Summary of concerns and recommendations

Executive Summary

Freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) concerns in Pakistan range from everyday institutional and social discrimination to targeted mass killings at places of worship. A recent CSW fact-finding visit to Pakistan found that in the last several years increasing sectarian violence, a volatile society, lack of accountability, perpetrator impunity and the widespread societal influence and control of unchecked extremist groups have exacerbated the situation to intolerable levels.

Pakistan has officially been an Islamic Republic since 1964, but despite repeated calls for a total shari’a legal system, shari’a has only limited legal status. In June 2014 the Supreme Court Judgment SMC No. 1/20141 highlighted the elaborate textual guarantees for minorities in the constitution in Articles 20-22 and 25-27, pointing out that the ‘dismal state of affairs’ is due to ineffective implementation of the law. The judgment also notes constitutional discrimination in Articles 41 and 91 specifying that both the president and prime minister of Pakistan must be Muslim. Pakistan’s legal parameters for minorities are there, but currently, without implementation they make no difference to the deplorable minority conditions.

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