File Variety of Blasphemy Instances Recorded in Pakistan

Compelled conversions and abductions in Pakistan in 2024 have been recorded within the Annual Human Rights Observer report on blasphemy accusations. (Heart for Social Justice chart)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Every day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – A rights watchdog chronicled a document 344 new blasphemy instances in Pakistan in 2024, highlighting elevated abuse of the nation’s condemned blasphemy legal guidelines.

Of the 344 new blasphemy instances, 70 % of the accused have been Muslims, 6 % have been Christians, 9 % Hindus and 14 % Ahmadis, in accordance with the Annual Human Rights Observer report issued by Heart for Social Justice (CSJ).

“The blatant weaponization of blasphemy legal guidelines continued to allow persecution, spiritual intolerance and widespread human rights violations,” the report acknowledged.

Part 298-A of the blasphemy statutes, which pertains to disrespect of holy personages, together with the household, wives and companions of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, and the 4 caliphs and is punishable with as much as 10 years in jail, was essentially the most used part. Final yr 128 individuals have been charged below this part.

“The following most often abused provision was Part 295-A (hurting of non secular sentiments) with 106 reported instances,” the report famous. “Part 298-C, which is particularly towards the Ahmadi neighborhood, was additionally broadly misused, with 69 accused.”

Sections 295-B (desecration of the Quran) and 295-C (disrespecting Muhammad) have been additionally extensively used, resulting in 62 people accused throughout numerous areas of Pakistan, the report famous.

Punjab Province recorded the best variety of blasphemy-related accusations, accounting for 62 % of the whole instances, adopted by Sindh Province with 30 %, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 5 %, Azad Jammu and Kashmir with 2 % and Gilgit-Baltistan with 1 %.

Amongst districts, the best variety of reported blasphemy incidents occurred in Punjab Province’s Sheikhupura District with 32, Lahore with 28, Kot Addu with 13, Rawalpindi with 13, Okara with 11, Sargodha with 11 and Gujranwala with 10, in addition to Sindh Province’s Tharparkar District with 35 and Larkana with 11. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Mansehra District recorded the best variety of instances with seven.

Ove the course of the yr, 10 individuals accused of blasphemy have been extra-judicially killed by people or violent mobs, together with six in Punjab Province (two every in Lahore and Rawalpindi, and one every in Sargodha and Gujrat), two in Sindh Province (one every in Karachi and Umerkot), whereas there was one every in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Swat), and Balochistan (Quetta).

At the least 2,793 individuals have been formally or informally accused of blasphemy in Pakistan over the previous 38 years, 1987 to 2024, in accordance with the report. Over these years, 54 % of these accused have been Muslims, 30 % have been Ahmadis, 11 % have been Christians and three % have been Hindus, whereas the spiritual identities of one other 3 % couldn’t be ascertained.

The report acknowledged that no less than 104 individuals have been killed extra-judicially following blasphemy allegations between 1994 and 2024, which included 67 Muslims (64 %), 26 Christians (25 %), seven Ahmadis, one Hindu and one Buddhist, whereas the faith of two individuals was unknown. Punjab was the province with essentially the most killings at 72 (69 % of the whole), adopted by 15 in Sindh, 11 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three in Balochistan, two in Islamabad and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Compelled Conversions

On the problem of compelled conversion of minority women and girls, the CSJ report revealed that no less than 421 instances have been reported between January 2021 and December 2024 in Pakistan.

The victims included 282 Hindu women, 137 Christian women and two Sikh women; 71 % of the victims have been minors, of whom 22 % have been below the age of 14, and 49 % have been between the ages of 14 and 18. Solely 13 % of victims have been adults, and the age of 16 % remained unverified. The report added that the overwhelming majority of instances, 69 %, occurred in Sindh Province, adopted by 30 % in Punjab Province.

The CSJ report additionally highlighted discriminatory jail insurance policies, the place minority inmates are denied remission advantages out there to Muslim prisoners. Moreover, textbooks continued to advertise Islamic content material in non-religious topics, undermining minority college students’ rights, in accordance with the report.

It additionally noticed that regardless of the introduction of the Nationwide Fee for Minorities Invoice, 2025, delays and weak enforcement persist. Out of 186 payments tabled in legislative assemblies, solely 23 addressed human rights, with only one minority-related invoice changing into regulation.

Pakistan, whose inhabitants is greater than 96 % Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Listing of essentially the most troublesome locations to be a Christian.

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