Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Imran Ismail issued a statement condemning the attacks. Pakistan's Human Rights Commission reported more than 200 terrorist attacks resulted in nearly 700 Shia deaths and over 1,000 Shia injuries in 2013. Shiites are estimated to be 21-35 percent of the Muslim population in South East Asia. There were a series of additional violent incidents targeting Ahmadis following the Tahir Naseem killing in a Peshawar courtroom. In February, the National Assembly introduced a draft law requiring internet and technology companies to open offices in Islamabad, locate their servers within the country, and remove objectionable internet content within a specified timeframe.
Saudi Arabia - United States Department of State Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of the Islamic Faith, after Sunni Islam, having about 15% of Muslims worldwide. Ahmadi community leaders said they saw the requirement to designate Mohammed as last of the prophets as directly targeting them. Last week, in Punjab, police beat up and arrested 22 Shia Muslims, including seven women, who were taking part in a ceremony to mark a Shia martyr. The constitution requires the government to amend the law as directed by the court. In all these cases, judges repeatedly delayed hearings, adjourned hearings without hearing arguments, or sent appeals to other judicial benches. On August 23, the Sindh provincial government barred 142 firebrand speakers and religious scholars from leaving their home districts for 60 days to avoid violent disturbances during Shia Muharram commemorations. Planning and execution of decennial Population & Housing Census. According to the constitution, there shall be no discrimination on the basis of religion in appointing individuals to government service, provided they are otherwise qualified. Sanjay Mathrani, a former participant in a U.S. government exchange program, was a featured speaker. In the provincial assemblies, there are three such reserved seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; eight in Punjab; nine in Sindh; and three in Balochistan. 11.0%. However, violence is inevitable because the anger and anxiety on both sides seem to be mounting. Median age total: 33.7 years male: 33.1 years The Sindh High Court on October 27 originally upheld the validity of the marriage, citing the marriage certificate that indicated the girl was 18 years old, and ruling that she had converted to Islam and married of her own free will. CLAAS helped both file an antidiscrimination petition in the Lahore High Court. In Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinces, private schools are also required to teach Islamic studies and the Quran to Muslim students. To prevent a slide back into violence, Islamabad should ensure those inciting or perpetrating violent acts are prosecuted while denying hardliners the civic space to propagate their hatred. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, Section II. 4. The special assistant to the Prime Minister for religious harmony, Tahir Ashrafi, said it was the responsibility of the government and court to punish the perpetrator in a televised interview. According to civil society reports, there were many individuals imprisoned on blasphemy charges and at least 35 under sentences of death, compared with 82 individuals imprisoned on blasphemy charges and 29 under sentences of death in 2019. 3.72; Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019; US 18 Dec. 2019), or "some 17-26 million people" (Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019). Among the restrictions outlined in the bill, publishers, editors, and translators would be barred from printing or publishing any book and material containing statements or anything deemed to be of a blasphemous nature. As well as the 50 who have been charged in the blasphemy crackdown, five have been killed since September and many more Shia families and well-known figures have gone into hiding. Civil society and legal sources said judges were generally hesitant to decide blasphemy cases due to fear of violent retribution. According to religious minority activists, provincial governments also often failed to meet quotas for hiring religious minorities into the civil service. According to the 2017 Census, Muslims make up 96.2 percent of Pakistan's population, Hindus 1.6 percent, Christians 1.59 percent, Scheduled Castes 0.25 percent, Ahmadis 0.22 percent, and other minorities 0.07 percent. Civil society activists and media reported young Christian and Hindu women being abducted and raped by Muslim men. Unfortunately, due to the history that Pakistan has had, especially with regards to security, this remains a huge problem, said Chaudhry.
