Executive Summary
1. In 1947, Hindus were approximately 25% of the population of Pakistan. Now Hindus constitute less than 1.6% of the population.
2. Pakistan officially and routinely discriminates against non-Muslims through a variety of discriminatory laws, such as blasphemy laws.
3. On March 24, 2005, Pakistan restored the discriminatory practice of mandating the inclusion of religious identity of individuals in all new passports.
4. School textbooks continue to promote Islam, hatred and intolerance towards non- Muslims, including Hindus.
5. Islamists continue to extend their influence throughout the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and other parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
6. Recurring reports point to an alarming trend of Hindu girls being kidnapped, raped, held in madrassas (Islamic seminaries) and forcibly converted to Islam.
7. Poor Hindus continue to be subjected to inhumane conditions through the bonded labor system.
HAF Recommendations:
1. Pakistan should remove all blasphemy laws. Those imprisoned under blasphemy laws should get their day in court within a period of two weeks. Long imprisonments without court appraisal constitute human rights abuse.
2. Pakistan should reverse the 2005 decision mandating religious identification in passports.
3. Pakistan should set up a Human Rights Commission and a National Minorities Commission to monitor the human rights condition and to enable minorities to enjoy the rights provided to the majority population.
4. Pakistan should reform its education system in order to remove inaccuracies about other religions and promote tolerance and pluralism.
5. The United States should demand that Pakistan stop supporting and financing all Islamic militants groups operating in the subcontinent. The United States must end all military assistance to Pakistan.
6. The United States should dialogue with Pakistan on the issues of human rights and religious freedom and dispatch a fact-finding committee organized by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to Pakistan.
Parliamentary elections in February 2008 brought to power a new coalition government under the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML). Despite the change in government, however, civil institutions, including the judiciary, remain weak, while the military establishment continues to wield tremendous power and influence.
The nation also experienced an unprecedented explosion in Islamic violence and Talibanization. Large parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on the border with Afghanistan, came under the control of the Pakistani Taliban, who imposed a strict version of Islamic law. Islamists also extended their influence outside of the tribal areas and into the settled cities of North West Frontier Province. In addition to civilians and military/government targets, radical militants attacked foreigners. For example, in August, militants attempted to assassinate a U.S. diplomat, and in November, an American aid worker was killed along with his driver Peshawar.
Although Islamic extremists now pose a serious threat to the stability of Pakistan itself, members in the government, military and intelligence services continue to support and protect them. For years, Pakistan has nurtured and supported radical Islamic groups operating throughout the subcontinent. Recent events in South Asia have highlighted the extensive relationship between the Pakistani intelligence/military establishment and extremist Muslim groups, such as Lashkar-e-Toiba. For instance, western intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), concluded that Pakistan’s notorious spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was responsible for the July 7th bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul and the upsurge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan. Moreover, the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai further exposed the ISI’s role in fomenting terrorism in India.
Pakistan is bordered on the south by the Arabian Sea, India on the east and Afghanistan and Iran in the west. It has a number of diverse ethnic groups, including Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochis, Pashtuns and Muhajirs. Punjabis comprise the largest group and dominate the ranks of the government and military. The pre-eminence and political power of the Punjabis has led to resentment from other ethnic groups, particularly Balochis and Sindhis, and at times resulted in ethnic conflict. Pakistan has also been plagued by sectarian violence between the majority Sunni and minority Shi’a Muslim communities.
In addition, there has been a recent proliferation of Islamic schools, known as madrasas in the past fifty years. Current estimates show that there are over 10,000 madrasas in Pakistan, whereas in 1956 there were only 244. Many of these schools teach extreme and intolerant interpretations of Islam to children as young as five years old.
Pakistan has a long history of training, supporting and using radical Islamic groups as a tool of official foreign policy, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in India and Afghanistan. These extremist groups have now turned their sites on Pakistan itself, including military/government and civilian targets, with their stated intent of turning the country into an Islamic state.
The modern Pakistani state was created by partitioning the subcontinent in 1947, following the British withdrawal from India. Partition and the accompanying violence forced millions of Hindus and Sikhs to flee Pakistan for the safety of India. As a result, the number of Hindus in Pakistan began to rapidly decline. For instance, at the time of
Partition in 1947, the Hindu community in Pakistan was approximately 25%, and in 1998, it was down to only 1.6%. In the city of Karachi alone, the Hindu population decreased from 51% in 1947, to only 2% in 1951, while Muslim population in the city went from 42% to 96% during that same period. Notwithstanding its recent decline, Hindu civilization and culture has flourished in Pakistan for thousands of years.
