Since its independence in 1947, Pakistan has officially been a Muslim state, and despite its constitution and status of “federal republic”, which supposedly guarantee freedom of religion, it is nowadays a country which doesn’t respect nor tolerate faiths outside of Islam.
Minorities like the Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Shias, and Ahmadis have been perpetually subjected to attacks and discrimination by extremist groups, but also by the society at large.
This can be seen, for instance, in the fact that occupations considered as low, dirty, and derogatory are systematically imposed to them by the authorities.
Moreover, one of the significant issues being faced by minority communities is the abusive enforcement of the country’s blasphemy law, which has made it possible for individuals to be falsely accused of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad, resulting in fines, lengthy prison sentences, and sometimes death penalty.
These accusations are frequently made to settle personal vendettas and, due to the bias against minorities, victims are often immediately presumed guilty without any substantive evidence.
Furthermore, even if the victim becomes acquitted, this law tends to promote extrajudicial killings, and has been the cause of dozens of communal attacks that have taken place against religious minorities.
The international community has become aware of this situation via the recent case “Asia Bibi”.
Asia Bibi (Aasia Noreen), was the second Christian sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
In June 14, 2009, she had an argument with two Muslim women, who grew angry with her for drinking the same water as them (this was not mentioned in their first testimonies, but came to light thanks to the testimony of other independent witnesses).
These women then fabricated a false blasphemy case and accused her of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
She was subsequently arrested, imprisoned, convicted for blasphemy in November 2010 and sentenced to death.
She remained on death row for more than eight years, until a three-judge bench overturned the death sentence in 2018, judging that the case of blasphemy was riddled with inconsistencies and contradiction.
This decision led to a massive protest from the Islamist hardliners all over the land, who blocked the major roads of the country, damaged infrastructures, and petitioned to overturn the acquittal.
They also inundated her lawyer with threats, forcing him to flee the country shortly after.
Some religious leaders went as far as to announce a US$3,000 bounty to anyone who would assassinate her.
The images of their gatherings, showing extremists holding slanderous signs and gruesome pictures of Asia, screaming for her blood, where broadcasted all over the World and exposed the terrible treatment that minorities – especially Christians – are receiving in Pakistan.
She was ultimately able to safely flee to Canada in May 2019.
These recent events have shown that progress on religious freedom is gradually being made.
However, the country continues to benefit from preferential trade access regime by some Western countries, showing that the World is still turning a blind eye to the injustice there.
The current COVID crisis has shed a renewed light on the current situation, revealing that minorities are still receiving less medical attention compared to Muslims.
Should the world continue to be willfully blind, such injustices will only spread. Already in South Korea, Shincheonji Church of Jesus had had thousands of cases of abuse reported against its members–carried out by fellow people of faith.
This comes on the heels of “rival” churches that spread dangerous rhetoric about the church, which only incites public opinion.
Now that the minority group has been deemed a “Korean cult”, the nation only meets Shincheonji members with anger, scorn, ostracism, and denial of their basic human right to practice their faith.
If the world remains blind to this, one is left to wonder if there is hope for Pakistan.