Shia Muslim Population in Pakistan - Shia Tent The court may suspend or increase the sentence given by a criminal court in these cases. Unknown assailants shot a Peshawar trader, also an Ahmadiyya community member, near his business on August 12. Some community representatives said Christians continued to face difficulties in registering marriages with Islamabad union councils because the councils claimed they had no authority to deal with unions recorded by Christian marriage registrars (usually church authorities). In July, the Department of State issued a statement following the killing of Tahir Naseem expressing outrage over the killing and noting that Naseem had been lured from his home in the United States by individuals who used blasphemy laws to entrap him. As one senior security official speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged: We cant ignore the role of regional and international powers in sectarianism in Pakistan Iran supports the Shia militia here.. The government announced it would seek a review from the Council on Islamic Ideology and at the end of the year it was unclear whether it still maintained its support for the temple. Sunni Muslims made up 5 percent of all accused blasphemers, followed by Christians at 3.5 percent, and Hindus at 1 percent. By law, madrassahs are prohibited from teaching or encouraging sectarian or religious hatred or violence. On July 13, hundreds of members of the Bheel community, including women and children, marched and demonstrated against the demolition of their homes by revenue officials whom they said were in collusion with an influential landlord of the area in Mithi, Sindh. Sunnis are not only dominant but also the majority sect in Pakistan. The constitution requires the President and Prime Minister to be Muslims. The provincial and federal governments have legal responsibility for certain minority religious properties abandoned during the 1947 partition of British India. Students who identify themselves as Muslims must declare in writing they believe Mohammed is the final prophet. They also met with representatives of other embassies, leaders of religious communities, NGOs, and legal experts working on religious freedom issues to discuss ways to increase respect among religions and to enhance dialogue. The Ministry of Interior maintained multitier schedules of religiously oriented groups it judged to be extremist or terrorist that were either banned or had their activities monitored and curtailed (Schedule 1) and individuals whose activities in the public sphere could also be curtailed, including during religious holidays such as Ashura (Schedule 4). However, the vehement sectarian resurgence began in 2017 when the Pakistani government began making concessions to the extremist Sunni Muslim groups. The Katas Raj Hindu temple was reopened for Hindus after renovation in the Chakwal district of Punjab. Lawmakers from the National Assembly, the Sindh Provincial Assembly, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly also adopted resolutions requiring the title last of the prophets to be used when referring to Mohammed. Shares of Sikhs and Buddhists in overall population increased marginally. It is important to remember that Shia have a high birth rate since their religion allows adultery (Mut'a). Religious minority community members also stated the government was inconsistent in safeguarding against societal discrimination and neglect, and that official discrimination against Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadi Muslims persisted to varying degrees, with Ahmadi Muslims experiencing the worst treatment. Local authorities did not allow the repair or unsealing of Ahmadi mosques damaged or demolished by rioters in previous years. Ayaz also spoke at a seminar on interfaith harmony at the cultural center at the National Library of Pakistan in Islamabad. NGOs expressed concern that authorities often failed to intervene in instances of societal violence against religious minorities due to fear of retaliation, inadequate staff, or apathy. Sunnis are generally believed to be 80-85 percent of the Muslim population, and Shia Muslims, including Hazara, Ismaili, and Bohra (a branch of Ismaili), are generally believed to make up 15-20 percent. Answer (1 of 19): The country Iran has the largest population of Shia. The population share of Hindus dropped a little from 22.06 per cent in 1911 to 20.48. On August 22, another teenage Christian escaped from the home of Mohamad Nakash, a Muslim who had kidnapped her in April and had been holding her since.
