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Religious intolerance is intolerance of another's religious beliefs or practices or lack thereof.
Formally, Freedom of religion in Pakistan is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan for individuals of various religions and religious sects.
Pakistan has various religious minorities. According to the 1941 census of India, there were 5.9 million non-Muslims in the territories that came to form Pakistan in 1947 (West Pakistan and East Pakistan. During and after Pakistan's independence in 1947, about 5 million Hindus and Sikhs emigrated to India, with Punjab alone accounting for migration of 3.9 million people. According to the 1951 census, non-Muslims comprised 14.2% of Pakistan's total population, including East Pakistan. In East Pakistan, the non-Muslims comprised 23.2% of the total population.
Christianity is the third largest religion in Pakistan. According to the 2017 Census, the proportion of Christians in Pakistan was estimated as about 1.27% of the population. Of these, approximately half are Catholic and half Protestant. A small number of Eastern Orthodox Christians and Oriental Orthodox Christians also live in Pakistan.
The situation of Human Rights in Pakistan is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law. The Constitution of Pakistan provides for fundamental rights. The Clauses also provide for an independent Supreme Court, separation of executive and judiciary, an independent judiciary, independent Human Rights commission and freedom of movement within the country and abroad. However these clauses are not respected in practice.
The Catholic Church in Pakistan is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.
The Pakistan Penal Code, the main criminal code of Pakistan, punishes blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. According to Tahir Nasir and Malik Asad's Jan, 2021 news report, as per the US Commission on International Religious Freedom around 80 people are known to be incarcerated in Pakistan on blasphemy charges — half of those face life in prison or the death penalty. From 1967 to 2014, over 1,300 people have been accused of blasphemy, with Muslims constituting most of those accused. According to human rights groups blasphemy laws in Pakistan are many times exploited even against Muslims to settle personal rivalries and also to persecute minorities. Many of those accused, their lawyers and any persons speaking against blasphemy laws and proceedings can end up in lynchings or street vigilantism in Pakistan.
The Regensburg lecture or Regensburg address was delivered on 12 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he had once served as a professor of theology. It was entitled "Faith, Reason and the University – Memories and Reflections". The lecture is considered to be among the most important papal statements on world affairs since John Paul II's 1995 address to the United Nations, and sparked international reactions and controversy.
During his papal tenure, Pope Benedict XVI focused on building on the outreach of his predecessors towards Islam, particularly on the efforts of Pope John Paul II, who experts say established trust and opened opportunities for dialogue with Muslims. One of the important milestones in the Pope's efforts included a religious and peaceful initiative called A Common Word. This was provoked by an ill-conceived 2006 lecture he delivered at a university in Regensburg, Germany, which prompted Muslim leaders to gather and make overtures to their Christian and Jewish counterparts. Later on, Pope Benedict pursued key initiatives that helped foster Christian and Muslim dialogue. These were founded on the Pope's belief that Christians and Muslims have shared religious experience and that Christianity and Islam are both theologically founded in "God's irruptive call ... heard in the midst of man's ordinary daily existence."
Blasphemy in Islam is impious utterance or action concerning God, but is broader than in normal English usage, including not only the mocking or vilifying of attributes of Islam but denying any of the fundamental beliefs of the religion. Examples include denying that the Quran was divinely revealed, the prophethood of one of the Islamic prophets, insulting an angel, or maintaining God had a son.
Joseph Coutts is a Pakistani prelate of the Catholic Church, who served as Archbishop of Karachi from 2012 to 2021. He served as Bishop of Faisalabad from 1998 to 2012.
Holy See–Pakistan relations are foreign relations between Pakistan and the Holy See. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1961. The Holy See has a nunciature in Islamabad. Pakistan's embassy in Switzerland is accredited to the Holy See.
The 2009 Gojra riots were a series of attacks targeting Christians in Gojra town in Punjab province of Pakistan. These resulted in the deaths of eight Christians including four women and a child.
Catholic (National) Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) was formed in 1985 by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan. It provides services in the field of human rights advocacy.
In 2010, a Pakistani Christian woman, Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi, was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court and was sentenced to death by hanging. In October 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted her based on insufficient evidence, though she was not allowed to leave Pakistan until the verdict was reviewed. She was held under armed guard and was not able to leave the country until 7 May 2019; she arrived in Canada the next day.
Clement Shahbaz Bhatti, popularly known as Shahbaz Bhatti, was a Pakistani politician who was elected as a member of the National Assembly from 2008. He was the first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs from November 2008 until his assassination on 2 March 2011 in Islamabad and the only Christian in the Cabinet. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for his killing and called him a blasphemer of Muhammad. In March 2016, five years after the death of Shahbaz Bhatti, his cause for beatification was formally opened by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, making him a Servant of God within the Roman Catholic Church.
Religious discrimination in Pakistan is a serious issue for the human rights situation in modern-day Pakistan. Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias and Ahmadis among other religious minorities often face discrimination and at times are even subjected to violence. In some cases Christian churches and Ahmadi mosques and the worshippers themselves have been attacked. Khawaja Nazimuddin, the 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, stated: "I do not agree that religion is a private affair of the individual nor do I agree that in an Islamic state every citizen has identical rights, no matter what his caste, creed or faith be".
Rimsha Masih is a Pakistani girl from Islamabad, who was arrested by the Pakistani police on blasphemy charges on August 2012 when she was 14 years old. The alleged charges included desecrating pages of the Quran by burning—a crime punishable by death under Pakistan's blasphemy law. She is a member of Pakistan's Christian minority.
The Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) is a Muslim umbrella group and organization in Pakistan whose members include Islamic clerics and legal scholars from a range of Islamic traditions. Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi is its current chief. The organization was established initially to support a Christian girl who was charged with blasphemy.
References
- ↑ Asian handbook for theological education and ecumenism. Antone, Hope S. Eugene, Or.: Wipf & Stock. 2013. ISBN 9781625643551. OCLC 859046163.CS1 maint: others (link)
- ↑ "Pakistani (and Christian) women lead the defence of minority rights". AsiaNews.it. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ↑ "Pakistani Woman in the Front Line to Defend Rights of Minorities, Romana Bashir - Salem-News.Com". Salem-News.com.
- ↑ "News from the Vatican - News about the Church - Vatican News". www.news.va.
- ↑ Ahmad, Mahvish (16 April 2013). "Minorities: "We want elections, not selections"". Dawn. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ↑ "Civil Society Organisations demands the government punishment for only those, involved in lynching". Lahore World. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ↑ Dawn March 30, 2021
- ↑ "Blasphemy law: Protection to Christians, law amendment demanded". The Express Tribune. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ↑ "Fear of the other: 'Dispelling misconceptions must for social harmony'". The Express Tribune. 29 May 2015.
- ↑ "Rising intolerance: Time for peace campaigners to make their voices heard". The Express Tribune. 17 April 2013.
