U.S.
Department of State Human Rights Report 1998
Pakistan is an Islamic republic
in which 96 percent of the population is Muslim, and the Government
imposes limits on freedom of religion. While the majority belong to
the Sunni sect, some 20 to 25 percent of the population is Shi'a.
The Constitution requires that laws be consistent with Islam and imposes
some elements of Koranic law on both Muslims and religious minorities.
While there is no law establishing the Koranic death penalty for apostates
(those who convert from Islam), social pressure against such an action
is so powerful that most such conversions take place in secret. Reprisals
and threats of reprisals against suspected converts are common. For
example, according to the HRCP, Muhammad Akram was threatened with
death by an influential local religious organization after he joined
the Ahmadiyya community, whose members are regarded as non-Muslims
under the Constitution. The threat was published on the organization's
own letterhead, but no legal action was taken against the group.
"Islamiyyat" (Islamic studies) is compulsory for all Muslim
students in state-run schools. Students of other faiths are not required
to study Islam but are not provided with parallel studies in their
own religion. In practice, many non-Muslim students are compelled
by teachers to complete the Islamiyyat studies. The new education
policy announced by the Government on March 27 included provisions
for increased mandatory Islamic instruction in public schools.
Minority religious groups fear that the explicit constitutional imposition
of Shari'a (Islamic law) favored by the Prime Minister in his proposed
15th amendment and his goal of Islamizing government and society may
further restrict the freedom to practice non- Islamic religions. The
Government counters that the proposed amendment contains specific
language protecting the rights of minorities. Discriminatory religious
legislation has encouraged an atmosphere of religious intolerance,
which has led to acts of violence directed against minority Muslim
sects, as well as against Christians, Hindus, and members of Muslim
offshoot sects such as Ahmadis and Zikris (see Section 5).
Prime Minister Sharif has spoken out in support of the rights of religious
minorities, and hosted a Christmas dinner in 1997 for 1,200 persons.
In September, the Government removed colonial-era entries for "sect"
from government job application forms to prevent discrimination in
hiring. However, the faith of some, particularly Christians, often
can be ascertained from their names.
In February 1997, a mob looted and burned the Christian village of
Shantinagar in Punjab. Local police participated in the attack and
are suspected of having instigated the riot by inventing spurious
charges that a Christian man had desecrated a copy of the Koran. Hundreds
of homes and a dozen churches were destroyed, and 20,000 persons were
left homeless. The central Government took immediate relief action,
deploying troops briefly to restore order, and the Prime Minister
visited the village. The Government has rebuilt damaged and destroyed
homes, but has not provided compensation for personal property lost
in the incident. The villagers remain fearful of further attacks,
and the police officers believed to be responsible for the riot, though
transferred and briefly suspended, have not faced criminal sanctions.
The 86 persons who were charged with offenses related to the attack
remain free on bail and there was no indication that authorities planned
to bring them to trial.
On March 19, a district court in Rawalpindi removed three sisters,
ages 11 to 15, who had converted from Christianity to Islam, from
the custody of their Christian parents. The importance of the parent's
religion in the judge's decision, however, was not clear.
The Ahmadis are subject to specific restrictions under law. A 1974
Constitutional amendment declared Ahmadis to be a non-Muslim minority
because, according to the Government, they do not accept Mohammed
as the last prophet of Islam. However, Ahmadis regard themselves as
Muslims and observe Islamic practices. In 1984 the Government inserted
Section 298(c) into the Penal Code, prohibiting Ahmadis from calling
themselves Muslim and banning them from using Islamic words, phrases,
and greetings. The constitutionality of this Section was upheld in
a split-decision Supreme Court case in 1996. The punishment for violation
of this section is imprisonment for up to 3 years and a fine. This
provision has been used extensively by the Government and anti-Ahmadi
religious groups to harass and to persecute Ahmadis (see Section 5).
