Invisible Citizens of Pakistan:
Minorities in Focus
In 1947, Pakistan was created as an independent state where Muslims could live their lives according to the teachings of Islam. Given the mistreatment of Muslims in British India, the founding fathers of Pakistan wanted it to be a free state where everyone has equal rights (including the right to freedom of expression) and religion will be honoured and respected by all people.
However, the early years of Pakistan witnessed an unprecedented rise of attacks on minorities, which was made worse by successive Governments bringing in laws and measures which further restricted the freedoms of minorities in their own homeland.
The discrimination facing communities did not just come in the form of violence on the streets, but also through institutional and systematic discrimination in the law courts and in the police stations.
As a result, the number of minorities began to diminish day by day. Today the percentage of minorities is roughly 5% of Pakistan?s soaring 180,000 million population. This is a reduction of around 20% since partition.
In this report Invisible Citizens of Pakistan: Minorities in Focus, Global Minorities Alliance has documented the persecution facing minority groups in Pakistan ? both historically and currently ? and makes recommendations for the future.
The report covers the following:
- Introduction
- The Islamization of Pakistan
- Blasphemy laws
- Persecution of Christian community
- Persecution of Ahmaddiya community
- Persecution of Hindu community
- Persecution of minority women
- The role of police and law enforcement infrastructure
- Attacks on religious places
- Sectarian violence
- Recommendations
- Conclusion
Global Minorities Alliance believes that minority communities in Pakistan ? which was founded as a free state where everyone has equal rights ? will continue to face persecution if these recommendations are not considered by the Pakistan Government.
Invisible Citizens of Pakistan Minorities in Focus Report 2013-2014
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