At independence, Pakistan proclaimed itself an Islamic Republic. Since then, Islam has become a central part of the country's national ideology and legal framework. Although the Constitution provides for freedom of religion, that freedom is severely limited and, “subject to law, public order and morality.” Consequently, actions or
speech deemed derogatory to Islam or Prophet Mohammed are not protected. Moreover, the Constitution requires that laws be consistent with Islam and imposes elements of Koranic law on both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
During the last several years, the rights of Pakistani minorities have deteriorated at an alarming rate. I. A. Rehman, Director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), associates this erosion with the continued Islamization of the country initiated by former President General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s. Consequently, minorities live in constant fear of threats to their lives and property, desecrations of their places of worship and punishment under the Blasphemy Act. Nuzzhat Shirin of the Aurat Foundation adds: “It’s Muslims winning by intimidation. It’s Muslims overcoming a culture by threatening it, by abducting young girls so that an entire community moves out or succumbs to the Muslim murderers.” Pakistani Bishop T. Nasir renounced his Pakistani nationality to protest deteriorating human rights conditions. In an emotionally-charged plea to President Musharraf, he stated he experienced, “extreme hate, religious discrimination, intolerance for the Christian community at every level of Islamic society of Pakistan.” Noted human rights activist Suhas Chakma went even further by describing the current system in Pakistan as “religious apartheid.”
The desperate human rights plight of religious minorities persisted in 2008, without significant improvement. In particular, Hindus were the target of kidnappings, rape and intimidation in Pakistan. There are also reports of desecration and destruction of Hindu temples and lands, theft/looting of Hindu property, discrimination, abuse and abduction of Hindu females. Additionally, many Pakistani Hindus suffer under the cruel and inhumane bonded labor system. Furthermore, government regulations and laws shaped by Islamic Sharia injunctions persecute Hindus and other religious minorities. For instance, Islamic anti-blasphemy laws disproportionately affect Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyas.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP): “Affiliation of a state to a religion has always led to [institutionalizing] discrimination against those who profess a different faith – and that is exactly what has happened in Pakistan. Discrimination by the state, duly enshrined in the constitution and the laws of the land, encourages additional social discrimination, virtually reducing religious minorities to second-class citizens whose rights and welfare are easily ignored and violated both by the majority community and the state.”
A recently published International Religious Freedom Report adds that: “Discriminatory legislation and the government's failure to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different religious belief fostered religious intolerance, acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities.
Islam has become institutionalized in Pakistan and permeates the legal framework of the country. For instance, Article 2 of the Constitution proclaims that Islam is, “the State religion of Pakistan,” and recognizes that the Koran and Sunnah as the highest sources of law, not to be contradicted by secular laws. Furthermore, Article 41(2)
expressly provides that an individual must be Muslim in order to hold the office of President of Pakistan.
The Constitution also provides that high office holders must take the oath of office by invoking an Islamic prayer, whether or not they are Muslim. On March 24, 2007, a Hindu judge, Rana Bhagwandas, was sworn in as acting Supreme Court Chief Justice, following the suspension of sitting Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The Hindu judge was required to take the Islamic oath, “[i]n the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful,” and ended with, “May Allah Almighty help and guide me, (A’meen).” The Constitution and other statutory laws favor Muslims and directly and indirectly discriminate against religious minorities, thereby making them second-class citizens.
The blasphemy laws, which are part of Pakistan's Penal Code, impose severe punishments for insults to the Prophet Mohammed or desecration of the Koran. Section 295-C of the Penal Code provides the harshest penalty by mandating the death penalty for the use of derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. These archaic laws have harmed all sections of Pakistani society, but have had the greatest impact on religious minorities, particularly Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyas. There are currently dozens of blasphemy cases pending in the court system, while the accused languish in jail under oppressive conditions.
