Minorties are protected by law to practice their religion


(submitted photo)

Pakistani Christians protest after after a Muslim mob burned dozens of homes owned by Christians on March 9, 2013 in retaliation for alleged insults against Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the way the government was handling the incident. Here’s the story.

Minorities have full rights under the Pakistan constitution to practice their religion. Why are mobs and extremists depriving them of their rights?

Read previous posts about the blasphemy law, which moderate Pakistanis and human rights groups feel is extreme and discriminatory to the country’s minority groups, on this blog here and here and here.

Azra Haqqie

2 Responses

  1. whoareyou says:

    Azra – minimally, the blasphemy law seems at odds with “(m)inorities hav(ing) full rights under the Pakistan constitution to practice their religion”. it seems the blasphemy law would be unconstitutional, right? Has the blasphemy law been challenged in court as such?

  2. Vinayaka says:

    The problem is that Islam finds itself in the same position Christianity was about four to five hundred years ago. Where Christianity was riven by decades of violence between Catholics and Protestants and Orthodox Christians, the ongoing Sunni-Shia conflict appears about to do the same among Muslims. Add to that the intrigues of the Salafi/Wahabi movement promoted by Saudi Arabia to the point that now Sufis find themselves targeted, and you have a recipe for mass terrorism and persecution. Not that the United States’ meddling in the Middle East helps either. Like pouring oil on a fire…