Author:
Publication: South Asia Human Rights
Documentation Centre
Date: February 12, 2002
URL: http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF31.htm
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
remains one of the most glaring examples of religious intolerance in the
world. General Parvez Musharraf's military dictatorship, barely a year
old, has done little to protect the civil and political rights of non-Muslim
minorities. With the continuation of the Blasphemy Laws and the Hudood
Ordinances, it is clear that governmental and legal structures elevate
Sunni Islam over all other religious beliefs while sanctioning discrimination
against non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims. Crimes against religious minorities
such as Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis and Shiites persist while Sunni Muslim
perpetrators face little or no consequences.
In addition to severely limiting
freedom of speech and assembly, blasphemy laws alienate both moderate Muslims
and non-Muslims. Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code imposes the death
penalty on anyone found to have "by words . . . or visible representation
. . . or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly,
defiled the name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad." In 1991, the maximum prison
sentence for outraging the religious feelings of any group was raised from
two to ten years. In 1992, Section 123A of the Penal Code was amended to
declare any act prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan a criminal offence.
In July 2000, General Musharraf
promulgated an order reviving the Islamic provisions of the country's constitution,
further criminalising any person or group whose beliefs deviate from accepted
Muslim orthodoxy. Such a stringent policy supported the arrest of scores
of members of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) prior to a rally planned
for 8 July 2000. More recently, on 11 January 2001, 17 people were arrested
for participating in an anti-"Blasphemy Laws" protest sponsored by the
All Faith Spiritual Movement in Karachi. Though three Christian detainees
were released six days later, the incident nonetheless demonstrates the
methods of punishment and intimidation the government uses to attack the
freedom of expression and assembly, particularly in relation to religious
issues.
Like the blasphemy laws, the Hudood
Ordinances require strict adherence to Muslim practices and blatantly discriminate
against non-Muslims in a court of law. Criminalising extramarital sex,
alcohol consumption and gambling, the Hudood Ordinances stipulate that
a non-Muslim's evidence is inadmissible in cases liable for Koranic punishment
and carries less weight than that of a Muslim in cases liable for "secular
punishment." Indeed, in the latter type of cases, the law of evidence specifies
that two non-Muslim witnesses are needed in cases where one Muslim is sufficient.
Lawyers who represent non-Muslims in cases under these provisions are themselves
blacklisted by violent Islamic extremist groups.
Women have particularly suffered
under the Hudood Ordinances, as they are frequently (and wrongfully) charged
for sexual misconduct such as adultery. Approximately one-third of the
women in jails in Lahore, Peshawar, and Mardan in 1998 awaited trial for
adultery. Although most women tried under the ordinance are eventually
acquitted, they must then endure the stigma of having been under suspicion.
Both the regimes of Prime Minister
Sharif and General Musharraf have ignored the recommendations made in 1995
by the UN's Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance. The Rapporteur
advised that the Government "authorities should check that Hudood ordinances
are compatible with human rights and urges that Hudood penalties, because
they are exclusively Muslim, should not be applied to non-Muslims." Now,
in fact, the Hudood Ordinances are stronger than ever.
Religious minorities are alienated
and deprived of equal access to justice in other ways. For instance, if
a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, the perpetrator may compensate the victim's
family monetarily. If a non-Muslim kills a Muslim, however, the perpetrator
faces prison or the death penalty. Sharia courts are also inherently discriminatory
against non-Muslims. The Federal Sharia Court (FSC) ensures that all legislative
acts and judicial pronouncements, including those of the Supreme Court,
are compatible with Islamic law. Additionally, three of the eight appointed
members of the court need not even be professional judges. According to
Asma Jehagir, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the
structure of the sharia courts is evidence that, "The government wants
to impose a Taliban-style theocratic rule in Pakistan."
