Two of the biggest contributors to violations of freedom of religion or belief in Pakistan continue to be the notorious blasphemy laws, and the rising rates of abduction, forced conversion and forced marriage. Last year alone saw the abduction and forced conversion of 78 women and girls: 38 Christian, 39 Hindu and one Sikh. These are just the cases we know about - the true figure is likely much higher.
Both issues are deeply rooted in biased education, but education will also be a vital part of the solution. Our hope is to eradicate hate from the curriculum and shape the minds of the next generation towards tolerance and acceptance, with a transforming effect that will ripple out for decades to come.
Between 1987 and 2021, there were 1,939 documented cases of blasphemy accusations in Pakistan. A staggering 45% of these charges were against non-Muslims, even though that group makes up only 3.6% of the population.
A particularly shocking case took place in March this year when a young teacher, Safoora Bibi, was killed by three women whose relative – believed to be a 13-year-old girl – had had a dream that Safoora had committed blasphemy.
Who would have imagined that a young girl’s dream could hold such deadly power? But this shows how the spark of a single accusation can be fanned into flame by the surrounding culture, in which blasphemy is regularly used as a weapon, aimed disproportionately at the minority.
Intolerance seeps out of school textbooks which distort history and teach young minds to hate. Hindus, for example, are described as ‘enemies of Pakistan’, while chapters on religious minorities and their contributions to society have been removed. Even when a section has been reinstated, it is still segregated as a separate chapter – perpetuating the ‘otherness’ of religious minority communities.
Our Faith and a Future campaign a few years ago made great progress in bringing biased education to international attention. We succeeded in persuading the UK Department for International Development that they must ensure that UK aid to Pakistan is not funding hate. This was a key breakthrough, which you helped us campaign for, but there is still much more to be done.
Empowering communities to know their rights
When a young girl is abducted, often the first thing the abductor does is ‘convert’ her to Islam before marrying her. This means that, if the case ever makes it to court, she will be treated under Islam’s shari’a law, which gives puberty as the ambiguous legal age for marriage. It allows shari’a law to override other laws, removing the protection of Pakistan’s Child Marriage Restraint Act which forbids marriage under 18 years old.
Part of our advocacy response includes educating families, and even lawyers who may not be aware of this tactic, so that their case is better supported in court. We’re also working to encourage safeguarding measures, such as getting photo ID for children.
Manifesto promises
With cases of abduction and blasphemy on the rise, we urgently need to tackle these vicious violations at their roots. That’s why CSW’s South Asia team has embarked on a year-long project ahead of Pakistan’s 2023 general election, forming a lobby group of academics and activists to campaign for education reform. The aim is to motivate politicians to address the issue of education in their manifestos, so that we can hold them accountable to their promises after the election.
One of our advocates emphasised: ‘Whether they come into power or are in the opposition, they need to urgently address education policy because it is promoting intolerance – not just against minority communities, but now we see lynchings and division happening within the majority community as well.’
We can’t change an entire country in one year, but we can lay the foundations for future change. We can influence politicians to tackle biased education at its core, and begin building a mindset of peace in the next generation. With your help, this work has already begun.