulting in one man sustaining injuries

and the second losing his life.

104

In August 2022, a Hindu sanitation worker was rescued by the police in

Hyderabad when a mob attempted to lynch him after accusing him of

desecrating the Quran.

105

This rescue was lauded as a rare instance in

which the police successfully performed their duty of controlling a mob.

A case was registered against the sanitation worker.

106

Although he was

released in September, a mentally challenged young man was arrested as

the real culprit.

107

In October 2022, a differently abled man was killed

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due to mere allegations of blasphemy by a former seminary student in

Ghotki, Sindh. Both the victim and perpetrator were Muslims.

108

However, in 2023, in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, incidents of

violence by religiously motivated mobs led to a grotesque win for the

far-right over humanity. In February 2023, a brutal lynching took place

in Nankana Sahib’s Warburton area. The mob, consisting of young men

and teenagers, attacked the designated police station, seized a man

accused of blasphemy and lynched him. Video footage from Warburton

showed the mob chanting slogans of

khatm-e-nabuwwat

[finality of

Prophethood] and bearing supposed evidence of blasphemy. The

perpetrators can also be seen damaging the police station. The police

failed to face the mob and save the accused and their office properties.

In April 2023, a Chinese national working at a power plant at Dasu Dam

in Kohistan barely survived a lynch mob. He was eventually released on

bail.

109

In May, a cleric affiliated with the PTI as a political worker was

beaten to death in Mardan for comments that were misinterpreted as

sacrilegious during a corner meeting. Multiple videos of people beating

the cleric were widely pushed on social media. The police attempted to

save the man, but were overpowered by the mob.

110

5.13 Attacks on religious practices and worship sites

As of end-June 2023, at least nine Ahmadiyya worship sites had

reportedly been attacked; seven of these attacks took place in Sindh

alone. Overall, the targeted sites were in Wazirabad, Karachi,

Gujranwala, Mirpur Khas, Umarkot, Sargodha and Jhelum. In the first

week of February 2023, four Ahmadiyya worship places in Sindh were

vandalized via demolitions, gunfire and arson.

In Punjab and Sindh, the TLP leads the campaign of violence directed

at Ahmadi worship sites with some help from local affiliates of the

Aalmi Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (Council for the

Protection of Finality of Prophethood). Visual evidence shows men

demolishing minarets and domes. In videos from Karachi and Sargodha,

chants supporting the TLP and

khatm-e-nabuwwat

can be overheard by

supporters of the perpetrators.

In July 2023, the Ahmadiyya Jamaat reported that a TLP member had

‘threatened’ the police in Kalan Gujran, Jhelum, to demolish the

minarets of a worship place, to which the police had responded by

rounding up members of the community and confiscating their phones

before demolishing the minarets (see also Box 4).

111

The Ahmadiyya

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community states that of the nine attacks on worship sites in 2023, the

police personnel were involved in razing, demolishing or damaging their

properties in two cases.

Box 4: The role of law enforcers in attacks on sites of worship

An escalation in attacks on Ahmadiyya sites of worship has been documented in

past years, the bulk of which occurred in Punjab and Sindh with immense

impunity. The speed and pattern of the vandalism, threats by the far-right,

appeasement of extremists by law enforcers, and the authorities’ proactive

approach to defacing facades of Ahmadi properties and demolishing minarets all

point towards the ready willingness of law enforcement personnel to put the

sentiments of the Muslim majority first, in the guise of maintaining law and order.

HRDs and community spokespersons maintain that at neighbourhood meetings

to resolve crises caused by hostilities initiated by the far-right and sectarian

religious outfits, law enforcers never vouch for the minority community. In cases

where worship sites have been desecrated, wherever district administrations and

the police state that the beleaguered group ‘consented’ to the demolition or harm

to the site, it appears to be a matter of interpretation.

The Ahmadiyya community has maintained for years that their peacekeeping and

respect for law are always falsely interpreted as consent by the authorities.

112

HRCP fact-finding mission that investigated attacks on Ahmadis in Punjab in

January 2023, found that the TLP had been running a targeted campaign against

the community in Gujranwala and its surroundings, and that the police, along with

the district administration, had given into TLP pressure instead of curbing it. This

appeasement helped create a permissive environment for attacks on the

Ahmadiyya community in the region.

113

It is important to note that social media accounts on social platform X

(formerly Twitter) began posting about Ahmadi worship sites that were

eventually targeted by the TLP in 2023.