There have been over 4,000 registered blasphemy cases since the laws’ inception in the 1980’s, with the accused often being killed by Muslim mobs. According to Pakistani analysts: “In most cases, the accused languish in prison until their cases are decided, but even behind bars, they live in fear of violence against them by other inmates. The fears of being set upon only increase after acquittal and release… In its 2008 annual report,
the [Human Rights Commission of Pakistan] comments that a growing number of Muslims in Pakistan had begun to feel that the only true version of Islam is the one they practise, and as the State had failed in its duty to protect the interests of the religion ‘that it is their religious duty to enforce it on all and sundry by deploying all possible means, including the use of force against those who do not fall in line.’”
The blasphemy laws have often been misused and employed as a means to target and harass non-Muslims. For instance, from January 1 to June 1 2007, out of 25 alleged blasphemy cases, 16 involved Christians. On January 26, 2007 criminal cases were registered against five Ahmadi children, some as young as eight years old. In 2006,
44% of the registered blasphemy cases involved non-Muslims, and in 2005, 33% of the accused were non-Muslims, of which 6% were Hindu. Considering that Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyas collectively account for only 4% of the population, they have been disproportionately targeted.ccvi Furthermore, these laws inherently discriminate against minorities and severely restrict freedom of thought and religion.
In addition to formal legal cases, Muslim fundamentalists have used the blasphemy laws to justify physical attacks on minorities. A disturbing example from 2008 was the lynching of 27 year-old Jagdesh Kumar, a factory worker from Marwari Mohalla, Lyari, in Sindh province. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Jagdesh was murdered by his Muslim coworkers, who accused him of committing blasphemy against Islam. Some reports, however, indicate that his relationship with a female Muslim coworker angered other Muslims in the factory and was the real reason he was killed. Jagdesh was beaten to death and screwdrivers were driven into his eyes, while more than two dozen policemen and factory management witnessed the incident without intervening to stop the attack. Following the incident, extremists groups threatened the local Hindu community and warned them of further attacks if they reported the murder to the police or the media. Moreover, the police and the factory’s management pressured Mr. Kumar’s family against filing a case.
In another recent case, a Hindu child was reportedly stripped of his clothes, beaten up and paraded naked by a group of Muslim protestors, after rumors circulated that he had burnt a copy of the Koran. Apparently the protestors also put pressure on the police to take action against the young child. The boy, who worked for a grocery store in a small town in Sindh, accidentally wrapped a customer’s goods in a piece of paper that contained a verse from the Koran. The child’s father later apologized and explained that his son was unaware of what was written on the paper.
Ahmadiyyas were also recently targeted under the blasphemy laws, as they were prohibited from openly celebrating a religious festival after receiving complaints from local Islamic clerics who claimed celebration of the event, “hurt the sentiments of Muslims.” The objections from the Islamic clerics and the subsequent police action were justified under Sections 298-B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which comprise part of the blasphemy laws. The complaint registered with the police specifically stated: "The accused persons were lighting their places and distributing sweets which means they were preaching their religion that 'hurt' the sentiments of Muslims. So, police should take action according to the law."
Besides the existing blasphemy laws, an Apostasy Bill was introduced by a coalition of Islamist parties, known as the Mutathida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), in the National Assembly in May 2007. The Bill requires the death penalty for a Muslim man converting to another religion and a life sentence for a Muslim woman convicted of the same offense.
On March 24, 2005, Pakistan restored the discriminatory practice of mandating the identification of religion of individuals in all new passports. The Pakistan federal cabinet, with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in chair, directed the Ministry of Interior to reintroduce the rule after its repeal under the Zafaraullah Khan Jamali government in 2004. The move was seen as a concession to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of hard-line religious parties that support General Musharraf.ccxi Religious Identification laws tend to promote discrimination against non-Muslims as they separately identify minorities from the majority Muslim population. This further establishes their inferior status and also leaves them vulnerable to religious persecution and harassment at the hands of government officials.
Pakistan is home to several ancient Hindu temples and pilgrimage sites, but there has been a drastic decline in the number and condition of Hindu temples since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. For instance, in the north-western city of Peshawar, there are only two remaining Hindu temples. Moreover, many of the existing temples suffer from decay and neglect (from a lack of funds/government support) and are subject to attacks and illegal encroachments. The continued demolition and encroachment ofHindu temples in Pakistan is often accomplished with the tacit support of government authorities and police. In many parts of the country, Hindus are prevented from building new temples and/or freely practicing their religion. For example, according to a report by Pastor Rafiq Bhatti of the Stephens Shaheed Foundation, an organization that works primarily with Christians, even in Hindu villages in rural Sindh Province, Hindus are refused permission to build places of worship.