Islamic world, countries with a traditional Islamic population How many Shia are in India? There were multiple reports of targeted killings of Shia Muslims in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, although because religion and ethnicity were often closely related, it was difficult to categorize some incidents as being solely based on religious identity. Members of parliament and officials of the Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Law and Justice held consultations with church leaders from prominent Christian denominations and with NGO representatives, but the denominations, church leaders, and NGO representatives had not agreed on elements of the draft law pertaining to divorce and interfaith marriage by years end. RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP via Getty Images January 7, 2020, 12:20. The Punjab Sikh Anand Karaj Marriage Act allows local government officials in that province to register marriages between a Sikh man and Sikh woman solemnized by a Sikh Anand Karaj marriage registrar. Other NGOs also said that 2020 had seen an increase in blasphemy cases. On October 28, the Council on Islamic Ideology gave its approval for construction, ruling that Islamic law allows Hindus a place of worship, but noting there is no tradition for the government to provide funds for places of worships owned by private parties. On February 7, the district administration returned a century-old Hindu temple to the Hindu community in Zhob, Balochistan. In 2018 the Islamabad High Court issued a judgment requiring citizens to declare an affidavit of faith to join the armed forces, judiciary, and civil services and directed parliament to amend laws to ensure Ahmadis did not use Islamic terms or have names associated with Islam. Non-Muslims may not appear before the FSC. Sunnis are generally believed to be 80-85 percent of the Muslim population, and Shia Muslims, including Hazara, Ismaili, and Bohra (a branch of Ismaili), are generally believed to make up 15-20 percent. Indonesia is the country with the Largest Muslim population in the world. Ahmadi representatives said the wording of the declaration students were required to sign on their applications for admission to universities continued to prevent Ahmadis from declaring themselves as Muslims. According to the constitution and the penal code, Ahmadis may not call themselves Muslims or assert they are adherents of Islam. Although there continued to be no official restriction on the construction of Ahmadiyya places of worship, according to Ahmadiyya Muslim community leaders, local authorities regularly denied requisite construction permits, and Ahmadis remained forbidden to call them mosques. Updated April 2020 About the Authors. Blasphemy is a capital offence in Pakistan and even unsubstantiated allegations can lead to mob violence and lynchings against the accused. Population: 233,500,636 (July 2017 est.)
Shias live in terror as sectarian violence increases in Pakistan In January, after going missing, a 15-year-old Hindu girl appeared in a video with Ali Raza, a Muslim man, in which the two claimed they had willingly married and she had converted to Islam. The constitution provides for freedom to manage religious institutions. It states every religious denomination shall have the right to establish and maintain its own institutions. Prime Minister Imran Khan gave verbal approval to build the temple following a request from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Hindu and Christian members of the National Assembly. There is no provision in the law for atheists. Leh's demand for UT status started in 1947 as the old statements of the former parliamentarian and religious leader, Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, indicate. 2,724,000. / shia surnames in pakistan. Human rights and religious freedom activists and members of minority religious groups continued to report that they exercised caution and, occasionally, self-censorship when speaking in favor of religious tolerance because of a societal climate of intolerance and fear. Throughout the year, unidentified individuals targeted and killed Shia Muslims, including ethnic Hazaras, and Ahmadi Muslims in attacks believed to be religiously motivated. Victims said their attackers singled them out as vulnerable due to their religious minority identity. The visas were valid for one year and allowed one reentry into the country per year, although it was understood by missionary sources that only replacement visas for those taking the place of departing missionaries were available for long-term missionaries seeking to enter the country for the first time. Pakistan population is equivalent to 2.83% of the total world population. Police arrested more than 45 JUI-F followers and clerics involved in the destruction. Community leaders continued to report that the government hindered Ahmadis from obtaining legal documents and pressured community members to deny their beliefs by requiring individuals wishing to be listed as Muslim on identity cards and passports to swear Mohammed was the final prophet of Islam and the Ahmadiyya movements founder was a false prophet. At first, they used hashtags, then killed us and rallied against us. Despite her filing a complaint, police did not open a case initially. This is probably an attempt to contain any outbreak of violence, because Shias in Pakistan are a sizeable minority. The constitution states the government shall make Islamic studies compulsory for all Muslim students in state-run schools. 3.72; Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019; US 18 Dec. 2019), or "some 17-26 million people" ( Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019).
NON-FICTION: PAKISTAN'S SHIA DYNAMICS - Newspaper - DAWN.COM The blasphemy charges against Jaffar were followed by anti-Shia rallies throughout the country and at least three rallies in Karachi by Sunni groups on September 11 and 13 attended by thousands of individuals. The wafaqs operate through an umbrella group, Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan, to represent their interests to the government. The country is home to the second largest Shia population after Iran.
