Muhammad Hamza Jamil

NDU-BS/PCS-21/F-019

Mistreatment of minorities in Pakistan

Abstract

Non-Muslim minorities are an integral part of Pakistani society. In Pakistan they been a frequent
witness to discrimination, mistreatment and intolerance. They have been bemused by the vigorous
societal norms against them. They have faced social violence from the muslim community. Apart from
blazing and theft in their religious places and houses by mobs. Similarly they have been a witness of
social atrocities against them. This paper is a general overview of their

Intro

The article is based on the “Mistreatment of minorities in Pakistani society”. As the 2017 census report
of Pakistan states that the population of non-muslim minorities in Pakistan is nearly 3.6% . This
population is largely composed of Hindus 2.17%, Christians 1.27%, Ahmadis 0.22% besides very small
populations of Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, Baha’i and Jews in Pakistan. These communities have faced
discrimination since a long time. Although the constitution of Pakistan guarantees the freedom of all
religions in Pakistan. They are free to live their life perform their religious practices and build their
worship places. Still their is a lot of social and political discrimination faced by the non-muslim groups in
Pakistan.

This Article will discuss the atrocities faced by non-muslim minorities of Pakistan. Their population,
lifestyles, misconceptions regarding them and the stereotypes they faced in Pakistani society.

Aim/Objective

The purpose of this research is to understand the living situation of minorities in Pakistan i.e. Do they
feel any social or political stigma in the society ? What are their numbers ? Have they equal rights as
their muslim counterparts ? Etc. The research is further deep rooted as it looks upon their role in the
freedom struggle of Pakistan ? The atrocities they face by the governments ?

Main Body

“ What are the mistreatments faced by minorities in Pakistan ? ” or “ Are minorities in Pakistan free to
live their lives? ” or “ Are Pakistani minorities strong politically and economically ? “

All these questions demand an answer. Well to answer these Questions we have to look at the history of
non-muslims in Pakistan and how they have been neglected by the respective governments of Pakistan.
The Article will look into

Creation of Pakistan and non-muslim minorities

At the time of partition non-muslims composed 20% of Pakistan’s population. Almost 23% in East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and 3% in West Pakistan. Prior to independence nearly 7 million non-
muslims lived in Pakistani territory out of which only 1.5 million remained in Pakistan. Rest migrated to
India 4 million from Punjab and 1 million from Sindh respectively. Nearly a million non-muslims were
killed mainly in Punjab during partition. The remaining non-muslims who lived in Pakistan were assured
of the protection of their lives and livelihood. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his first speech
assured the non-muslim Pakistanis to live their lives according to their religious beliefs and safeguard of
their individual human rights and necessities in Pakistan. They are equal citizens of Pakistan and are free
to live their lives. They were given electrol seats in Pakistani Parliament which were later on declared
reserved under General Pervez Musharraf rule.

Dewan Bahadur Singha also known as S.P Singha, Ch Chandu Laal and Joginder Nath Mondal were
notable non-muslim Pakistanis who took part in the creation of Pakistan. S.P Singha and Ch Chandu Laal
were speaker and deputy speaker of Punjab Legislative Assembly who voted in favour West Punjab
merger with Pakistan. Joginder Nath Mondal was the first non-muslim in the cabinet of Pakistan. Their
support for Muslim League led to the creation of Pakistan.

ISLAMIZATION IN PAKISTAN

Under General Zia ul Haq regime. Nizam-e-Mustafa was enforced in the country. Pakistan will become
an Islamic State and Sharia rule will be imposed on all people living in it including non-muslim
minorities. The already dead secular principle of the country were further extent under Zia’s rule.
Ordinance 1980, 1982, 1986. Were introduced in Pakistan penal code which prohibited degraded
remarks against Islam, its religious personalities and the punishments including whipping, prison. Were
introduced in the penal code.

The blasphemy law was tighten under Zia’s regime.

Democratic Governments and non-muslim minorities

Although under Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto rule Ahmadis were declare non-muslims. Under the respective PPP
governments of Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari (de-fecto ruler of
Pakistan 2008-2013) non-muslims were included in the mainstream. The liberal principles of PPP
strengthen the non-muslim minorities. Privatization of institutions was a major setback for missionary
institutions in Pakistan under Z.A Bhutto rule. Benazir Bhutto was a vocal supporter of minority rights in
Pakistan. It was her promise to minorities that led to a separate ministry of minority affairs in Pakistan.
Shahbaz Bhatti was appointed as first minority affairs minister in Pakistan’s History after 1971 who
was later killed by terrorist organizations for his voice in against the attacks on Christians in Gojra
where in 2009 fifty houses and a church were ablaze by religious mob in Gojra town of Punjab.