Furthermore, according to a recent report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), “Hindu temples have been the object of violence in the province of Baluchistan, where Hindus are the largest religious minority and where ethnic Baluchi insurgents have been waging a struggle against the central
government for many years.”
In May 2008, the Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board (PETPB) leased a 100-year old Hindu temple to a Muslim man in Karachi, who converted the sacred site into an auto repair workshop. According to an article in the Daily Times, a Pakistani newspaper, “[r]usted broken iron bars, scratched plasters, wrecked fences and cars parked outside for repairs are the sights at the century-old Ratan Talha Hindu temple, once known for its beautiful architecture.” Moreover, the Muslim owner of the workshop now uses the main prayer area as a storeroom and restricts local Hindu devotees from visiting the temple. The PETPB is responsible for managing a large number of Hindu properties, including temples, left behind by Hindus who fled for India at the time of partition in 1947. The Trust Board lacks adequate Hindu representation and has consistently failed to consult Hindu organizations, such as the Pakistan Hindu Council, before making decisions regarding Hindu properties and places of worship.
Another example is the Shri Varun Dev Mandir, a Hindu temple estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Due to a lack of funds and government support, the ancient temple, which faces the Arabian Sea in Manora Island, Karachi, is currently in a state of decay and disrepair. According to the temple’s caretaker, the temple has been unable to hold services or rituals since the 1950s, and is regularly desecrated by local Muslims, who use its premises as bathrooms.
Moreover, the Katas Raj Temple located in the Katas Valley near Chakwal in Punjab province, has been repeatedly looted for its ancient sculptures and relics, leaving only one remaining sculpture. The Punjab Archaeology Department, which is responsible for renovating and preserving the historic temple, has continuously failed to provide adequate security at the temple complex. Pundit Javed Akram Kumar, chief of the Katas Raj Parbandh Committee, explained that the, “temple was one of the most ancient sites in the country. He said the Katas valley had been famous for its beauty and centuries ago, there used to be a Sanskrit University in the valley which had produced many eminent scientists, including Alberuni, who had written his book ‘Kitab Al Hind’ at the university. Kumar added that there had been a Buddhist stupa at the site, which had signs of an ancient [civilization] that lived in the area centuries ago.”
And in July 2007, an ancient 400 yr-old Ashnan Ghat (sacred bathing site) in Lahore, which holds great religious importance for both Hindus and Sikhs, was transferred to the Fatima Jinnah Medical College in order to build a hostel on the site. The Hindu and Sikh communities have demanded revocation of the transfer.
Pakistan also has a number of sacred pilgrimage sites, which are visited by thousands of pilgrims every year, including the famous Mata Hinglaj Temple, located in a mountain cave on the banks of the River Hingol in Baluchistan province. Hindu pilgrims have previously come under attack by Muslim extremists, including an incident in 2006, where two pilgrims were killed and seven wounded after militants attacked a caravan carrying Hindu pilgrims in Sindh.
Attacks on Minorities
Religious minorities in Pakistan continue to face regular attacks, and live in constant fear for their safety. Of particular concern, are the frequent abductions of Hindus, which has left the Hindu community in Pakistan in a continuous state of fear and insecurity, with little protection from law enforcement or government authorities. According to Mukesh Kumar, Pakistan People’s Party Member of Provincial Assembly, at least one Hindu is
kidnapped every month.
The failure of government authorities to protect Hindus has forced many to pay local gangs ‘protection money’ to avoid being kidnapped for ransom. Often times, however, a family is unable to pay ’protection money’ and cannot afford the demanded ransom, resulting in the abducted victim being murdered.
In the beginning of 2008, three Hindus, Dr. Kundan, Parkash Kumar and Dilip Kumar, were kidnapped near Dera Allah Yar in Baluchistan province, while traveling on their way to Jacobabad in Sindh province. In August, a Hindu boy named Omraj, was kidnapped by the Tehreek-e-Taliban (Pakistani Taliban), and kept in captivity in the Mohmand Agency in North-western Pakistan, while they demanded a ransom for his release. And in November, three additional Hindus were abducted from Godki, in Sindh province, and held hostage for a ransom of 25 lakh rupees.
