Under the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony is responsible for reviewing internet traffic and reporting blasphemous or offensive content to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority for possible removal or to the Federal Investigative Agency for possible criminal prosecution. The population share of Hindus dropped a little from 22.06 per cent in 1911 to 20.48. Pakistan's blasphemy laws have come under hefty criticism, as. Download Historical Data Save as Image From: To: Zoom: Current Historical U.N. According to 1961 Census -- the first in the state after Partition, Muslims constituted 68.3 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir's population. In June, the Punjab Provincial Assembly unanimously passed the Curriculum and Text Book Board Amendment Bill, which Governor Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar signed into law. According to the nonprofit Middle East Media Research Institute, the December edition of the Urdu language TTP magazine Journal of The Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan blamed the Jews and their puppets for the COVID-19 pandemic and for harassing Muslims during the pandemic. According to NGOs and media reports, individuals convicted and sentenced to death in well-publicized blasphemy cases dating as far back as 2014 including Nadeem James; Taimoor Raza; Junaid Hafeez; Mubasher, Ghulam, and Ehsan Ahmed; Shafqat Emmanuel; and Shagufta Kausar remained in prison and continued to await action on their appeals. Edit: August and September of 2020 has seen a renewed attack on Shia Muslims within Pakistan. 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. On September 30, media reported that a 17-year-old girl from a Hindu Dalit community committed suicide after having been gang-raped a year earlier by Muslim men and subsequently blackmailed by them in Tharparkar, Sindh. The constitution mandates that the government take steps to enable Muslims, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam and to promote the observance of Islamic moral standards. The womans mother filed a police report against the abductor, who was subsequently arrested. 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. the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom also reported over 600 Shias were killed for their faith between 1999 and 2003. A local jihadist group and a violent protest movement are driving renewed sectarian strife in Pakistan. Following the July killing of U.S. citizen and self-identified Ahmadi Muslim Tahir Naseem, who was standing trial for blasphemy charges, some political party leaders celebrated the killers actions. * Name has been changed to protect identity, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The court ordered police to hand over the woman to her Hindu husband and no police or court action was taken against Domki. On July 21, the government returned a 200-year-old Sikh gurdwara to the Sikh community in Quetta. According to the CSJ, 2020 saw the highest number of blasphemy cases in a single year in the countrys history. 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. At the end of the year, CLAAS was planning to take the case to the Federal Ombudsman. On August 30, police charged Shia cleric Taqqi Jaffar with blasphemy for criticizing Mohammeds companions during a Karachi Muharram procession. Among the targets of these attacks were Shia Muslims, particularly the predominantly Shia Hazara community. 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. The last census was conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics in 2017. Then, in the 2018 election, ASWJ and TLP were allowed to run in the election, winning seats in parliament. On July 9, the Sindh High Court ordered that the girl could return to her Hindu parents. The HRCP said forced conversions of young women of minority faiths, often lower-caste Hindu girls from rural Sindh province, continued to occur. 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. Unofficial estimates vary widely with regard to the size of minority religious groups. 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. Shias, who make up 15 percent of Pakistan's 220 million population, commemorate the seventh-century massacre of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Husayn and his family and friends at the Battle of Karbala in Iraq for refusing . Authorities also consult the ministry on matters such as blasphemy and Islamic education. 2022 population pyramid Dependency ratios total dependency ratio: 59.3 youth dependency ratio: 44 elderly dependency ratio: 15.3 potential support ratio: 6.5 (2021 est.) Shias in Pakistan reputedly account for about 20 percent of the population or 42 million out of the population of 210 million making it the second largest Shia population in the world outside Iran. The NCHR was also mandated to conduct investigations of allegations of human rights abuses, but legal sources said the commission had little power to enforce its requests. The commission also included two Sunni Muslim clerics and senior civil servants from the Ministries of Interior, Law and Justice, Human Rights, Federal Education and Professional Training, Religious Affairs, and the Council of Islamic Ideology. During his February visit to Karachi, the Department of State Special Adviser for Religious Minorities told students and faculty at Karachi Universitys Department of Islamic Studies, An inclusive society creates more space for trade and prosperity. The audience applauded his comments about the protection of religious freedom for Muslims in the United States. It also states that no religious denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of its denomination in an educational institution maintained by the denomination. Ahmadiyya Muslim community representatives continued to state that Ahmadi families were unable to register their marriages with local administrative bodies, known as union councils, since those councils considered Ahmadis to be outside the authority of the Muslim Family Law of 1961. It was the largest anti-Shia march seen in decades in Pakistan, and was copied in other cities including the capital Islamabad. A June 2020 online survey by the Netherlands-based Gamaan Group found 37% of Iranians identifying as Muslims of which 32% are Shia Islam, 5% Sunni Islam and 3% Shia . The 16-year-old suspect was being tried as a juvenile; the two coconspirators were a prayer leader and a young lawyer involved in the blasphemy complaint against Naseem. On October 9, the PTA blocked the video-sharing social media application TikTok, based on what it called immoral and indecent content. Pakistan's current population is estimated at approximately 185 million, of whom approximately 95 percent are Muslim. She said Domki had taken her to Balochistan two months earlier and held her there until police rescued her. Updated April 2020 About the Authors. He is one of over 50 Shia Muslims in Sunni-majority Pakistan, who have been booked under blasphemy and antiterrorist charges over the last month. 