Minorities in Pakistan

Tahir Naseem: another victim of draconian blasphemy law!

Tahir Naseem: another victim of draconian blasphemy law!..

Hazara community attacked: Balochistan bleeds again

In a brutal terrorist incident at least 20 people were killed and over 48 others were injured in a suicide attack targeting members of the minority Shia Hazara community in Quetta’s Hazarganji market on Friday.The Hazarganji neighbourhood has be..

Asia Bibi acquitted by law, but threat still persists!

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday October 31, acquitted Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death on blasphemy charges, after accepting her appeal against her sentence. Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was on death row since 2010. ..

Kot Radha Kishan minority lynching case: justice denied

In Pakistan, the state itself has become an important instrument for the oppression of minorities and whose biggest tool is the country’s draconian blasphemy laws. Under the guise of this law hundreds of members of the minority community have lost..

Shahzad Masih Case : Minorities persecution by Blasphemy laws in Pakistan

In July 2017 Police in Punjab’s Gujrat have arrested a Christian boy over charges of committing blasphemy – an allegation made by a member of religio-political party Tehreek-e-Tuhafaz Islam Pakistan (TTIP). The TTIP’s official website ..

Nadeem James, another victim of draconian blasphemy laws in Pakistan

A Christian man has been sentenced to death on a blasphemy charge after he sent a Muslim friend an objectionable poem on WhatsApp. Nadeem James, 35, a tailor by profession, was charged with blasphemy in July last year after his friend Yasir Bashir compl..

Encroachment spree: Hindu cremation ground too under threat

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on September 27 took suo motu notice of the acquisition of a Hindu cremation ground in Karachi and sought a report from the Sindh government within two weeks. The notice was taken on the applic..

Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR): fact finding mission in Kalash valley

Once a large community that for many centuries ruled the scenic northern Pakistani district of Chitral and adjoining border areas of Afghanistan, the Kalash minority tribe has shrunk to around 4,000 people. They speak the Kalasha language and are now co..

After conclusion of annual congregation 13 Zikri pilgrims injured in a road mish

At least 13 pilgrims, belonging to the Zikri community, were injured when a coach overturned between Taller and Beari area of Kech district on 24th June.The pilgrims were on their way to Pasni after attending the annual religious congregation of the c..

Hindus of Haroonabad told to vacate houses

Hindu community of Haroonabad area has been asked to vacate their houses by local administration. This is allegedly being done due to pressure from owners of a housing scheme. They want to build front gate of housing scheme by demolishing the houses of Hi..

Get rid of “Zia-isation” of the Christian community!!!

The Lahore High Court on June 19, allowed petitions challenging a provision of the Christian Divorce Act, 1869, which requires a Christian couple to use allegation of adultery for dissolution of marriage. The section 7 of the Act was suspended by..

Another Hindu girl Converted and forcibly married

The family of an underage Hindu girl from Tharparkar has claimed that she was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man. She was abducted from her house and forcibly married to a man twice her age,” said her f..

Pakistan Hindu Council appeals for suo motu notice of increasing forced conversions

The Pakistan Hindu Council has appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the rise in kidnappings, forced conversions and forced marriages of underage Hindu girls to Muslim men in Sindh. Council held for discuss the issue after medi..

Religious minorities in Pakistan

According to the most recent (1998) census conducted by the Government of Pakistan, Hindus make up 1.20% of the population and Christians (Protestant and Roman Catholic) 1.9%, or around 2.3 million people.  Other estimates put the numbers higher. His..

Death of Irfan Masih: Christians too untouchable

Death of Irfan Masih: Christians too untouchable  The Holy Month of Ramadan in Pakistan is underway when Muslims are fasting like other Islamic states around world. The Holy month of Ramadan is termed as month of blessings, forgives, peace and ..

The Islamization of Balochistan

Military regimes in Pakistan have also sought to eradicate ethnic identities by changing provincial demographics and pursuing Islamization, or the substitution of a common Muslim identity for ethnic ones. This is not a new phenomenon in Balochist..

The Islamization of Balochistan

Military regimes in Pakistan have also sought to eradicate ethnic identities by changing provincial demographics and pursuing Islamization, or the substitution of a common Muslim identity for ethnic ones. This is not a new phenomenon in Balochist..

Main Actors in Balochistan

The organizations that compose the nationalist landscape and its different sensitivities today reflect the historical, political, and sociological evolution of Baloch nationalism as well as the movement’s spectrum of motivations and (sometimes confl..

Balochistans: Geopolitics of Energy

Balochistan has sizable reserves of coal and natural gas, and there is speculation that it may also hold large reserves of petroleum. At the moment, however, it is the province’s natural gas that has special importance in Pakistan’s energy pro..

Rise of Sectarianism in Balochistan

 The rivalry between nationalist and Islamist parties that emerged during Ziaul-Haq’s regime and continued under his successors was not an ideological struggle. The ideological façade was, first and foremost, an attempt by military r..

Religious Demography of Pakistan in 2006

The country has an area of 7 lac square km (310,527 square miles), and its population was approximately 172 million. Official figures on religious demography--based on the most recent census, taken in 1998--showed that approximately 96 percent of the popu..