During July, three unidentified men held more than 200 Hindu women hostage at gunpoint, while they robbed them of hundreds of thousands of rupees in cash, and jewelry worth millions of rupees. The incident took place at a Hindu temple in Jacobabad, Sindh, while the women were gathered for their regular prayers. Two women, Kanta Bai and Shrimati Gunni, were injured while trying to resist the attack. Enraged by the event, hundreds of members of the local Hindu community, led by Babu Mahesh Lakhani, former president of the Hindu Panchayat, Jacobabad, held a rally to protest the attack. According to a Pakistani media source: “Babu Mahesh, while addressing the rally, said the Hindu community was being harassed under a deep-rooted conspiracy. ‘Even our honour is at stake now,’ the Hindu community leader said. He said that it was the responsibility of the government to protect their honour, property and life. ‘But nobody is there to help us. Now we are being looted even at our temples and houses,’ he added.”
In another incident in September, Dewan Mourang Mal, a Hindu businessman, was held hostage at gunpoint in his home, and robbed of cash, gold and other valuables. And in the previous year, five fifteen year-old Hindu boys from the Meghwar community were subjected to torture while spending 5 days in police custody. They were initially arrested on dubious charges filed by Dr. Mehak Ali Mari, of the Phuladiyoon Rural Health Center, alleging that they stole wheat crops.
Other religious minorities, including Christians and Ahmadiyyas have also been subjected to widespread violence. For instance, in 2008, three Christians from Karachi were abducted near the Afghan-Pakistan border region, when they were crossing into Pakistan. The three worked for a construction company in Afghanistan and were returning home when they went missing.
Violence Against Women
Violence against women is used as a weapon of intimidation and subjugation and is prevalent throughout Pakistan. Every year, thousands of Pakistani women are the victims of honor killing, rape, kidnapping and domestic violence. Hindu women, along with other minorities, are particularly vulnerable to gender based violence and suffer disproportionately.
Violence against women is a serious problem throughout the world, but more so in Pakistan, particularly against Hindu women. This violence occurs primarily in the form of rape, honor killings and domestic abuse. In Pakistan, a woman is raped every two hours on average, a gang-rape occurs every 8 hours and about 1,000 women die annually from honor killings. The AHRC estimates that, “From 2000 to 2006, roughly 9379 women were killed throughout Pakistan in different disputes including 117 from rape. There were another 3116 cases of reported rape, 1260 gang rapes, 4572 honor killings, while 1503 women were burned to death.” These statistics only account for those crimes that were actually reported and the numbers for unreported incidents are much higher.
Although violence is disproportionately used against Hindu women as a weapon of subjugation and religious persecution, the crimes transcend religion, and Muslim women are frequent targets of Islamic extremists. For example, in August, the Pakistani Taliban’s moral police executed two Muslim women for engaging in allegedly “immoral behavior.” A note left on their dead bodies threatened other women similar consequences for similar behavior. According to the Taliban and other Islamists, “immoral behavior” includes talking to men outside of their families.
In another horrific incident, five women were buried alive in Baluchistan province. According to the AHRC, the younger brother of Sadiq Umrani, a provincial minister in Baluchistan, was involved in the incident. Subsequently, three more women were buried alive after they protested the earlier incident.
Hudood Ordinance
The Hudood Ordinance in Pakistan is a medieval law used to oppress and intimidate women and has been used to imprison thousands of women who report rapes. Under the ordinance, in order to prove rape charges, a female rape victim is required to present the testimony of four male witnesses. If she is unable to do so, she may then be
punished for committing adultery. This law effectively silences rape victims since they face the possibility of being charged with adultery, as it is highly unrealistic to expect a woman to produce four male eye-witnesses to the crime.
The Women’s Rights Bill, introduced in November 2006, slightly amended the Hudood Ordinance by reducing the required male eye-witnesses for a rape conviction from four to two. Although this was a positive step forward, the new Women’s Rights Bill still presents substantial obstacles for rape victims to achieve justice. Unfortunately, other provisions of the Hudood Ordinance still remain intact. Despite repeated calls by women’s rights and human rights group to repeal the ordinance, the Pakistani government has yet to take action.