4. This statistic was all taken from many independent sources for the year 1999. Courts also penalized antiblasphemy groups. Some court judgments have considered the marriage of a non-Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man dissolved if she converts to Islam, although the marriage of a non-Muslim man who converts remains recognized. The law requires elected Muslim officials to swear an oath affirming their belief that Mohammed is the final prophet of Islam. That same day, a Punjab Provincial Assembly lawmaker from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Mohammed Ilyas Chinyoti, participated in an international Khatm-e-Nabuwat conference in the Chanab Nagar area of Punjab near the Ahmadiyya Muslim communitys headquarters. In July, Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam [protection of foundation of Islam bill] was passed by the Punjab assembly, which supported only the Sunni interpretation of Islam, provoking a huge backlash from the Shia community. Police arrested more than 45 JUI-F followers and clerics involved in the destruction. Shias in Pakistan reputedly account for about 20 percent of the population or 42 million out of the population of 210 million making it the second largest Shia population in the world . Status of Societal Respect for Religious Freedom, Section IV. Pakistan is said to have a Shia population of at least 16 million, like India. Blasphemy is a capital offence in Pakistan and even unsubstantiated allegations can lead to mob violence and lynchings against the accused. Their refusal to sign the statement meant they were automatically disqualified from fulfilling the admissions requirements. According to the Center for Social Justice, a national nongovernmental organization (NGO), at least 199 individuals were accused of blasphemy offenses, a significant increase over 2019 and the highest number of blasphemy cases in a single year in the countrys history. Syed Kareem* has been in hiding for weeks. Hundreds of Shia Pakistanis gathered on Saturday to bury 11 coal miners from the Hazara community killed by the armed group ISIL (ISIS), ending a week of protests that sought to highlight the. I fear they will kill me, said Kareem, his voice shaking as he spoke from his place of hiding. 3.72; Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019; US 18 Dec. 2019), or "some 17-26 million people" (Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019). The case was based on the complaint of a local shopkeeper who claimed Zamin Alis Facebook page contained a blasphemous song that hurt the religious sentiments of Sunni Muslims. On December 2, the Secretary of State redesignated Pakistan as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, for having engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom, and announced a waiver of the sanctions that accompany designation as required in the important national interests of the United States. Following petitions, the court reversed its decision and declared the marriage illegal under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act and ordered the girl placed in a shelter after she refused to return to her parents. 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. Though Kareem had meant it as a post of religious devotion, it caught the attention of an extremist Sunni Muslim group, who called him a traitor to Muslims. Reports indicated parents and pastors were frequently paid by the traffickers for the women, and that some pastors were complicit in the trafficking. The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony is responsible for organizing participation in the Hajj and other Islamic religious pilgrimages. 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. The Khan government, meanwhile, has been accused of both turning a blind eye to rising sectarianism from hardline Sunni groups, which reportedly enjoy patronage from state and military officials, and also using their support for political gain at a time when the government is weak and the economy is collapsing. On July 19, members of the Hindu community staged a sit-in in Khuzdar, Balochistan, to protest the July 18 killing of local Hindu trader Nanak Ram by unidentified assailants in the Wadh area of Khuzdar District. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom, Actions of Foreign Forces and Nonstate Actors, Section III. Multiple civil society groups and faith community leaders stated the government had increased efforts to provide enhanced security at religious minority places of worship, which had been frequent targets of attack in past years. Courts issued two new death sentences for blasphemy and sentenced another individual to five years imprisonment. The requirement that Muslim elected officials swear an oath affirming their belief that Mohammed is the final prophet of Islam continued to discourage Ahmadi Muslims from seeking public office. 