114

5.14 Persecuting Ahmadis for Eid celebrations

The targeting of Ahmadis while on their way to or from prayers through

acts of violence and intimidation is no longer rare. They are increasingly

witch-hunted for observing Eid in private via organized, coordinated

campaigns despite the Supreme Court judgment issued by Justice

Mansoor Ali Shah in 2021

115

and the landmark 2014 Supreme Court

judgement, both of which guarantee protections for minorities’ religious

practice and worship sites. In 2022, at the time of Eid-Al-Azha, at least

ten cases were registered against Ahmadi men for ritual animal

sacrifice.

116

The TLP campaigned to incite its followers into barring the

community’s Eid celebrations through pamphlets circulated offline and

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online.

117

For instance, according to a TLP pamphlet, the party’s local

leader, Abdur Rauf Salik, visited the area’s DSP and SHO in

Sheikhupura and submitted applications to ban Ahmadiyya residents

from observing Eid rituals.

On 23 June 2023, the office of the Punjab home secretary sent a

directive to all deputy commissioners in the province stating that ‘only

Muslims shall be allowed to perform Qurbani in accordance with

Islamic rites.’

118

On 24 June, the DPO for Hafizabad sent a notification

to his subordinate staff ensuring that Ahmadis would not carry out ritual

animal sacrifice, for them to have this written by the local Ahmadi

community on stamp paper and sent to the ‘nearest security branch’

within two day.

119

In 2023, six FIRs were filed before and during Eid and a number of

arrests took place in Punjab.

120

According to a lawyer in Faisalabad, who

also belongs to the community, police stations covering these

neighbourhoods told the community not to practice ritual animal

sacrifice or give it to them in writing that Ahmadis would refrain from

doing so. An Ahmadi minor was detained for hours on Eid day in

Faisalabad and police confiscated meat from Ahmadi homes, according

to reports from the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya and a local Ahmadi resident.

Video and photographic evidence from the day show uniformed

policemen with non-Ahmadi residents confiscating sacrificial animals.

5.15 Attacks on temples

A Hindu temple was vandalized in Karachi’s Korangi Town in June

2022. The statue of a deity inside the temple was damaged.

121

In 2023, a

gang of dacoits opened indiscriminate fire on a Hindu temple in

Kashmore, Sindh. Senior police officials told the press that the

perpetrators had meant to target the homeowner who lived next to the

temple and the attack was not religiously motivated.

122

HRCP issued a statement raising concerns over unrest in Kashmore and

Ghotki, in addition to asking for protection for vulnerable Hindu

residents of these cities.

123

However, the incident enhanced the feeling

of insecurity among the Hindu community in these cities, and the police

increased security for the protection of temples.

124

5.16 Religious minorities targeted in death

Desecration of Ahmadi graves.

More than 87 Ahmadiyya graves were

desecrated in 2022/23, of which at least 84 were in Punjab. In July 2022,

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at least 53 graves were desecrated in Gujranwala, Punjab. The police

were found to have been complicit in the desecration of these graves,

according to an HRCP fact-finding mission.

125

In August 2022, 16

Ahmadi graves were desecrated in the walled graveyard of Chak 203 RB

Mananwala in Faisalabad.

126

The community claimed that this graveyard

had existed since 1947. In November 2022, Ahmadiyya graves were

defaced in Premkot, Hafizabad.

127

In January 2023, unidentified men

vandalized Ahmadiyya graves in 89 Ratan GB in Faisalabad. In

February, five Ahmadi gravestones were defaced in Talwandi

Khajoorwali in Gujranwala.

Hindu cemeteries.

A Hindu woman’s ashes were desecrated and scattered

outside a crematorium in Kalat, Balochistan in October 2022. The

vulnerability of the community was reportedly due to lack of security,

which the local administration had refused to provide.

128

Additionally,

an HRCP fact-finding to South Punjab in 2022 established that access

to Christian and Hindu cemeteries was obstructed by the ‘unauthorized

occupation of surrounding areas’ by Muslim residents of Bahawalpur.

129

Christians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The problem of land being unavailable

for dignified burial for the Christian community in Bajaur has persisted

for years.

130

However, Christians in Peshawar and other districts are

confronted with the urgent need for more graveyards for their dead,

with only four graveyards for a population of over 70,000 Christians as

of February 2023.

