USCIRF Report on religious freedom

The word is out – and we would do well to pay attention 

“After two local mosques announced the alleged blasphemy, a large number of Muslims led by area clerics reached the kiln and dragged the couple out … tortured them and then threw them in the kiln. Shama was pregnant.”

The US Commission of International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has published its annual report on religious freedom in the world. The commission recommended 16 countries – including Pakistan – for their deteriorated condition of religious freedom and demanded that the US Department of State designate these countries as “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC). The report finds Pakistan to be a Muslim majority country of 190 million people with religiously diverse population (comprising 95% Muslims and 5% non-Muslims). The country also has two to four million Ahmadis, who are not counted as Muslim by law.

Why the hoopla?

The report states that religious freedom conditions in Pakistan are marred by religiously discriminatory constitutional provisions and legislations. It declares that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani branch of ISIS and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) are continuously targeting civilians as well as the Military, Law Enforcing Agencies, NGOs and the civil society at large, including minorities.

In the realm of religious minorities, according to the USCIRF report, minorities in Pakistan suffer from political and social marginalisation. For instance, there are only 10 seats out of 342 in Pakistan National Assembly and no seat in Pakistan Senate.

It is presented that the Government of Pakistan initiated 20 points National Action Plan (NAP), which aims to fight against terrorism/ extremism and calls for stopping hate, crime and violence against religious minorities.

Regrettably, it has also been reported that Section 295 & 298 of Pakistan’s Penal Code (Blasphemy laws) inherently violates international standards of freedom of religion and belief. These laws set severe punishment including death or life imprisonment, moreover, accusers are not required to present the evidence that blasphemy occurred which leads to false accusations.

The report brings out that a majority of blasphemy cases occurred in Punjab. At least 40 individuals have been sentenced to death or are serving life imprisonment on blasphemy charges including two Christians – Anjum Naz Sandhu and Javed Naz – while Asia Bibi was sentenced to death in 2010.

“Eyes that fire and sword have seen…”

Readers may recall the case of Punjab Governor, Salman Taseer, who was gunned down by his own bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri for supporting the acquittal of Asia Bibi and recommending a review of the blasphemy laws. Mumtaz Qadri was greeted by the lawyers of Islamabad High Court like a hero and showered with flower petals when he was brought for trial. The judge who sentenced Mumtaz Qadri to death had to flee for his own life because he was receiving death threats. He was ultimately sent to the gallows in 2016 but his funeral was attended by thousands of mourners.

There are dozens of cases of arrests or charges against “blasphemy” in Punjab during reporting period, these charges/arrests occurred, in an atmosphere of societal harassment and violence. In January 2017, an anti-terrorism court acquitted more than 100 suspects accused of participating in a mob attack on a Joseph Colony (Christian Colony in Lahore) in 2013. Readers may recall that the colony was attacked and vandalised after a local Christian man was erroneously accused of “blasphemy”.

“Now far ahead the road has gone…

There are many “blasphemy” cases in which people are punished like Mumtaz Qadri and five others involved in killing of Shehzad and Shama Masih In 2014. It may be recalled that a Christian couple, 35-year-old Shehzad Masih and his 31-year-old wife Shama Bibi, were burned to death by a Muslim mob in the south of Lahore (Punjab province), accused of committing “blasphemy” for allegedly burning pages of the Qur’an. The two, who worked in a clay-baking factory, were kidnapped on November 2 and held hostage for two days inside the factory. On the same morning at 7:00 a.m. the two were beaten and then pushed into the brick kiln.

Shama was pregnant.

According to Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a lawyer and human rights defender who visited the scene of the event, the supposed blasphemy occurred upon the recent death of the Shehzad’s father. Two days prior, Shama had been cleaning her father-in-law’s house, and in the process burned some personal items and papers that seemed useless. A Muslim man saw what she was doing and spread the word in the surrounding villages that the papers she had burned had included pages of the Quran. A mob of over 100 people formed, and took the couple hostage, finally executing them.

Emanuel Sarfraz, a relative of the deceased couple, offered a slightly different version of the events. According to Sarfraz, his cousin Shehzad and his wife Shama had been working in the kiln of Muhammad Yousaf Gujjar.

“The couple along with their four children wanted to leave the kiln as Yousaf was not paying their remuneration. He demanded Rs 500,000 from them, if they wanted to quit … two days ago, after an exchange of words Yousaf locked the couple along with their children in a room,” Sarfraz said.

After two local mosques announced the alleged blasphemy, “a large number of Muslims led by area clerics reached the kiln and dragged the couple out of the room after breaking into it. They first tortured them and then threw them in the kiln,” he said.

In August 2016, Pakistan Senate Committee on Human Rights announced the revision of the blasphemy laws and Pakistan Council of Islamic ideology also asked government to refer the case of blasphemy to it for review.

As of yet, no progress on such cases is in the notice of USCIRF.

Ahmadis in Pakistan are subject to most severe legal restrictions and suffered from officially sanctioned discrimination. The 2^nd Amendment of Pakistan’s Constitution declared the Ahmadis non-Muslims and Section 298 of Pakistan Panel Code makes it criminal for Ahmadis to refer themselves as Muslim.

In January 2016, an Ahmadi (Abdul Shakoor) and a Shia (Mazhar Sipra) were sentenced to five years imprisonment on blasphemy and terrorism charges by an anti-terrorism court.

Ahmadis frequently faced societal discrimination, harassment and physical attacks some time resulting in murder. In January 2016, three Ahmadi doctors were shot dead in Karachi.

Provincial text books also have discriminatory content aimed against minorities – and this was highlighted in the USCIRF report issued in April 2016. Text books depict non-Muslim Pakistani’s as non-Pakistani or sympathetic towards Pakistan’s perceived enemies (i.e.: Christian as British/Western and Pakistani Hindus as Indians).

The despicable issue of forced conversion of Hindu/Christian girls and young women to Islam and their subsequent marriages to Muslim males also remains a systematic problem.

“Pakistan Council of Islamic Ideology has asked the Government to refer the cases of blasphemy to it for review…as of yet, no progress on such cases is in the notice of USCIRF.”

According to the Aurat Foundation and the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan’s report of 2004, about 1000 girls are forcibly converted to Islam each year.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, about 50 domestic and trans-national terrorist/extremist groups are active in Pakistan and posed serious threat to the country, its people and its minorities.

… and I must follow – if I can.”

The report does, however, laud the Government of Pakistan for taking some positive steps including its 16 points Human Rights Action Plan, the passing of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2016 and the initiation of a pilot project by the Punjab Government (“Engaging Pakistani Interfaith Communities (EPIC)”) in January 2017.

It also noted that Pakistan had played a critical and complicated role in US efforts to combat the Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other terrorist groups. The US is also continuously engaged with Pakistan in areas of economy, trade, energy, security, strategic stability, non-proliferation, law enforcement, education, democracy and countering violent extremism/ terrorism.

Human Rights and Religious Freedom have not remained a high priority in US-Pakistan bilateral relations.

It should be remembered that USCIRF is an independent, bi-partisan U.S. federal government commission – the first of its kind in the world, dedicated to defending the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. Its observations should be a cause for concern to the government.