A five percent job quota was passed for government employment of non-muslims but it was not
implemented initially rather sanitary jobs were reserved under this quota even now many sanitary jobs
are reserved under minority quota only. Further when talk about political situation of non-muslim
minorities the situation worsens in Sindh where non-muslims according to an article of express tribune
constitute almost more than 25% in seven parliamentary constituencies of Sindh yet they have not been
elected even in a single one apart from 2019 general elections where Dr Mahesh Kumar became first
Hindu to became a member of Parliament via general elections from Tharparkar district of Sindh. Even
Umerkot which has a Hindu majority has never elected a Hindu lawmaker or Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Badin
which have high Hindu populations have never elected a Hindu representative on general seat rather
non-muslims are elected only in 1ten reserved seats in National Assembly of Pakistan which were
introduces by General Pervez Musharraf Government.

Non-Muslim population in Pakistan

There are 3.6% non-muslims in Pakistan. 4.3 million Hindus, 2.7million Christians, 0.5million Ahmadis
besides 20,000 Sikhs and 20,000 other minorities Buddhists ,Parsis, Jews and Kalasha people.

Sindh has the larges number of non-muslim Pakistanis accounting nearly 9% of the province
population.Three percent 3% non-muslims live in Punjab and less than 1% in Kpk, Baluchistan, AJK and
GB. Beside four percent non-muslims living in Islamabad ICT according to 2017 Pakistani census.

Umerkot in Sindh is the only non-muslim majority district in Pakistan beside 46% non-muslims in
Tharparkar Sindh, 33% in Mirpurkhas Sindh, 25% in Sanghar Sindh, 20% in Badin Sindh mainly Hindus
beside 5% in Lahore and 10% in Chiniot mainly Christians and Ahmadis.

Prejudice faced by non-muslim Pakistanis

Non-Muslim Pakistanis are considered untouchables the situation become worse in rural areas of
Pakistan where they are called Kafars openly are treated like Achoot or Shudra lowest rank in Hindu
Varna class cycle. They are a victim of mistreatment and intolerance. As Pakistan is a religious Islamic
country. Islamic sentiments are very high among the majority population. A large proportion of its
citizens consider themselves far right conservatives. They have traditional thoughts. They face a number
of social difficulties such as inferiority complex.

Many Muslims in Pakistan feel that non-muslims are inferior to them if they are Christians they will do
sanitary work, be house hold maids similarly Hindus they are thought to be Cow worshippers they
idealize cow as Mother, they are dirty if there are Sikhs they are thought to be less hygeine as they don’t
cut their hairs off. Similarly Buddhists are thought to eat Haram animals like the people of East Asian
decent. Ahmadis they are considered to be most dangerous wrong non-muslims as they hid themselves
behind Islam i.e. they show and behave like muslims they harm Islam by not showing themselves i.e.
expose their true beliefs to general people. Similarly non-muslim Pakistanis faced discriminations in
schools and collages and even at workplaces separate utensils are kept for them to drink and eat.
Similarly they are discriminated in workplaces their colleagues abuse them or make fun of their beliefs in
some cases they question their religious beliefs i.e. force them to convert or change their religion to
Islam.

Living conditions

Most non-muslims in Pakistan have a mediocre lifestyle i.e.they are hand to mouth have poor
educational background therefore are small scale employess but now with the changing times a lot of
non-muslim have shown their strength on educational terms i.e. many non-muslim Pakistanis have
passes civil services exams in recent years they have also improved their living standards but still a lot of
them are working as peasantry in rural areas of Sindh in Tharparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas,
Badin, Matiari, Ghotki, Tando Adam and Tando Allahyaar many Hindus belonging to Scheduled Castes
such as Meghwal, Bheel, Kamboj etc. work as peasants on agriculture lands. Similarly many Christians in
Punjab work as labourers in brick clans and factories. The overall living standards of non-muslims have
improved in Pakistan but till more is to done.

Sikhs, Parsis, Jews, Baha’i, Kalasha

Pakistan is the birthplace of Sikhism. Guru Nanak the founder of Sikhism was born in Nankana Sahib in
Punjab so Sikh community has a religious and symbolic attachment to Pakistan. Their population has
decreased since independence and they numbered around 20,000. They have also faced religious
persecution. In 2020 many Pakistani and Indian news channels such as Geo news, Ary, Dawn,
TheHindustantimes, ANI reported the attack by mob on Nankana Sahib Gurduwara on behest of
religious outfits. Similarly Sikhs killing in Peshawar, Buner and parts of tribal area faced target killings by
Taliban. The Taleban’s in 2010 beheaded three Sikh youths in Orakzai and Khyber agency of formerly
FATA region of Pakistan. Similarly Parsis in Pakistan are found in Karachi and they numbered around

2,000 their population is constantly dwindling with time. They are economically stable and well ofg
Bahram D.Awari the founder of Awari Hotels and Bhindara and co. Bewarages. Buddhist community in
Pakistan mainly consists of Chinese workers and other South East Asian people living and working in
Pakistan. Jewish community in Pakistan numbering just 1,000 individual or so live mainly in Karachi
which has historical Jewish population. Baha’i people also live in Pakistan.

