ICC Note:

Christians and other religious minorities continue to suffer increasing persecution and intolerance in Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority society. Blasphemy laws, forced conversions, church bombings and murder dominate the headlines for Christians and religious minorities in Pakistan. One UN expert has called on Pakistan to do more to protect those under most threat. Will Pakistan listen? 

6/3/2014 Pakistan (Ecumenical News) – In Pakistan the plight of Christians and other religious groups such as Hindus has been recently documented.

But in the Muslim-majority country a minority Islamic group is facing persecution says a report by U.N. experts.

United Nations experts on freedom of religion, minority issues, and summary executions on Monday called on Pakistan to adopt urgent measures to stop faith-based killings.

The experts have called upon Pakistan to ensure the security of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, whose faith is outlawed in the country.

They also called for the security of other minority religious groups such as Christians and Hindus.

About 96 percent of Pakistan’s 196 million people are Muslims (90 percent Sunni).

The rights experts’ call came after renewed violent attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, in which two members of the community have been killed along with a number of arrests on blasphemy charges.

Pakistan has some 3.6 million Christians who account for about two percent of the population, and Christian communities also report being targeted by the misuse of draconian blasphemy laws.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said on May 29 in Lahore, Pakistan’s Christians are a people under siege and he joined calls for their churches to be protected and for them to be able to worship in safety.

These attacks on the Ahmadiyya Muslims are believed to be related to their choice and peaceful practice of religious beliefs.

“I am very concerned by the recent surge of violent attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims by militant extremists.

“Such violence is fueled by existing blasphemy legislation in Pakistan particularly targeting minorities,” the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, said.

“I urge Pakistan to guarantee the right to freedom of religion or belief of members of minority religious communities.”

Bielefeldt has in other reports spoken out about the rights of Christian and other religious minorities where draconian blasphemy laws that carry the death sentence are often used by Muslims in communities to settle disputes.

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