131

5.17 Sectarian aggression and Shia killings

The Shia community across Pakistan remained vulnerable to blasphemy

cases and other charges under religiously motivated laws during

2022/23. Sections 295-A and 298-A were repeatedly used in FIRs

against the Shia community, based on a review of police reports by

HRCP. In August 2022, at the beginning of Muharram,

132

two members

of the Shia community were killed in clashes that began after a Shia

leader hoisted a flag of religious significance to the community in

Khomar Chowk in Gilgit, according to local police.

133

In September

2022, a religious procession led by the Shia community in Sialkot was

attacked by perpetrators carrying firearms, iron rods and stones, injuring

several devotees.

134

Two weeks after this attack, a Shia orator was target-

killed in the city.

135

In 2023, sectarian tensions mounted in Kurram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

where clashes between rival sects escalated until a ceasefire was called

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and decided on in July. However, the tension in the region has persisted

and all differences have taken a sectarian shape. Violence in the region

reached the degree that six Shia teachers at a Parachinar school were

killed in May 2023 in what was reported as a retaliatory sectarian

attack.

136

In a statement from July,

137

HRCP pointed out that the clashes

had ‘interrupted access to schools and curtailed freedom of movement,

especially that of the local Shia community’, adding that militancy fed

into existing sectarian differences.

138

While sectarian violence against the Shia Hazara community in Quetta

has decreased, with no reported incidents in 2022/23, the community

remains largely confined to neighbourhoods in Hazara Town and

Marriabad and still requires a security escort when venturing into the

main city.

5.18 Crimes against Hindus

The Hindu community has been increasingly exposed to crime in Sindh

as they are a soft target for criminal actors. Abductions for ransom,

murder and extortion have led to displacement according to community

representatives. In March 2023, a Hindu ophthalmologist was gunned

down in Karachi.

139

In Hyderabad, another Hindu dermatologist was

killed by his private driver.

140

It was not clear, however, if these were

faith-based killings.

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6 Recommendations

HRCP presents the following recommendations for the federal

government, state authorities and judiciary:

Ensure that Pakistan’s international human rights commitments on

freedoms of religion or belief, and expression are fully met in

accordance with Articles 19, 20, 26 and 27 of the ICCPR and

Articles 18 and 19 of the UDHR.

Demonstrate the urgency of enforcing and complying with the 2014

Supreme Court judgement on the rights of religious minorities.

Ensure that the right to fair trial is upheld for persons accused of

any and all religion-related offences. Police, prosecution and

members of the judiciary must perform their duties impartially and

independently, and must not be impacted by religious belief or

pressure from third parties.

Implement existing legislative protections against false accusations

of blasphemy. To prosecute false accusations and create deterrence,

make use of section 211 of the PPC, which includes imprisonment

for seven years and a fine.

Implement the recommendations put forward by the National

Commission for Human Rights in 2016 to reduce the misapplication

and misuse of the blasphemy laws.

Prosecute those responsible for planning and carrying out

religiously motivated violent attacks in accordance with the law and

international standards.

Ensure that the views and practices of religious minorities are not

deemed inherently suspicious and as grounds for incitement by

default.

Ensure that political party candidates and leaders who participate in

hate campaigns and contribute to inflammatory anti-minority

political rhetoric are held to account by the Election Commission

of Pakistan.

Law enforcement, prosecutors and the judiciary must ensure that

their duty to investigate and adjudicate religion-related offences is

done with impartiality and independence.

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

Develop training methodologies for judges in the curricula of the

provincial and federal judicial academy so that they are sensitized to

human rights. Judges holding far-right views must not be appointed

to the bench.

Develop curricula and training methodologies for the legal

community, bureaucracy and law enforcement that emphasize

upholding and implementing international human rights standards.

High court administrations must supervise and evaluate judgements

by subordinate judges to assess if due process was observed and if

such judgments are compatible with the human rights guaranteed

by the Constitution and Pakistan’s international commitments.

Develop and enforce a mechanism to regulate bar councils and

associations, and assess and track the conduct of lawyers who

actively support hate and incitement campaigns.

Ensure that officers of the FIA Cybercrime Unit and blasphemy

reporting cells are not compromised and influenced by their own

religious affiliations.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and FIA Cybercrime

Wing must make public their criteria for and process of vetting and

investigating blasphemy accusations via FIR complaints. They must

also engage with qualified experts on the subject and subscribe to a

higher threshold for evidence for online blasphemy accusations.