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. The Washington-based United States Institute for Peace said 3,800 Shias were murdered between 2007 and 2013, with 325 of those killings occurring in 2012. The year 2020 saw a rise in blasphemy charges - at least 199 people were charged, of which 70% were Shia Muslims. In some schools, however, non-Muslim students may study ethics. Despite these problems some international organizations have researched and reported some statistics. The court ordered the chief executive officer of GEPCO to hire the two Christians, but he did not do so. Version 3.0 . On October 25, a Hindu temple was vandalized in Nagarparkar, Sindh, during the nine-day Navratri celebrations. Then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs government had granted the land to build the temple in 2016. The official state religion of Iran is Shia branch of Islam. Christian religious freedom activists continued to report widespread discrimination against Christians in private employment. Reports continued of attacks on religious minorities holy places, cemeteries, and religious symbols. For example, in March, media reported that a woman from Meghwar committed suicide after being repeatedly raped by a man of an upper-caste Hindu clan in Deeplo, Sindh. On January 29, an antiterrorism court in Lahore acquitted and ordered the release of 42 individuals accused of participating in the 2015 lynching of two Muslim men in Lahore. The HRCP reported that more than 40 such cases were registered under the blasphemy laws in August alone. Governor Sarwar did not sign the bill, which was promoted by the PML-Q party, noting controversy about its provisions and concerns that it could be seen as anti-Shia. Government officials condemned the incident, suspended more than 100 police officials for failure to stop the mob, and ordered the temple rebuilt. (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics) However, according to data from the 2017 Census that was made unofficially available to a lawmaker, the Hindu population may have decreased by 0.19% from 1998. note: provisional results of Pakistan's 2017 national census estimate the country's total population to be 207,774,000. country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data): 5. U.S. government cultural centers in Khairpur, Hyderabad, and Karachi held events to promote religious freedom. According to an unofficial and unverified estimate, between 700 and 5,000 Pakistan Shias from Karachi, Parachinar, and Gilgit-Baltistan, recruited by Iran, went to Syria to fight against the. At least one individual was accused of spreading blasphemous content through social media under PECA. This is probably an attempt to contain any outbreak of violence, because Shias in Pakistan are a sizeable minority. The government collects a mandatory, automatic 2.5 percent zakat (tax) from Sunni Muslims who hold savings accounts in banks. In May, the Cabinet approved a proposal creating a National Commission for Minorities within the Ministry of Religious Affairs. At years end, she and her alleged husband had not appeared in court in Karachi, despite multiple court orders to do so. 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. 55-64 years: 9.62% (male 250,653/female 275,670) 65 years and over: 7.96% (male 187,001/female 248,479) (2020 est.) Police and security forces throughout the country enhanced security measures during religious holidays in consultation with religious leaders. Members of religious minority communities said there continued to be an inconsistent application of laws safeguarding minority rights and enforcement of protections of religious minorities at both the federal and provincial levels by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Human Rights. India with 21 million is in second place closely followed by Pakistan (20 million). The statement also called on the government to reform its blasphemy laws and court system and to ensure that the suspect in Naseems killing be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In February, a court in Jacobabad, Sindh, ruled that the marriage with Raza was illegal under the 2013 Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. On July 22, the Punjab Provincial Assembly passed the Protection of Foundation of Islam Bill, which prohibits the printing and publication of objectionable material in the province. It is important to remember that Shia have a high birth rate since their religion allows adultery (Mut'a). These conferences were organized by groups that stated they were defending the teaching that Mohammed is the final prophet but were often characterized by both secular and Ahmadi critics as engaging in hate speech against Ahmadi Muslims. At least three top Twitter trends praised the killer and called him the savior and pride of Pakistan. Answer (1 of 19): The country Iran has the largest population of Shia. NGOs lobbying for amendments to permit divorce in a wider range of circumstances praised the Ministry of Human Rights efforts to consult with stakeholders and the ministrys overall efforts to accelerate progress on the bill. They said Christians had difficulty finding jobs other than those involving menial labor, with some advertisements for menial jobs specifying they were open only to Christian applicants. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), however, the number of sectarian attacks and killings by armed groups decreased compared with previous years, corresponding with a continued overall decline in terrorist attacks. The Hindu community in Sindh and Balochistan remained vulnerable to targeted killings and kidnappings for ransom. Ahead of Christmas in Lahore, police deployed some 6,000 officers and officials at 623 churches. Others said parliamentarians occupying reserved seats had little influence in their parties and in the National Assembly because they did not have a voting constituency. You can add more than one country or area. An Ahmadi trader in Peshawar was shot near his business on August 12. They represent about 21 per cent of the total Muslim population, the highest number in a country after Iran. The government continued to permit limited non-Muslim foreign missionary activity and to allow missionaries to proselytize as long as they did not preach against Islam and they acknowledged they were not Muslim. Civil society members reported authorities took no action to prevent attacks on Ahmadi mosques or punish assailants who demolished, damaged, forcibly occupied, or set fire to Ahmadi mosques. Islam in Pakistan. Members of civil society reported that converts from Islam lived in varying degrees of secrecy for fear of violent retribution from family members or society at large. It directs the state to endeavor to secure the proper organization of Islamic tithes, religious foundations, and places of worship.
Becker County Court Calendar, Articles S
Becker County Court Calendar, Articles S