Religious Freedom in Pakistan in 2022
In 2022, Pakistan’s religious freedom conditions remain on a negative trajectory with religious minorities subject to frequent attacks and threats including accusations of blasphemy, targeted killings, lynchings, mob violence, forced conversions, and desecration of houses of worship and cemeteries.
Members of the Shi’a Muslim, Ahmadiyya Muslim, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh communities face increasingly aggressive societal discrimination due to a rise in Sunni Islamist extremism and the continued threat of persecution via discriminatory legislation such as the blasphemy laws and anti-Ahmadiyya laws. These laws have enabled and encouraged Islamist extremists to operate with impunity, easily targeting religious minorities or those with differing beliefs, including non-believers.
In 2022, the new government under Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif also weaponized the discriminatory blasphemy laws, traditionally used to persecute religious minorities, against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members. Religious minorities, however, remain particularly vulnerable to aggression and accusations under these laws as they continue to face threats of violence in a society that has grown increasingly intolerant of religious diversity.
This country update examines the growing intolerance for religious diversity fueled by
extremism and existing problematic Pakistani legislation, citing recent occurrences of
attacks targeting religious minorities in Pakistan.
The 2022 report of the US International Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that Pakistan be re-designated as a “country of particular concern” or CPC, for “engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom” reforming the “educational textbooks, curricula, and teacher training materials to ensure content is inclusive of and not discriminatory toward religious minorities”.
Finally, it recommended, “incorporating religious freedom concerns into its larger oversight of the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship” which has been ignored meaningfully in the recent sales of F-16 spare parts and the announcement of financial aid to Pakistan. Previously, in 2021, Pakistan was designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), but sanctions were deliberately avoided in lieu of the “important national interest of the United States”. Peace in South Asia will remain an elusive dream, and despite economic assistance or whatever international support it can get, it is unlikely that Pakistan will ever become a normal state with a functional rule of law.
Read the full report > 2022 Pakistan Country Update