Engage with members of all religious minorities, experts of local and

international human rights standards and civil society organizations

to produce a deterrence policy that can protect religious minorities

and majorities alike from incitement and religiously motivated

violence.

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

Endnotes

Pakistan

’

s previous three UPRs took place in 2008, 2012 and 2017.

See para 53, page 9: A/HRC/WG.6/42/PAK/1

See para 54, page 9: A/HRC/WG.6/42/PAK/1

See para 41: A/HRC/WG.6/42/PAK/1

https://www.dawn.com/news/1702386/updated-form-a-must-for-solemnising-nikah-in-

punjab

https://thefridaytimes.com/01-Aug-2022/pml-q-leader-calls-for-eviction-of-ahmadis-

from-khushab

Interview conducted as part of this report.

https://thefridaytimes.com/21-Nov-2021/the-architects-of-project-tlp-have-unleashed-

chaos-will-they-be-held-accountable. For more on the impact of the TLP’s incitement to

hate and violence, see Section 5.3.

A six-minute video clip of the speech reviewed for this report. For more:

https://voicepk.net/2022/09/video-shows-tlp-leader-inciting-violence-against-pregnant-

ahmadi-women/ and https://krosskonnection.pk/2022/10/video-tlp-leader-incites-

followers-to-attack-pregnant-ahmadi-women/

The PML-N was part of the ruling coalition since April 2022, after Imran Khan’s ouster

via a vote of no confidence by the Parliament.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1709751

A clip of this speech is available here:

https://twitter.com/Syyeda14/status/1552372648717570048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ct

wcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1552381790295408640%7Ctwgr%5E7db3b7aad

aec343c499fd3f10a019a9fc3d7e77b%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww

.thefridaytimes.com%2F2022%2F07%2F28%2Fsocial-media-shocked-over-imran-khans-

comments-about-shirk%2F

Satti was booked under section 295-A of the blasphemy laws, a hate speech section. See:

https://cpj.org/2022/08/punjab-authorities-open-blasphemy-and-defamation-

investigation-into-pakistani-journalist-waqar-satti/;

https://www.dawn.com/news/1707201

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/3/pakistan-ex-pm-imran-khan-was-shot-

what-where-and-why

https://www.dawn.com/news/1719073

Mr Khan rejected the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government’s claims that

the assassination was attempted by a lone shooter who targeted him for misleading the

public.

The Senate passed this draft bill in August 2023 (beyond this document’s reporting

period). Former president Arif Alvi stated that he had not enacted the bill into law. Thus,

its status at the time this report was finalized is not clear.

Mushtaq Ahmed Chitrali has shared anti-Ahmadiyya posts on his social media

platforms.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/08/pakistan-ahmadis-kept-minorities-

commission. The commission was delegated to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and

Interfaith Harmony, which undermined its autonomy.

https://mora.gov.pk/Detail/NDBhZWViZDUtZmEzOC00ZDlhLWJiMzEtM2MwZDQ

zZjNiMWM5

https://www.geo.tv/latest/460311-pm-shehbaz-vows-to-protect-right-of-religious-

minorities

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

https://thefridaytimes.com/14-Jul-2023/human-rights-defenders-demand-

amendments-in-minorities-commission-bill. The bill was eventually dropped by the Senate

in August 2023.

https://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2022-South-Punjab-

Excluded-exploited-EN.pdf

These seven minority faiths are: Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Bahai, Zoroastrianism,

Kalasha and Buddhism. https://www.nation.com.pk/22-Oct-2022/national-curriculum-

for-seven-minority-faiths-launched-in-sindh and

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2380518/separate-curriculum-for-minorities-likely

https://www.dawn.com/news/1740572

This communication was made public in December 2022 and was followed by a

statement on 16 January 2023. The excerpt is from UN experts on contemporary forms of

slavery, trafficking, sale and exploitation of children, discrimination and violence against

women, protection of women and children, minority issues and freedom of religion and

belief, who had written to the Government of Pakistan when six cases of forced

conversion of women and girls from the Hindu and Christian communities were reported

in the last quarter of 2022. See:

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile

?gId=27585 and https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/01/pakistan-un-experts-

urge-action-coerced-religious-conversions-forced-and

The fact-finding report was published in September 2023, but the investigation was

carried out in February 2023 (within this document’s reporting period).