IRB - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada - ecoi.net Ahmadiyya community members said they were surprised by this instance of a senior government official condemning anti-Ahmadi violence, but added that they do not expect it to become the new norm. According to the SATP, the number of sectarian attacks by armed groups continued to decrease, corresponding with an overall decline in terrorist attacks. On December 30, a mob estimated at 1,000 people incited by a cleric attacked an historic Hindu temple site in Karak District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, destroying the shrine of Hindu saint Shri Paramhans Jee Maharaj and an adjacent building under construction. Twitter and WhatsApp users circulated graphic images and video footage from the courtroom, depicting Naseem slumped over a chair and crowds of men ignoring the body and seeming to congratulate the killer. Then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs government had granted the land to build the temple in 2016. On June 25, an antiterrorism court sentenced five al-Qaida militants to 16 years imprisonment each for terrorist financing and possession of explosives. Department of State programs, including outreach activities such as speakers and workshops, helped to promote peacebuilding among religious and community leaders. Shia Muslims 1.1 Demographics According to sources, the Shia population of Pakistan is estimated to be between 10 and 15 percent (Australia 20 Feb. 2019, para. Parents may send children to private schools, including religious schools, at the familys expense. According to the SATP, at least 10 persons were killed and three injured in 10 incidents of sectarian violence by extremist groups during the year. Parliament, church leaders, and advocates continued to debate the text of a draft law to govern Christian marriages nationwide, because the existing regulation dated from 1872. It distributes the funds through a government-run charity as stipends for poor families and students, payment for medical treatment, and support to Sunni mosques and madrassahs registered with the government. Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom, Section IV. In a statement, the Pakistan Hindu Council condemned the killing as well as two other July incidents of violence towards Hindu citizens in the district. The constitution directs the state to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minorities, to secure the well-being of the people irrespective of creed, and to discourage sectarian prejudices. The Sunnis, on the other hand, nurse the fear that they have decisively lost power and things . I fear they will kill me, said Kareem, his voice shaking as he spoke from his place of hiding. In January, an antiterrorism court sentenced 86 members of the TLP to 55-year prison terms each for taking part in violent protests following Bibis acquittal. Shia and Ahmadi Muslims were the most often accused, accounting respectively for 70 and 20 percent of all cases. There is no option to state no religion. National identity cards are required for all citizens upon reaching the age of 18. On October 9, the PTA blocked the video-sharing social media application TikTok, based on what it called immoral and indecent content. In a letter written to the Interior Minister, the LHCBA quoted the section of the constitution stating that Ahmadis are non-Muslim. Global AIDS Coordinator and Global Health Diplomacy, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Special Representative for Syria Engagement, U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Office of the U.S. Representatives of the Kalash, an indigenous group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, continued to report their youth were under pressure from Muslim schoolteachers and others to convert from their traditional beliefs. The attackers relationship to organized terrorist groups was often unclear. His was the first acquittal for blasphemy since October 2018, when Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in 2010, was acquitted. Other government officials, including Prime Minister Khan, advised Sarwar against signing the bill, according to a Lahore-based journalist. The NCHR is also mandated to monitor the governments implementation of human rights and review and propose legislation. In February, a crowd occupied and vandalized a 100-year-old Ahmadi mosque in Punjab. Pakistan 2020 population is estimated at 220,892,340 people at mid year according to UN data. Representatives of the Bahai community said this policy particularly affected them because the Bahai World Center the spiritual and administrative center of the community was in Haifa, Israel. Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, Office of the U.S. According to the SATP and media reports, antiterrorism courts convicted and sentenced several individuals affiliated with terrorist organizations and involved in past sectarian attacks and targeted killings. Approximately 80 percent of Shia are "Twelvers" (Shia who recognize 12 imams) and are primarily located in the Eastern Province.
Pakistan - United States Department of State In July, religious and right-wing parties criticized the governments plan to permit construction of a new Hindu temple in Islamabad. The year 2020 saw a rise in blasphemy charges - at least 199 people were charged, of which 70% were Shia Muslims. It threatens to plunge the country into anarchy.. In December 2019, the parliament passed and Modi signed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which allows for the fast-tracking of citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian. According to the governments immigration website, the Ministry of Interior could grant visas to foreign missionaries invited by organizations registered in the country. In July, a teenager killed U.S. citizen Tahir Naseem in a Peshawar courtroom, where Naseem was on trial for blasphemy. According to some estimates, the Barelvi school of . According to a 2019 report by Pakistan's National Commission for Human Rights, an independent watchdog, at least 509 Hazara have been murdered for their faith since 2013.