Kalasha people which live in the Kalash valley of Chitral district of Pakistan numbering just 4,500 they
have greek ancestry and are known as Kafars and their land as Kafaristan have ancient Hindu believes.
Their population is also dwindling since many have converted to Islam under Taliban rule in Malakand
Division and due to increasing love marriages or force marriages between muslim boys and Kalasha girls
in which the boy or his family force the girl to convert to Islam many cases have been reported of this
sort a similar case was reported in 2016 when a Kalasha girl named Rina was forced to convert after
abdication later on married a muslim boy and converted to Islam.

Ahmadi community in Pakistan

Ahmadi community in Pakistan which numbered some 0.5 million people is one of the larges non-
muslim community in Pakistan. They have the same beliefs as the Muslim except for their belief in the
finality of the prophet hood of The Holy Prophet PBUH which makes them non-muslims and they are
declared non-muslims in Pakistan under the 1974 under The second amendment of the Constitution of
Pakistan under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto government. Apart from their religious believes it is their religious
practices that angers the Muslim community to persecute the Ahmadi community 1953 Lahore riots,
1974 Anti-Ahmadiya riots, 2010 attack on Ahmadi house of worship which killed 84 Ahmadis. Beside
1974 riots in which hundreds of Ahmadis were killed with their, shops houses, religious places forcefully
took, burned or occupied. They are one of the most easily targeted religious group in Pakistan with
constant hate speeches and religious abuse of these people happened they also face mass social boycott
in their neighbourhoods.

Attacks on Christian and Hindu community

According to express tribune in 2013 a Hindu temple was burned in Larkana and religious artefacts
stolen. Similarly in Ghotki PPP lawmaker Abdul Haq was involved in kidnapping and forced conversions
of Hindu girls including minors to Islam. He was widely criticized by national and international media a
similar case was booked against him in which his son was charged of kidnapping and forced conversion
of a Hindu girl named Rinkle Kumari.

Similarly attacks and forced conversions of Christian community have also been observed in 2014 a
christian couple was burned in a brick kiln in Kot Radhakishan near Lahore. In 2013 a christian colony
joseph colony was burned to ground after accusation of blasphemy from the residents of the colony.
2015 Youhanabad Churches attack in Lahore that gained mass media coverage around the world in
which many Christians were killed and injured.

Article 295-C

The Law Amendment of 1986 that added 295-C to the Pakistani penal code that provides death penalty
and life imprisonment to the accused on the charges of Blasphemy of the Prophet. This Article has been
wrongly used in favour of personal interests of the accusers on whose false testaments and personal
behest many non-muslims Pakistanis have been charged of blasphemy like Asia Bibi case and most
recently a Siri Lankan national manager of a private company was accuse of blasphemy he was
beaten and burned to death by mob in Sialkot. In many cases the accused are killed by mobs, their
houses are burned by mobs before even the beginning of legal proceedings. Many non-muslims and
mentally disable persons have been accused of blasphemy. Non-muslims are specially targeted under
the banner of this Article. Most of them are illiterate they cant understand the text on books and
sometimes burned them along with garbage these text hold religious writings when someone sees he
accused the non-muslim of doing blasphemy against Islam. A similar case was reported by Al-Jazeera in
Toba Tek Singh area of Punjab a minor christian girl was accused of blasphemy she burned a religious
text along with garbage, a passer-by looked at the burned items found the text and accused the girl of
blasphemy a mob came burned the houses of the christian community the family of the girl had gone to
hiding a police case was lodged and legal proceedings began.

Research methodology

The research methodology used in this research is both Qualitative and Quantitative one many news
articles from Dawn, The Nation, TheHindustantimes have been viewed to understand the situation of
non-muslim minorities living in Pakistan. Census 2017 report has been viewed to look at the population
statistics of non-muslims in Pakistan. Interviews of Slain Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and Asia Bibi has also
been views in which they describe the threats and assaults they have faced by religious outfits and
government institutions against them. Right-wing leader Khadim Rizvi’s interviews have also been
watched in which he threats non-muslims living in Pakistan. Books like Relations of Muslims and Non-
Muslims, A rejoinder of Qadiyanies have also been read to understand their plight in Pakistan. Further
interview of Christian house hold made Perveen (Susan real name) and Attiya (Violet real name) has
also been taken in which they describe the slangs they heard by their employees like you Christian are
Churaas or like You People eat Pigs meat. Similarly they have to hide their real names when interacting
with the members of Muslim community.

Conclusion

Non-Muslim minorities being one of the most socially backward community of Pakistan should be
uplifted by the government. The Muslim community and non-muslim community should have more
interfaith dialogues and gatherings where trust measures should be build among religious
communities. A lot of progress has been made but a lot more has to be done to end the continuous
religious and social intolerance against them.