With Chanda Maharaj, another teenager Jasmi Meghwar was allegedly abducted and

forcibly converted. This case was underreported and disseminated via social media

platforms primarily. https://krosskonnection.pk/2022/10/another-two-minor-hindu-

girls-abducted-in-sindh/

https://www.dawn.com/news/1719369

https://therisenews.com/2023/01/01/another-hindu-man-succumbed-to-his-injuries-

in-five-days-and-his-sister-abducted/ and https://thefridaytimes.com/23-Feb-

2023/minorities-live-in-fear-as-allegations-of-forced-conversions-rise-in-pakistan

https://dissenttoday.net/featured/man-accused-of-killing-hindu-citizen-and-abducting-

his-sister-in-sindh-gets-bail/

https://krosskonnection.pk/2023/03/13yo-christian-girl-forcibly-converted-married-in-

lahore/

https://therisenews.com/2023/02/25/being-hindu-daughters-are-converted-forcibly/

Data shared by the CSJ of cases from January till July 2023.

Most of this reporting draws on documents shared via open-source social media

platforms and independent digital platforms.

Interviews with HRDs conducted for this report.

Government-run shelter homes for women and girls across Pakistan.

Section 498-B on prohibition of forced marriage, sections 375 and 376 on rape and

sexual relationship with a teenager under 16, section 365-B on kidnapping, abducting and

forcing a woman to consent to a marriage under duress, section 361 on kidnapping a

minor, section 364 on kidnapping a minor and subjecting them to slavery and/or sexual

abuse. See Pakistan Penal Code:

https://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html

Sindh passed the Child Marriages Restraint Act in 2023, which determined the minimum

age for marriage of both males and females to be 18 years.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2420803/forced-conversion-sparks-heated-debate-in-

sindh-pa; https://www.brecorder.com/news/40246753

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https://www.ucanews.com/news/pakistan-christians-slam-religious-ministrys-

seminar/100233#:~:text=Pir%20Abdul%20Haq%2C%20alias%20Mian,extremism%2C%

20said%20a%20Christian%20leader.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1725577

https://krosskonnection.pk/2023/02/muslim-neighbour-throws-acid-at-christian-girl-

for-refusing-romantic-overtures/

https://voicepk.net/2023/01/missing-christian-teenage-girl-found-dead/

https://www.dawn.com/news/1729273;

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/30/asia/pakistan-sindh-hindu-woman-body-mutilated-

intl-hnk/index.html; https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1032004-her-name-was-daya-

bheel

https://www.aajenglish.tv/news/30326058; https://thefridaytimes.com/03-Jul-

2023/christian-widow-gang-raped-murdered-in-lahore

https://voicepk.net/2023/04/forum-calls-for-5-party-tickets-for-minorities-in-general-

elections/; https://loksujag.com/story/christian-divorce-problem-eng;

https://tnnenglish.com/christian-marriages-and-divorce-laws-are-causing-issues-to-

women/

https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/forb-victims-database/notan-lal

Interviews with a minority rights defender in Sindh and Nautan Lal’s lawyer.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1697664.

Charges against Imran Rehman include 295-A and B, 298 of PPC, section 11 of PECA,

sections 6, 8, 9 and 7 of ATA.

https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Christian-tortured-in-prison-to-'confess'-to-

blasphemy-57130.html; https://www.pakchristiannews.com/details/488

https://morningstarnews.org/2023/07/christian-charged-with-blasphemy-under-

pakistans-terrorism-law/; https://thefridaytimes.com/12-Jul-2023/petition-seeking-

removal-of-terrorism-charges-against-blasphemy-accused-dismissed

https://www.dawn.com/news/1717189

https://krosskonnection.pk/2023/01/christian-sanitary-worker-charged-with-

blasphemy-over-alleged-social-media-posts/

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2388702/court-dismisses-post-arrest-bails-in-blasphemy-

cases

https://www.dawn.com/news/1696764

https://www.dawn.com/news/1724073/dir-resident-gets-death-prison-terms-over-

blasphemy-other-religious-offences

See: https://www.csw.org.uk/2023/05/22/press/6003/article.htm and

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/05/20/family-christian-boys-accused-of-

blasphemy-after-argument-with-policeman/

FIRs reviewed during the preparation of this report.

Sections 295-A, 153-A of PPC, and 11 of PECA are hate speech laws. The accused was

targeted for his views on a YouTube channel.

FIR and court order reviewed.

