Cold Temperatures Associated With The Use Of Cryogens, Spencer Taylor Obituary, Amarillo High Basketball State Championship, Brannen Beanpole Family, Articles S

On July 19, members of the Hindu community staged a sit-in in Khuzdar, Balochistan, to protest the July 18 killing of local Hindu trader Nanak Ram by unidentified assailants in the Wadh area of Khuzdar District. In court proceedings, the girl retracted her video statement and said she wanted to return to her parents. Senior Department of State officials, including the Office of International Religious Freedoms Special Advisor for Religious Minorities, the Charge dAffaires, consuls general, and other embassy officers met with government officials and senior advisors to the Prime Minister, including the Minister for Human Rights, and officials from the Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, and Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony to discuss blasphemy law reform; laws concerning Ahmadi Muslims; the need to better protect members of religious minority communities; sectarian relations; and religious respect. It has an estimated 23 million people who adhere to Islam. The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and requires all provisions of the law to be consistent with Islam. Despite these problems some international organizations have researched and reported some statistics. During his February visit to Karachi, the Department of State Special Adviser for Religious Minorities told students and faculty at Karachi Universitys Department of Islamic Studies, An inclusive society creates more space for trade and prosperity. The audience applauded his comments about the protection of religious freedom for Muslims in the United States. The charges carry up to three years imprisonment and a fine. On October 5, also in Peshawar, Professor Naeemuddin Khattak, a member of the Ahmadiyya community, died after being shot while driving home from work. In December, using expanded authorities granted by the government in November, the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority publicly demanded the removal of sacrilegious content from the Google Play Store and Wikipedia. The Khan government, meanwhile, has been accused of both turning a blind eye to rising sectarianism from hardline Sunni groups, which reportedly enjoy patronage from state and military officials, and also using their support for political gain at a time when the government is weak and the economy is collapsing. Total. According to AsiaNews, once Khan learned the family was Christian, he ordered them to leave immediately, because Christians are enemies of Islam. After harassing the family for a few days, Khan gave them a 24-hour ultimatum to leave. The Kuwaiti population consists of 70% foreigners and 30% Kuwaiti. The year 2020 saw a rise in blasphemy charges - at least 199 people were charged, of which 70% were Shia Muslims. Over the past month, Pakistan has seen an unprecedented rise in attacks and arrests of its Shia population, who make up between 15% and 20% of the Sunni-majority country, the largest Shia community outside Iran. A constitutional amendment devolves responsibility for minorities affairs, including religious minorities, to the provinces. On October 25, a Hindu temple was vandalized in Nagarparkar, Sindh, during the nine-day Navratri celebrations. 55-64 years: 9.62% (male 250,653/female 275,670) 65 years and over: 7.96% (male 187,001/female 248,479) (2020 est.) Both passed the recruitment test and had successful interviews but were denied appointment by the assistant manager. Processing and dissemination of data in the form of Census Reports. Two days later, the 21-year-old student found himself the subject of a police report, accused of violating Pakistans draconian laws on blasphemy. Sunni groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba,. On April 14, police filed a blasphemy case against Shia singer Zamin Ali in Jamshoro, Sindh. Sunnis are not only dominant but also the majority sect in Pakistan. Doha. Shares of Sikhs and Buddhists in overall population increased marginally. In May, the Federal Investigative Agency raided the Lahore home of Ahmadi missionary and youth worker Rohan Ahmad, arresting him on charges of cybercrime, blasphemy against the Quran, and propagating the Ahmadi faith through a WhatsApp group in September 2019. Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, Office of the U.S. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement. Armed sectarian groups, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the once-banned anti-Shia group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which is connected to other organizations banned by the government as extremist, and groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and other governments, continued to stage attacks targeting Shia Muslims, including the predominantly Shia Hazara community. The present Christian population in Pakistan is ranged between 2-3 million as per as recent (2020-21) year estimation by various institution and NGOs of Pakistan. The Sindh High Court on October 27 originally upheld the validity of the marriage, citing the marriage certificate that indicated the girl was 18 years old, and ruling that she had converted to Islam and married of her own free will. In July, residents in the Sheikpura District of Punjab damaged Ahmadi gravestones. Ahmadiyya community representatives reported the word Ahmadi was written on their passports if they identified themselves as such. Citing a sanitation job advertisement issued by the Sindh provincial government, HRCP stated such advertisements infringed on human dignity and violated the constitutional guarantee of equality of all citizens. Shia Muslims 1.1 Demographics. In October, members of a State Youth Parliament team in Gujranwala defaced a public portrait of the countrys first Nobel laureate, physicist Dr. Abdus Salam, an Ahmadi. The government did not permit Ahmadis to teach Islamic studies in public schools. The Sindh provincial government has legislation allowing couples to seek divorce and granting Hindu women the right to remarry six months after a divorce or a spouses death. They represent about 21 per cent of the total Muslim population, the highest number in a country after Iran. Pakistan 10 - 15 10 - 15 Palau -- --Palestinian territories <1 <1 Panama <1 <1 Papua New Guinea <1 <1 Paraguay -- --Peru <1 <1 . The provincial and federal governments have legal responsibility for certain minority religious properties abandoned during the 1947 partition of British India. Although the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act covers registration of Sikh marriages in that province, members of the Sikh community reportedly continued to seek a separate Sikh law so as not to be considered as Hindus for the purposes of the law. Unofficial estimates vary widely with regard to the size of minority religious groups. In January, after going missing, a 15-year-old Hindu girl appeared in a video with Ali Raza, a Muslim man, in which the two claimed they had willingly married and she had converted to Islam. . According to the CSJ, 2020 saw the highest number of