Pakistan

About religious freedom in Pakistan:

Nearly 97 percent of the country’s population are Muslims, of whom the vast majority are Sunni Muslims. 10-15 percent are Shia Muslims. 3.6% belong to religious minorities. The 1998 census counted 2.7 million Christians, 1.8 million Hindus, 107,000 Buddhists and a few smaller groups. Christians and Hindus claim they are more than the census indicates. 2-4 million Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims. Pakistani law prohibits them from calling themselves Muslims. 

After the military coup in 1977, a fundamentalist-inspired Islamization of the judiciary, education system and cultural life began, with strict control of the media. Islamization sharpened social and ideological conflicts and also affected members of religious minority groups. In 1986, a law was passed that prohibited “mockery of the prophet” with the death penalty for those found guilty. In 1992, Sharia (Islamic law) was declared as the basis for the country’s legal system. The most famous case is the death sentence against the Christian woman Asia Bibi. She was arrested in 2009, sentenced to death in 2010 and acquitted by the country’s Supreme Court in October 2018. After violent demonstrations, the case was brought before the court again. The acquittal was upheld, and Asia Bibi was allowed to leave Pakistan in May 2019. 

Later, several others have been sentenced to death. A couple who had been sentenced to death for seven years were allowed to leave the country in 2021 after being acquitted. 

Religious minorities are also oppressed in school. Both Hindus, Ahmadis and Shia Muslims are affected, along with Christians. 

 

Stefanus Alliance work in Pakistan:

Human Friends Organization: Help for victims of blasphemy law and forced conversion  

Stefanus Alliance has supported Human Friends Organization since 2014. The organization offers, among other things, legal aid, trauma treatment and social assistance to victims of human rights violations in Pakistan. 

Traumatized Christians in Pakistan desperately need someone to stand up and defend their right to practice their faith without being persecuted. The victims of blasphemy laws and forced conversions rely on free legal aid so that their cases can be heard in the legal system and the guilty convicted. Many of the victims have become refugees in their own country. Relatives are reluctant to take them into their homes, as they themselves live in deep poverty and risk the wrath of their neighbors by helping Christians. 

In recent years, there have been a number of violent attacks on Christians. In March 2013, a gang of enraged radical Muslims attacked Joseph Colony, a small Christian neighborhood in Lahore with around 170 families. 150 houses and two churches were set on fire following a blasphemy complaint. 

In September the same year, 85 people were killed in a suicide attack on the All Saints Church in Peshawar. In March 2015, two churches in Youhanabad, the largest Christian district in Lahore (population 150,000), were attacked. 22 people were killed in the attacks on people outside the Catholic St. John Church and the Protestant Christ Church a few hundred meters away.  

On Easter Sunday 2016, a suicide bomber attacked a park in this Christian enclave.  The attack targeted Christians on Easter Sunday. 23 of the 75 victims are Christians, the others are Muslims. 

Relatives and the injured suffer as a result of the trauma they have sustained. They live, as one would expect, in deep depression, grief and anxiety. They need treatment for their trauma and suffering in order to return to a life that feels worth living. 

A number of Christians and other minorities are accused of blasphemy, and several have been sentenced to death, although none have been executed. Asia Bibi had a death sentenced over her for 8 years before she was acquitted in October 2018, finally confirmed in January 2019. She is currently out of Pakistan. Others are still on death row for blasphemy charges. 

Therefore The Stefanus Alliance has a cooperation agreement with the Human Friends Organization (HFO), which has its own aid program for victims. They offer help getting back to work, free legal aid, and trauma treatment. In addition, they help Christians to find a new place to live if their home has been destroyed or they have had to flee due to threats and attacks. Asia Bibi and her family received direct assistance through The Stefanus Allianse and HFO. 

HFO also works on a structural level to raise awareness of religious freedom and advocacy work for the rights of Christians and other religious minorities. They have a broad network and cooperate well with other minority groups in the country. 

The organization is established and led by Sajid Christopher Paul.