Ahmadis continue to suffer from a variety of restrictions of religious
freedom and widespread societal discrimination, including violation
of their places of worship, being barred from burial in Muslim graveyards,
denial of freedom of faith, speech, and assembly, and restrictions
on their press. Several Ahmadi mosques remained closed. Waheed Ahmed,
an Ahmadi living in Golarchi, Sindh province, was arrested on March
14, beaten by police, and sentenced on April 21 to 10 years' imprisonment
by an antiterrorist court for allegedly misrepresenting the religion
of Laiq Punhor on his census form. Punhor was fearful of admitting
on his form that he was an Ahmadi and asked Waheed for advice. When
authorities confronted Punhor, he denied that he was an Ahmadi and
implicated Waheed in the "false" census entry. Tabloid-style
Urdu newspapers also frequently whip up popular emotions against Ahmadis
by running "conspiracy" stories. On June 20 at Swat, in
the Northwest Frontier Province, local police and ruling party officials
raided the home of an Ahmadi scholar and local leader of the Ahmadi
community. They seized all of his religious literature, claiming that
he was running a center of proselytization. The scholar was not at
home, but his son was arrested. The raid appeared to have been instigated
by a June 18 story in the Urdu daily newspaper Ausaf alleging the
existence of an Ahmadi "preaching headquarters" in Swat.
Ahmadi sources also reported that on June 4 the district magistrate
of Loralai, Baluchistan, summarily expelled three Ahmadis from the
district on charges of preaching.
Section 295(a), the blasphemy provision of the Penal Code, originally
stipulated a maximum 2-year sentence for insulting the religion of
any class of citizens. This sentence was increased to 10 years in
1991. In 1982 Section 295(b) was added, which stipulated a sentence
of life imprisonment for "whoever willfully defiles, damages,
or desecrates a copy of the holy Koran." In 1986 another amendment,
Section 295(c), established the death penalty or life imprisonment
for directly or indirectly defiling "the sacred name of the holy
Prophet Mohammed." In 1991 a court struck down the option of
life imprisonment. These laws, especially Section 295(c), have been
used by rivals and authorities to threaten, punish, or intimidate
Ahmadis, Christians, and even orthodox Muslims. No one has been executed
by the State under any of these provisions, although religious extremists
have killed some persons accused under them. Since 1996 magistrates
have been required to investigate allegations of blasphemy to see
whether they are credible before filing formal charges. On September
8, a Shi'a Muslim, Ghulam Akbar, was convicted of blasphemy in Rahimyar
Khan, Punjab, for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the Prophet
Mohammed in 1995. He was sentenced to death, the first time a Muslim
had been sentenced to death for a violation of the blasphemy law.
Akbar had been free on bail prior to this sudden and unexpected conviction.
Three Ahmadis were convicted of blasphemy in December 1997. Abdul
Qadeer, Muhammad Shahbaz, and Ishfaq Ahmad were found guilty of violating
Section 295(c) and sentenced to life imprisonment and $1,250(PRs 50,000)
fines. Lawyers for the men have appealed the decision to the Lahore
High Court, whose ruling had not been issued by year's end. The Lahore
High Court has turned down an application for bail while this appeal
is under consideration. Their request for bail has been taken to the
Supreme Court, which has not yet given a date for a bail hearing.
In the meantime, the men are serving their sentences in the Sheikhupura
jail. A number of other persons are in jails awaiting trial on blasphemy
charges. A Muslim religious scholar, Muhammad Yusuf Ali, was charged
under Sections 295(a) and (c) and has been jailed in a class "C"
cell since March, 1997. Due to threats by religious extremists, his
wife had to resign from her job as a professor and go into hiding
with their children. According to Ahmadi activists, 44 Ahmadis were
charged with violating blasphemy and anti-Ahmadi laws during 1998.
Ahmadi leaders state that 145 Ahmadis were awaiting trial on blasphemy
charges under section 295(c), as of September 30.