In addition to the Hudood Ordinances, the qisas (retribution) and diyat (compensation) ordinances allow an honor killing to be forgiven by the victim’s relatives in exchange for monetary compensation. Moreover, the compensation for an honor crime against a woman is only half that of a male victim.
Rape/Kidnapping/Forced Conversions
A worrisome trend in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh province, is the abduction and forced conversion to Islam of Hindu girls. According to a report prepared by the ACHR: “It is a crime for the Hindus to have land and beautiful daughters. Kidnapping, rape and forcible marriage of Hindu girls is a common practice. In case of arrest, the accused can get away by producing a certificate issued by any Muslim seminary that the kidnapped girls have voluntarily adopted Islam and the accused have married the girls. The courts generally do not consider the fact that most of the girls are minor and simply accept the certificate of conversion without any investigation. It has been reported that more than 15 families are forcibly converted from Hinduism to Islam in Sindh province every year. Often, young Hindu girls were kidnapped and forcibly married.”
Several Islamic seminaries in Sindh incite their Muslim students to convert Hindu girls, telling them that it is the equivalent of, ”Haj-e-Akbari,” or the greatest religious duty for Muslims. Wasim Shahzad, the Minister of State for Interior, believes that kidnappings and forced conversions, “are taking place to force the Hindus to leave Pakistan where they have been living for the past 5,000 years.”
In 2007, HAF reported a case that vividly illustrated the problems faced by Hindu girls of abduction and forced conversion. Seventeen year-old Hindu girl, Deepa, in Tharparkar district of Sindh province was receiving private tutoring from a Muslim teacher, Ashraf Kashkheli, and was kidnapped by Kashkheli on the night of December 31, 2006. After kidnapping Deepa, Kashkheli reportedly took her to an Islamic school, forcibly converted her to Islam and then married her. The owner of the madrasa (Islamic seminary), Ayube Jan Sarhandi, gave Kashkheli safe passage out of the area and provided a certificate stating that Deepa had voluntarily accepted Islam. Deepa’s parents and the Hindu community, however, allege that she was forced to convert and marry Kashkheli. Additionally, Deepa was still a minor, so the marriage was illegal under Pakistani law. When Deepa’s parents tried to file a criminal complaint, the local police declined to register the case. Moreover, since Sarhandi, the owner of the madrassa, was politically connected, the provincial chief minister’s advisors also pressured the family not to register a police complaint. Deepa’s whereabouts are still unknown. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) confirms that such kidnappings and forced conversions are typical in Sindh.
In addition to kidnappings and forced conversions, Hindu women are also vulnerable to rape and sexual assualt. A disturbing example was the gang rape of three Hindu women in the village of Ghulam Ali Khwar in Larkana district of Sindh in late February 2007. During the incident, eight armed men attacked a Hindu residence, held the family at gunpoint and raped the three women before leaving with stolen property.ccxli Former Prime Minister, the late Benazir Bhutto condemned the episode and criticized the government for its inaction in bringing the culprits to justice. This horrific event followed similar incidents earlier in the month in Ghotki, where two women, Nasima Labano and Nasima Girgej, were also raped.
Similarly, Christian girls are also subjected to kidnappings and forced conversions. For example, earlier this year two young sisters, aged 10 and 13, were on their way to visit their uncle when they were kidnapped by a Muslim man at gunpoint and forcibly converted to Islam. The girls were then sold to another man, who forced the older girl
to marry his son, while receiving a fatwa from a Muslim religious leader justifying the act. The issue went to the local court in Muzaffargarh district in Punjab province, where the judge ordered that the girls could not return to their Christian parents because they were now “converted” to Islam. Subsequently, the case was appealed to the Lahore High Court where the judge sent the girls into a government shelter for protection while the case was being decided.
Islamic Extremism
According to the HRCP: “A growing number of Muslims have begun to feel that the only true version of Islam is the one they [practice], and that it is their religious duty to enforce it on all and sundry by deploying all possible means, including the use of force against those who do not fall in line. They contend that the state has failed to serve Islam, which it was bound to do, and it is, therefore, their bounden duty to spread their version of the true faith at all cost.”