victims of Takfiri terrorism and govt apathy - Tehran Times 03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. For example, the Lahore Waste Management Company continued to employ mainly Christian street sweepers, which HRCP criticized as the result of employment advertisements continuing to specify that religious minorities should apply. Zaidi. Shias living in Pakistani cities increasingly became victim of target killings and the worst ever anti-Shia pogrom took place in Gilgit Baltistan in early 1980s in which radical tribal elements. No casualties were reported. The court also barred her alleged husband and his family from meeting her and ordered police to arrest those who facilitated the marriage. Persecution seems to be waiting for the Shia minority, said Hamza Baloch, a founding member of Secular Shia Voices, an advocacy group. Sunni Muslims who want to distribute zakat themselves may request an exemption, and Shia Muslims are exempted by filling out a declaration of faith form.
With Article 370 gone, Shias in Kashmir are in a state of - ThePrint Sitting by his grave, she tells the story of the day she lost her brother in the attack, a sequence of bomb blasts which killed at least 45 . On October 10, 1993, the then Central government had announced elected . 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom: Pakistan, An official website of the United States Government. Qataris are all Muslims and followers of the Sunni Salafi version of Islam. At the conference, JUI-F national leader Fazl ur Rehman praised the lawyers who were defending the teenager accused of killing U.S. citizen Tahir Naseem, a self-proclaimed Ahmadi, in Peshawar and blamed Western nations for supporting Ahmadi Muslims. In a recent study conducted by the Law and Society Alliance, a New Delhi-based think tank headed by N.C. Bipindra, the population of G-B is now approximately 1.5 million, with around 39 per cent Shia, 27 per cent Sunni, 18 per cent Ismaili and 16 per cent Nurbakhshi. When he and his sons returned to the house, they shot and wounded two of the Christian family members. The young man and two coconspirators were indicted, taken into government custody, and were awaiting trial at years end. NGOs, legal observers and religious minority representatives continued to raise concerns regarding the failure of lower courts to adhere to basic evidentiary standards in blasphemy cases, and the slow pace of adjudicating these cases, which led to some suspects remaining in detention for years as they waited their initial trial or appeals, and to some convicted persons spending years in prison before higher courts overturned their convictions and freed them for lack of evidence. Despite their well-documented extremist positions, over the past two years TLP and ASWJ have been allowed to assemble, make public anti-Shia speeches, carry out rallies, run for political office and mobilise against the Shia community, ensuring their power and influence in Pakistan has gone from strength to strength. According to 2017 census total house hold in Pakistan are 32205111. On April 14, police filed a blasphemy case against Shia singer Zamin Ali in Jamshoro, Sindh. He fears if he is seen on the streets of Karachi, the Pakistan city he calls home, he will be a dead man walking. Instances of torture and mistreatment by some police personnel were part of broader human rights concerns about police abuses against citizens of all faiths reported by local and international human rights organizations; some police agencies took steps to curb abuses by incorporating human rights curricula in training programs. The author of the article wrote that COVID-19 had been hidden since the 1960s to be used against Muslims.. A media report said four people, including two Shia Muslims, one Ahmadi sect member and a US citizen who renounced the Ahmadi sect, were gunned down in September 2020. Getty Images. Any country in which Muslims make up 50% or more of the population is considered a Muslim majority country. Sunni coalition to demand arrest of Shia clerics in Pakistan. The Shia Muslim population in Pakistan is estimated to be between five and 20 per cent which is not considerable given that over 95 per cent of Pakistan's population are Muslims . February 27, 2023 . In August, a case was opened against three Ahmadi men after an official of a religious seminary approached police complaining that the men sacrificed an animal on Eid al-Adha. The present Christian population in Pakistan is ranged between 2-3 million as per as recent (2020-21) year estimation by various institution and NGOs of Pakistan. To seek office, Ahmadis would be forced to do so because by law they are considered non-Muslims, even though they self-identify as Muslim.