The case of Anwar Masih, who has been jailed since December 1993,
was settled with his conviction on a lesser blasphemy count under
Section 295(a). Conviction under this section does not require the
death sentence, and he was released for time served on April 24. Ayub
Masih (detained since October 1996), was convicted of blasphemy under
Section 295(c)for making favorable comments about author Salman Rushdie
and was sentenced to death on April 27. Ayub's family and 13 other
landless Christian families were forced from his village in 1996 following
the charges. Although the case was pending appeal before the Lahore
High Court, Ayub's principal defender, Faisalabad Roman Catholic Bishop
and human rights activist John Joseph, committed suicide on May 6
with a handgun outside the Sahiwal court where Ayub had been convicted,
to protest the conviction. The High Court appeal still was pending
at year's end. Bishop Joseph's remains were taken to his hometown
for burial, but a congregation of thousands of Christians prevailed
upon the family to allow burial at the Faisalabad Cathedral. The day
of his funeral, May 10, was marked by violence, as angry Christians
confronted police. Mobs of Muslim extremists moved to attack Christian
property, and they, in turn, were repelled by police. Another Christian,
Ranjha Masih, was arrested as a mob was beating him for allegedly
throwing stones at an Islamic sign. He, too, was charged with blasphemy,
and remains in Faisalabad prison. After the Faisalabad authorities
quelled Muslim extremist mobs on May 11, the violence spread to Lahore,
where on May 15, a Christian demonstration marred by vandalism was
dispersed by police using excessive force. Hundreds were arrested
and scores injured by the police (see Section 2.b.). However, the
police prevented retaliatory attacks on Christians by those whose
property had been destroyed by demonstrators, and, within several
days, nearly all of those arrested were released. The provincial government
issued orders to civil administrators to keep the peace and block
registration of frivolous blasphemy charges.
Nevertheless, Shafiq Masih, another Faisalabad Christian, was charged
with blasphemy on May 31, following a dispute with a neighbor. In
Faisalabad a crowd of over 1,000 persons soon converged on Shafiq's
home and were prepared to lynch him when the police intervened. Despite
instructions to investigate thoroughly any charges before registering
a case, the local police chief charged Shafiq with blasphemy to calm
the sentiments of the mob. Another Christian, Nazir Masih, was charged
under Sections 298 and 298(a) for allegedly insulting the daughter
of the Prophet Mohammed and was arrested on August 11 at Patoki. These
charges do not carry the death penalty. He is being held at the central
jail in Sahiwal.
Sectarian violence between the Sunni and the Shi'a continued to take
its toll. In the Punjab, a deadly pattern of Sunni-Shi'a violence
resumed in which terrorists kill persons because of their membership
in rival sectarian organizations, or simply for their religious identification.
On January 11, Sunni extremist gunmen attacked a Shi'a religious meeting
at the Mominpura graveyard in Lahore, killing 25 worshippers and wounding
50 others. Shi'a riots followed the massacre, in which government
offices and courthouses were burned in Lahore. For most of the year,
the violence remained one- sided, with Sunni terrorists sporadically
killing Shi'a government officials, police, or members of the Shi'a
religious political party, the TJP. However, on July 17, gunmen killed
Salim Reza, vice president of the radical Tehrik Pakistan (STP) in
Karachi; but there were credible allegations that Reza's killing was
not carried out for political reasons. On July 19, Abdul Wahid Qadri,
leader of an STP faction, was killed. On September 13, four Sunnis,
including the deputy secretary general of the anti-Shi'a group Sipah-e-Sahaba-e-Pakistan
(SSP) were shot and killed in their vehicle outside Islamabad. Anti-Shi'a
riots and attacks followed throughout the country. In September, 21
Shi'ites were killed by gunmen and 20 were injured while attending
an outdoor religious ceremony in Kot Addu, Punjab. Outside of Punjab
there were other significant incidents of Sunni-Shi'a violence. Violence
between the two sects claimed at least 35 lives and resulted in scores
of injuries in Hangu, NWFP in March before the deployment of police
and army troops and negotiations restored calm.
When blasphemy and other religious cases are brought to court, extremists
often pack the courtroom and make public threats about the consequences
of an acquittal. As a result, judges and magistrates, seeking to avoid
a confrontation with the extremists, often continue trials indefinitely,
and the accused is burdened with further legal costs and repeated
court appearances. Many judges also seek to pass the cases to other
jurists. Prior to his killing in 1997, Lahore High Court justice Arif
Iqbal Hussain Bhatti, one of the two judges who in 1995 ruled to acquit
accused Christian blasphemers Salamat and Rehmat Masih, received several
death threats from Islamic extremist groups. Bhatti's killer, presumed
to be a religious extremist, has not been arrested; there were unconfirmed
reports that the killer himself may have been killed in a staged encounter
with the police.
Source: Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State.
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