In his first speech before the members of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in 1947, Mohammad Ali Jinnah said that non-Muslims would be equal citizens in the new country and that every person living in the country would be an equal citizen, irrespective of his or her community, caste, colour, or faith. History is witness to the fact that what Jinnah said was not even remotely accurate as to what would happen.

Minority communities firstly face discrimination under the Constitution. The Constitution of Pakistan, in article 25 (1), guarantees that “all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.” Article 5 provides that “adequate provision shall be made for the minorities to freely profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures,” and article 33 declares that it is the state’s responsibility to discourage parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian, and provincial prejudices among citizens. However, these provisions have never been fully implemented in practice, and are contradicted by other provisions of the Constitution.

Firstly, article 2 declares that “Islam shall be the State religion of Pakistan,” and article 31 states that it is the government’s duty to foster the Islamic way of life. Article 41(2) provides that “a person shall not be qualified for election as President unless he is a Muslim,” and article 227 (1) states that “all existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah, in this Part referred to as the Injunctions of Islam, and no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to such Injunctions.” Even article 20 of the Constitution, which enshrines every citizen’s “right to profess, practice and propagate his religion” and that “every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions”, is “subject to law, public order and morality,” and is thus contradicted in law and practice when it comes to the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan.

In 1980, religiously-mandated punishments were assigned to various violations under Sharia law, including drinking alcoholic beverages, theft and bearing false witness. The punishments included hanging, amputations and other corporal punishments.

Pakistan also has Sharia Courts, which act as a “super-legislature” as compared to the Superior Courts. It has the power to order immediate revision of national laws and its rulings are binding on high and lower courts. The legal system is hence, by definition, discriminatory to those who do not follow the State’s interpretation of Islamic Law.

Pakistan also has blasphemy laws consisting of a group of laws – the centrepiece of which is section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which provide penalties for blasphemy and other “offences against religion,” ranging from a fine to the death sentence.

Although section 295-A of the PPC criminalizes the “deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of the citizens of Pakistan,” the other offenses relating to religion outlined in the PPC specifically protect Islam and Muslims:

• Section 295-B states that “w_hoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Qur’an or of an extract therefrom or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable with imprisonment for life_”.

• Section 295-C provides that “w_hoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine_.”

• In 1990, the Federal Shari’a Court (FSC) ruled that “the penalty for contempt of the Holy Prophet (…) is death and nothing else,” and on 1 May 1991, the death penalty became mandatory for persons convicted under section 295-C.7

The vague nature of these laws has made it easy for the Pakistani government to practice religious discrimination. The report by RefWorld goes on to mention that “the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, during her mission to Pakistan in 2013, received reports that in cases involving the blasphemy laws “judges have been coerced or pressured to decide against the accused, even without supporting evidence, and that lawyers, in addition to their reluctance to take up such cases because they are afraid for their security, are targeted and forced not to represent their clients properly.””

Note: Some of the above paragraphs are direct lifts from a report by RefWorld. The link to the report is attached below and you can gain further insight by referring to it.

Bibliography

https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/57fb91e54.pdf

https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/506d3d412.pdf

https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC-C-PAK-CO4.pdf

https://appgfreedomofreligionorbelief.org/media/Pakistan-Hindu-brief.pdf