See judgement: https://sys.lhc.gov.pk/appjudgments/2022LHC8819.pdf

Pakistan Penal Code (1860): https://pakistancode.gov.pk/english/UY2FqaJw1-

apaUY2Fqa-apaUY2Npa5lo-sg-jjjjjjjjjjjjj. For more on the background to blasphemy and

religion-related offences, see: https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/pakistan/

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunication

File?gId=27923

https://www.fides.org/en/news/72725-

ASIA_PAKISTAN_Bail_granted_to_three_Christians_accused_of_blasphemy

Interview with the lawyer of the accused and legal document review.

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

https://thefridaytimes.com/15-May-2023/bail-granted-to-christian-woman-muslim-

gardener-in-blasphemy-case; https://krosskonnection.pk/2023/05/christian-woman-

falsely-charged-with-blasphemy-gets-bail/

The data in this section extends beyond the reporting period but was deemed necessary

to include to illustrate the gravity of the problem.

The data on blasphemy cases is not exhaustive and/or collected through primary

research. The report gives figures from different sources, including the government, to

reflect the landscape and scale of blasphemy cases.

https://prisons.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/Crime%20Wise_0.pdf (13 December) and

https://prisons.punjab.gov.pk/crime_wise_population. The previous data was updated on

28 August 2023. The URL cannot be accessed any longer but was originally available here:

https://prisons.punjab.gov.pk/system/files/Crime%20Wise28.08.2023.pdf

This data on blasphemy prisoners is from the Sindh government’s Prisons Department

and Correctional Facility.

https://www.pakchristiannews.com/details/488 (p. 12).

https://www.fia.gov.pk/files/publications/1570609486.pdf (p. 88).

https://www.fia.gov.pk/files/publications/388759809.pdf (p. 38).

https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/999933-fia-gets-a-blasphemy-cell

Press release reviewed (issued on 24 March 2023). By 26 March, the AFP had reported

on the story of the death sentence being awarded to the victim.

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40233413

Claims made through official statement by the TTNRP sent via email.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/05/pakistani-professors-endless-blasphemy-trial

The accusation led to mob violence targeting dozens of Ahmadi households in

Gujranwala via an arson attack which claimed three lives.

https://mora.gov.pk/NewsDetail/NWRmNzFlOTctOGE5YS00YTM1LThiYWMtMT

FlNWNjNTc4Y2E5

See video: https://twitter.com/LCBPOfficial/status/1671544253162606593 and story:

https://twitter.com/LCBPOfficial/status/1669359209161564163/photo/1

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKesQHAmZxw

Hassan Muawiya has been active in a hate campaign against the Ahmadiyya community

since at least 2013. For more on his campaign, see:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/26/ahmadi-persecution-pakistan-blasphemy-

islam and https://nayadaur.tv/05-Oct-2020/prime-minister-khan-s-not-so-special-

representative-on-religious-harmony

Case work reviewed for this report.

NGOs and national human rights institutions can make submissions on the human

rights records of states under review in the Universal Periodic Review as ‘stakeholders’:

https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/ngos-nhris

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252172/pakistani-civil-society-rejects-

government-s-allegations-against-catholic-rights-group

In February 2023, the UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of

expression, assembly and association, and minority issues wrote to the Government of

Pakistan with details of reprisals against the CSJ. This communication was made public 60

days after the letter:

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile

?gId=27846

The case documents reviewed for this report and other international organizations

establish severe threats to the life of the lawyer/human rights defender.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1753643

The Finality of Prophethood Council runs several seminaries and has lad a longstanding

anti-Ahmadi campaign.

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunication

File?gId=28285

Interviews with lawyers representing the Christian and Ahmadi communities.

https://www.aajenglish.tv/news/30320041

https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunication

File?gId=27923

Interviews with HRCP and review of selected posts.