Another area of institutionalised
discrimination relates to the electoral system. Minorities can only vote
for candidates who do not represent districts or constituencies but whole
populations of different minority groups spread across a wide region. Consequently,
minority candidates do not represent the specific interests of minority
groups. Discontent with the segregated electoral system is mounting. As
recently as 19 October 2000, religious minority members of the Joint Action
Committee for People's Rights staged a hunger strike in Lahore. In solidarity
with the strikers, Mr. Farooq Tarq, General Secretary of the Labour Party,
denounced the separate electorate as "a scheme of religious apartheid that
promoted intolerance and served the purpose of divide and rule."
Not surprisingly, religious minorities
generally comprise the poorest sectors of society. As Peter Jacob, executive
secretary of Pakistan's National Committee for Justice and Peace, asserts,
"Economic and political deprivation is not merely the bottom line but a
clearly manifested motive of religious persecution." Most disturbing is
the abundance of unpunished harassment and killings suffered by religious
groups at the hands of the legal system and other members of the Sunni
Muslim majority.
Out of a population of 2-3 million,
tens of thousands of Pakistan 's Christians live in city slums while sixty
percent of them live in rural areas, where they are particularly vulnerable
to abuse. In these areas, according to Archbishop Simeon Pereira, who is
the most senior representative of the Catholic Church in Pakistan, "Any
Muslim who has a grudge against a Christian can accuse him of [blasphemy].
"Christians have definitely suffered under the blasphemy laws. In April
1998, Ayub Masih, a Christian man, was sentenced to death for allegedly
speaking favourably about Salman Rushdie during a dispute with a Muslim
villager. He was the fourth Christian to be sentenced to death in Pakistan
in the 1990s. Unable to get Ayub released, Bishop Joseph, a widely respected
non-violent activist for minority rights in Pakistan, shot himself in the
head.
Churches have been vandalised by
Islamic extremists and Christian villages have been looted and burned,
leaving thousands homeless. There have also been shocking cases of rape
and murder. On their way home from working at a factory, eight Christian
women, seven of whom were teenagers, were raped at gunpoint by Muslim men
in May 2000. In 1998, four Muslim men raped a seven-year-old Christian
girl named Nageena. In both cases, the perpetrators have gone unpunished
while the victims and their families have been threatened with facing the
"consequences" if they seek justice. Accused by his daughter's attackers,
Ghulam Masih, Nageena's father, was put on death row for allegedly killing
an old woman in his village.
Besides Christians, other religious
groups face cruel and inhumane treatment. Tens of thousands of Hindus serve
as bonded labour to powerful landowners, and Hindu rights activists and
community leaders are subject to harassment and arrest by the authorities.
The Ahmadis, members of a Muslim sect created in the nineteenth century,
are denied rights of expression. By law, they are classified as a non-Muslim
minority and are thus forbidden to use Muslim burial grounds. Several Ahmadi
mosques remain closed. As recently as 30 October 2000, gunmen opened fire
on worshippers coming out of a crowded mosque in Khatiala village in Sialkot
district, killing five people.
Tensions with Shiite Muslims also
continue. In 1999, the U.S. State Department reported that 300 people were
killed in Sunni and Shiite conflicts over the last two years. Sunni perpetrators
of violence against Shiites are rarely prosecuted. The prosecutions that
do take place precipitate further violence against Shiites as shown in
January 1999 when, in response to the conviction of Sunni extremists, motorcycle
gunmen opened fire upon a Shiite religious service in Karamdad Qureshi,
killing at least sixteen people. Shiite militants are believed to be behind
the recent killings of five Sunni Muslims in Karachi on 28 January 2001.
The week before, a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric was shot dead outside
a Karachi mosque.
Clearly, religious minorities in
Pakistan are de facto second-class citizens. In addition to facing direct
discrimination in laws such as the Blasphemy Laws and the Hudood Ordinances,
in the courts and the electoral system, religious minorities face severe
mistreatment from militant members of the Muslim majority. Musharraf's
regime has allowed religious intolerance to continue (some argue in order
to maintain popular support), and, judging from the general's suspension
of democratic institutions in 1999 and the introduction of the perversely
named National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance, the culture of governmental
and Sunni Muslim impunity will worsen.
- Human Rights Feature