Pakistan is now at the center of global terrorism and violent Islamic extremism. There are a number of groups operating freely throughout the country, who promote Islamic rule, violent jihad (holy war) and hatred towards non-Muslims. These groups, who enjoy the support of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, include Lashkar-e-Taiba, Tehreeke- Taliban (Pakistani Taliban), Lashkar-e-Omar (a loose coalition of several militant groups), Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, Muslim United Army (an umbrella organization consisting of several extremist groups), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e- Mohammed. According to Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was recently linked to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai: “the purpose of Jihad is to carry out a sustained struggle for the dominance of Islam in the entire world…” In addition, there are several militant sectarian Sunni and Shia groups, such as Sipah-e- Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhanghvi, Sipah-e-Mohammed and Tehreek-e-Jaferia Pakistan.
The reach of extremists has now extended far beyond the tribal areas, with Islamists targeting civilian and military targets in major cities throughout the country. Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working on development projects and women’s rights, have been increasingly threatened by Islamic groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban.
Islamists have also increasingly started to impose Islamic law in areas under their control, particularly in the North West Frontier Province. According to reports from the region, “Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region outside the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.” In addition, a recent fact-finding mission by the HRCP found that in Charsadda District, “[s]everal video shops were bombed and even bank employees were warned to wear Islamic dresses and female workers [were ordered] to stop working in banks.” Furthermore, the Pakistani Taliban destroyed approximately 150 schools in Northwestern Pakistan and ordered all privately administered schools in the Swat Valley to close.
The bonded labor system in Pakistan systematically enslaves an estimated 1.7 million people, many of whom are young children. This modern day form of slavery primarily affects poor Hindus, who constitute the majority of bonded laborers, particularly in rural Sindh province where they work for Muslim landowners. Although the system is found primarily in Sindh, it is also practiced in parts of Punjab province.
The U.S. Department of Labor maintains that the debt bondage system in Pakistan operates by, “giving advances of peshgi” (bonded money) to a person. As long as all or part of the peshgi debt remains outstanding, the debtor/worker is bound to the creditor/employer. In case of sickness or death, the family of the individual is responsible for the debt, which often passes down from generation to generation. In the case of children, the peshgi is paid to a parent or guardian, who then provides the child to work off the debt.”cclii The system is characterized by patterns of abuse, detention and exploitation.ccliii While describing their conditions, a group of released bonded laborers reported that, “… they were kept in illegal confinement by owners of brick kilns and worked there at gunpoint. They further told that owners of the brick kilns had also threatened to sell them in Quetta.”
In 1992, Pakistan passed the Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act, outlawing all forms of bonded labor and forgiving any outstanding debt owed by laborers to their employers. Despite this legislation, local government officials have been uncooperative in ending the practice and securing the release of bonded laborers. Moreover, the police are often unwilling to register complaints against abusive landowners. Although human rights groups, particularly the HRCP, have helped release thousands of debt laborers, the laborers are frequently recaptured by their landlords.
Notwithstanding these efforts by human rights organizations and the passage of the Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act, the practice of debt labor continues to thrive and plague poor Hindus and other marginalized segments of Pakistani society.
Economic/Political Discrimination
Hindus, along with other minorities, face systemic economic and political discrimination in Pakistan. The majority of Hindus in Pakistan are poor and economically marginalized, with large numbers enslaved in the bonded labor system. For example, during his visit with Hindu villagers, Pastor Rafique Bhatti of the Stephens Shaheed Foundation found that Hindus suffered from a lack of education and job opportunities. According to the villagers he met with, the government failed to provide Hindu villages with basic facilities, including a regular water supply, electricity, medical treatment and schools. Hindus are also severely underrepresented in government jobs. With the exception of former Supreme Court Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Hindus rarely hold top civilian or military positions. According to a census of federal civil servants taken in 2006, only 0.21% of available civil service positions were held by Hindus. This is well below their overall population, which is approximately 1.6%.
In addition to economic discrimination, religious minorities, including Hindus, are politically disenfranchised and lack genuine representation. An HRCP report from 2007, for instance, found that significant numbers of minority voter names were left off voter lists in Sindh province.
Until recently, Pakistani Hindus had not organized politically. Starting in the 1990s, however, Hindus became more assertive and joined alliances with other religiousminorities. In 2002, they joined Christians and other groups to form the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA). Moreover, organizations such as the Pakistan Hindu Welfare Association and coalitions of Hindu panchayats (local councils of elders) have led in political organizing.
