Country Profile - Pakistan
Population: 172.8 million
Capital: Islamabad
Government: Federal republic
Religion: Muslim 96%; Christian 2.5%; Hindu 1.3%; Other 0.2%
Political context
Pakistan was created by the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 following Indian Muslims' demand for a separate homeland.
Its present-day borders were established in 1971 when former East Pakistan, which was mainly Bengali-speaking, broke away to become Bangladesh.
Neither civilian regimes nor military dictatorships have brought political stability to a country still crippled by poverty and violence.
Pakistan's international respectability nosedived when General Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999. Yet Pakistan's standing improved after the September 11 attacks in 2001, when it became a key ally of the US in the fight against global terrorism.
President Asif Ali Zardari was elected in September 2008, shortly after his predecessor Musharraf resigned under threat of impeachment. His Government has been waging a rolling military campaign against militants, particularly in tribal areas.
But the growing threat of terrorism inside Pakistan now threatens to undermine both national security and its reputation abroad.
Religious Context
The founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnar, promised equal rights for religious minorities. Yet Christians are among the poorest and most marginalised in Pakistani society.
In areas such as Punjab, most people in bonded labour in, for example, Pakistan's brick kilns, are Christian. Christian women in particular are generally forced to take low-paid work, often in domestic service, and many reportedly suffer physical and sexual abuse from their employers. There have been many reports of Christian women and girls being abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men against their will
The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion: proselytising among Muslims is banned. A form of Sharia (Islamic law) called the Hudood Ordinance, introduced in 1979, enforces Islamic penalties for crimes such as extra-marital sex. Islamic hard-liners lead a strong opposition and make reform difficult.
Indeed, radical Islam is spreading. Islamic extremists have gained popular support by providing hospitals, job training, universities – and Islamic schools or madrassas. Their curriculum often includes military training for jihad (or holy war).
Persecution
Pakistan's blasphemy laws – especially the notorious Section 295C of the Penal Code – are often used against religious minorities to settle personal scores. So the number of Christians charged is disproportionately high.
Under a 1990 ruling, a guilty verdict should mean the death penalty: in practice, there have been no official executions for blasphemy to date. Courts have tended to give a life sentence, though it is often reduced on appeal.
Courtrooms packed with extremists have often pressured judges into returning a guilty verdict or continuing trials indefinitely.
President Zardari has promised to review the blasphemy laws but no significant changes have yet been made. For now, like the Hudood Ordinance, they continue to foster religious intolerance.
In July 2010, gunmen shot dead two Christian pastors, brothers Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel, outside a court in Faisalabad where they were being tried for blasphemy. Their family maintain that the charges against them were false.
And a year earlier, in July 2009, extremists attacked the villages of Korian and Gojra in Punjab, burning homes and killing seven Christians, in retaliation for an alleged blasphemy. Since then, several Christian communities have been threatened with an 'attack like Gojra'
The law offers little protection to Christians, given their low social status. So assaults on believers and their churches continue. Police are accused of apathy – or even complicity – in these attacks.
Release Projects
Release's work in Pakistan includes:
- practical and pastoral support for more than 100 Christian prisoners and their families
- backing for a group of lawyers who work to uphold the rights of religious minorities, including Christians
- supporting the production and distribution of Christian literature, videos and CDs
- Support of projects to build up the repressed Christian community, such as sewing centres and schools
Sources: BBC; International Christian Concern; Operation World; Release International; The World Factbook 20108; World Christian Database.
Updated January 2011