https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2022/08/12/ahmadi-man-stabbed-to-death-by-

fanatic- in-chenab-nagar/

https://voicepk.net/2022/08/press-release-sadr-anjuman-ahmadiyya-pakistan/

https://www.dawn.com/news/1738773

100

https://www.dawn.com/news/1738229/elderly-man-killed-one-of-killers-also-found-

dead-later

101

https://www.dawn.com/news/1745255/sikh-trader-shot-dead-in-peshawar

102

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=189757

103

https://voicepk.net/2023/04/daesh-lay-claim-to-target-killing-of-christian-sikh-men-

in- peshawar/ and https://www.dawn.com/news/1764015

104

https://www.dawn.com/news/1761338/sikh-shopkeeper-injured-in-peshawar-firing;

https://e.thenews.com.pk/detail?id=214557

105

https://www.dawn.com/news/1706525; https://www.dawn.com/news/1706235

106

https://www.dawn.com/news/1706220

107

https://www.dawn.com/news/1707893

108

https://voicepk.net/2022/10/disabled-ghotki-youth-killed-over-blasphemy-

accusation/. For a detailed account, see BBC World Service story in Urdu:

https://www.bbc.com/urdu/pakistan-63102566

109

https://apnews.com/article/chinese-national-released-blasphemy-pakistan-

a3b16a38010ec5938eaf86fce7f2059b

110

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2415515/pti-supporter-cleric-lynched-in-mardan and

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/7/pakistani-man-lynched-over-alleged-

blasphemy-remarks-during-rally

111

Interview with the Ahmadiyya Jamaat spokesperson and reports from July 2023.

112

Interviews with HRCP.

113

https://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2023-Attacks-on-

religious-minorities-sites-of-worship.pdf

114

One of these worship sites was eventually vandalized in Mahmoodabad Punjab in

September 2023.

115

https://www.supremecourt.gov.pk/downloads_judgements/crl.p._916_l_2021.pdf

116

FIRs reviewed for this report.

117

TLP hate campaign material reviewed for this report.

118

The subject of the directive was: Instructions for All Eid Prayer Gatherings

119

Both said notifications reviewed for this report.

120

Interview with one of the lawyers and FIRs reviewed.

121

https://www.dawn.com/news/1693939/hindu-temple-vandalised-in-karachis-korangi-

area

122

https://www.dawn.com/news/1765098

123

https://www.dawn.com/news/1765062

124

https://www.nation.com.pk/18-Jul-2023/security-for-hindu-temples-beefed-up-across-

province-sindh-assembly-told

125

https://thefridaytimes.com/08-Jul-2022/police-allegedly-desecrate-53-ahmadi-graves-

in-gujranwala-days-before-eid. An HRCP fact-finding mission also verified this attack by

the police on the graves of the community.

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 183: Henvendelser af 19. - 22. april 2025 fra Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Denmark om religiøs forfølgelse i Pakistan

https://thefridaytimes.com/24-Aug-2022/unidentified-miscreants-desecrate-16-

ahmadiyya-graves

127

https://thefridaytimes.com/29-Nov-2022/ahmadi-graves-in-punjab-s-hafizabad-

desecrated

128

https://www.dawn.com/news/1713202

129

https://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2022-South-Punjab-

Excluded-exploited-EN.pdf (p. 7).

130

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjS7mo9BlDk

131

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1041123-christian-community-facing-shortage-of-

graveyards

132

The first month of the Islamic calendar, which is of particular religious value to all

Muslims, but especially for Shia Muslims.

133

https://www.dawn.com/news/1702608

134

https://www.dawn.com/news/1710601

135

The victim was a

zakir

(Shia scholar). Reports by digital publications with a focus on

the Shia community in Pakistan report that members of Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasul-Ullah

headed by Ashraf Jalali, were involved in the targeted killing of the Shia orator:

https://shiawaves.com/english/news/islam/pakistan/86005-pakistan-sialkot-arbaeen-

procession-attacked/; https://shiawaves.com/english/news/islam/pakistan/86306-shia-

reciter-martyred-in-sialkot/; https://shiite.news/featured/item/146880-zakir-naveed-

ashiq-ba-martyred-during-the-majlis-in-sialkot/

136

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/shooting-kills-seven-teachers-northwest-

pakistan-school-geo-tv-2023-05-04/

137

HRCP’s July 2023 statement is mentioned here as it is linked to the sectarian tension

that occurred in Kurram during the period under review for this report.

138

https://twitter.com/HRCP87/status/1678693624090099712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%

7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1678693629127426049%7Ctwgr%5E9826b5

88d930268eeee4c53dcc9bbb7de8566b75%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F

www.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1764149;

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/07/10/parachinar-elders-decry-institutions-

inaction-to-prevent-cross-border-terrorism/

139

https://www.geo.tv/latest/479432-eye-specialist-dr-birbal-genani-gunned-down-in-

karachi

140

https://www.dawn.com/news/1741019

126