Hindus and other minorities achieved a rare political victory in 2002 with the removal of separate electorates for Muslims and non-Muslims. The separate electorate system had marginalized non-Muslims by depriving them of adequate representation in the assemblies. The Pakistan Hindu Welfare Association was active by convening a national conference on the issue in December 2000. And in 2001, Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadis successfully conducted a partial boycott of the elections, culminating in the abolishment of the separate electorate system in 2002. This allowed religious minorities to vote for mainstream seats in the National and Provincial assemblies, rather than being confined to voting for only minority seats.cclxii Despite the victory, however, Hindus still remain largely disenfranchised.
Educational Discrimination
Pakistan’s education system, directly supported by millions of U.S. dollars, promotes hatred and intolerance towards all non-Muslims, particularly Hindus.
A National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) report found that: “Government issued textbooks teach students that Hindus are backward and superstitious, and given a chance, they would assert their power over the weak, especially, Muslims, depriving them of education by pouring molten lead in their ears… The report added that students were taught that Islam brought peace, equality and justice to the subcontinent, to check the sinister ways of Hindus. ‘In Pakistani textbooks ‘Hindus’ rarely [appear] in a sentence without adjective[s] such as politically astute, sly or manipulative,’ the report says."
Furthermore, a report by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, “illustrates, through examples, how the education system is contributing to the culture of sectarianism, religious intolerance and violence. Some of the important findings of the SDPI are: the current curriculum and textbooks are ‘impregnating young and impressionable minds with seeds of hatred’ to serve a self-styled ideological straitjacket; substantial distortion of the nature and significance of actual events in Pakistan's history; insensitivity to the existing religious diversity of the nation; promotion of perspectives that encourage prejudice, bigotry and discrimination towards fellow citizens, especially women and religious minorities and other nations; a glorification of war and the use of force; and incitement to militancy and violence, including encouragement of loaded concepts like jehad and martyrdom.
The following extracts (translated from Urdu to English) from government-sponsored textbooks approved by the National Curriculum Wing of the Federal Ministry of Education, demonstrate the derogatory and inflammatory portrayal of Hinduism to the children of Pakistan:
Grade IV: “The Muslims of Pakistan provided all facilities to the Hindus and the Sikhs who left for India. But the Hindus and the Sikhs looted the Muslims in India with both hands and they attacked their caravans, buses and railway trains. Therefore, about one million Muslims were martyred on their way to Pakistan…The Hindus treated the ancient population of the Indus Valley very badly. They set fire to their houses and butchered them..The religion of Hindus did not teach them good things, [and the] Hindus did not respect women.”
Grade V: “The Hindu has always been an enemy of Islam.”
Grade VI: “Before the Arab conquest the people were fed up with the teachings of Buddhists and Hindus...The Hindus who had always been opportunists cooperated with the British...The Hindus used to please the goddess Kali by slaughtering people of other religions...The Hindu setup was based on injustice and cruelty.”
Grade VII: “Hindus always desired to crush the Muslims as a nation [and] several attempts were made by the Hindus to erase Muslim culture and civilization...Some Jewish tribes also lived in Arabia. They lent money to workers and peasants on high rates of interest and usurped their earnings. They held the whole society in their tight grip because of the ever-increasing compound interest.”
Grade VIII: “Before Islam people lived in untold misery all over the world.”
Grade IX: “In connivance with the (British) government the Hindus started communal riots and caused loss of life and property. At the time of prayers the Hindus tortured the Muslims by playing music in front of the mosques.”
Grade IX – X: “One of the reasons of the downfall of the Muslims in the subcontinent was the lack of the spirit of jihad.”
Grade X: “Islam gives a message of peace and brotherhood…There is no such concept in Hinduism.”
In addition to these negative and inflammatory depictions of Hinduism, several government run schools, particularly in Sindh, force Hindu students to take Islamic studies classes. Hindu students and other minorities are denied the opportunity to take classes in their own religions and often struggle in the Islamiyat courses. These schools include N.A. Bechar Government Primary School, also known as Syed Mahmood Shah Gazi and Sindh Madrasatul Islam School, in Karachi. Although the education board has technically implemented an alternative ethics course, in reality the schools and teachers still force non-Muslim students to take the Islamiyat classes.