Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission expresses worry over ongoing marginalisation of religious minorities

Istanbul, Pakistan: Concerns have been expressed by Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission (HRCP) regarding the country’s ongoing marginalisation of religious minorities.

In Sindh, the frequency of forced conversions has remained unsettlingly constant. The state has not responded to reports of religious minorities’ places of worship being vandalised when such crimes include locations connected to the Ahmadiyya minority, according to HRCP Chairperson Hina Jilani.

Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, and Ahmadis are among the minority communities in the nation that continue to experience persecution from the country’s majority population.

Numerous incidents of minorities being attacked in cities and towns in Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2022 for supposed blasphemy came to light.

In accordance with the 2014 Supreme Court Jillani decision, HRCP has once again emphasised the necessity for a national statutory commission for minorities that is both autonomous and representative.

Jilani said that in order to prevent people from using the laws in question as a weapon to settle personal grudges, the current low standard of proof for blasphemy had to be strengthened.

Jilani warned that Pakistan would continue to support an environment where those who engage in violence and discrimination based on religion enjoy impunity, causing the already constrained space for religious freedom to get even smaller.