blasphemy cases in a single year in the countrys history. On June 25, an antiterrorism court sentenced five al-Qaida militants to 16 years imprisonment each for terrorist financing and possession of explosives. When he and his sons returned to the house, they shot and wounded two of the Christian family members. Information Minister Shibli Farazs announcement that the Cabinet had decided against including an Ahmadi Muslim representative on the new commission contributed to a wave of hate speech against Ahmadis, according to community representatives. According to 2017 census total house hold in Pakistan are 32205111. Three U.S. government cultural centers in Sindh Province and Islamabad held events to promote religious freedom. He is one of over 50 Shia Muslims in Sunni-majority Pakistan, who have been booked under blasphemy and antiterrorist charges over the last month. The temple had also been part of a government-run school. Pakistan 2020 population is estimated at 220,892,340 people at mid year according to UN data. Islamic and minority religious leaders endorsed the code. NEW DELHI: Successive Pakistan governments under the garb of development have undertaken an exercise to change demographic composition of Gilgit Baltistan and local Shia population has been reduced to less than 50 per cent compared to 1948. Most minority religious groups said they continued to face discrimination in government hiring. The U.S. government estimates the total population at 234.4 million (midyear 2020 estimate). The teacher survived the attack and told media the man had been following and harassing her for days. The government may use the antiterrorism courts, established as a parallel legal structure under the 1997 Antiterrorism Act, to try cases involving violent crimes, terrorist activities, and acts or speech deemed by the government to foment religious hatred, including blasphemy. The Shia Muslim population in Pakistan is estimated to be between five and 20 per cent which is not considerable given that over 95 per cent of Pakistan's population are Muslims . The 342-member National Assembly has 10 reserved seats for non-Muslims. Civil society members reported authorities took no action to prevent attacks on Ahmadi mosques or punish assailants who demolished, damaged, forcibly occupied, or set fire to Ahmadi mosques. Wafaqs (independent academic boards) register seminaries, regulate curricula, and issue degrees. Ahmadiyya community leaders said he was targeted due to his religious beliefs. The TLP and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, a banned organization under the National Counterterrorism Authoritys Schedule-I list, also held smaller rallies. The government continued its warnings against blasphemy and other illegal content on social media through periodic print advertisements and text messages sent by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). The proposal named a prominent Hindu business owner and ruling PTI party leader as the commissions chair, along with other Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, and Kalash members. In June, the Punjab Provincial Assembly unanimously passed the Curriculum and Text Book Board Amendment Bill, which Governor Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar signed into law. Although a sizeable. Violence has not begun, but its likelihood looms large. On January 22, the Hyderabad center hosted an event on educational institutions roles in promoting tolerance and creating peaceful communities. According to the SATP, at least 10 persons were killed and three injured in 10 incidents of sectarian violence by extremist groups during the year. According to government figures, the remaining 4 percent includes Ahmadi Muslims (whom national law does not recognize as Muslim); Hindus; Christians, including Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants, among others; Parsis/Zoroastrians; Bahais; Sikhs; Buddhists; Kalash; and Kihals and Jains. Non-Muslims are required to have the head of their local religious communities verify their religious affiliation. The young man and two coconspirators were indicted, taken into government custody, and were awaiting trial at years end. The Sindh Hindu Marriage Act also applies to Sikh marriages. In February, the National Assembly introduced a draft law requiring internet and technology companies to open offices in Islamabad, locate their servers within the country, and remove objectionable internet content within a specified timeframe. Then, in the 2018 election, ASWJ and TLP were allowed to run in the election, winning seats in parliament. The NCHR is also mandated to monitor the governments implementation of human rights and review and propose legislation. 1.. Islam in Pakistan. According to Ahmadiyya leaders, the government effectively disenfranchised their community by requiring voters to swear an oath affirming the finality of the Prophethood of Mohammed, something that they stated was against Ahmadi belief, in order to register as Muslims. In May, the Cabinet approved a proposal creating a National Commission for Minorities within the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Also in September, according to law enforcement reports, Peshawar police rescued an Ahmadi family after a large mob gathered outside their home, accusing the family of preaching Ahmadi beliefs. Their families believe they were taken into custody by the intelligence. It stated that more than 40 cases against religious minorities were registered under the blasphemy laws in August alone. In Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinces, private schools are also required to teach Islamic studies and the Quran to Muslim students. At the end of the year, CLAAS was planning to take the case to the Federal Ombudsman. Pakistan's president gives Shias an exemption, but the sectarian confrontation becomes an important political issue in the country. In January, two Christians, Kamran Sandhu and Nauman Aslam, applied for seats reserved for minorities in the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) in Punjab. Danesh Kumar, the adviser on minority affairs to the Balochistan Chief Minister, said the government had decided to hand over sacred sites of religious minorities in Balochistan to promote interfaith harmony. At other times, advocacy groups reported that blasphemy trials were held inside jails for security reasons, in which case the hearings were not public, resulting in a gain in immediate security but a loss of transparency. After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. [6] As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. The Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training held consultations with minority faith representatives during the year in a review of textbooks for derogatory material. 1 These two groups have been at odds for centuries. At least three top Twitter trends praised the killer and called him the savior and pride of Pakistan. How many Shia are in India? Video footage from a National Assembly session in July showed opposition lawmakers immediately criticizing Prime Minister Khan when he failed to use the phrase after speaking the name of the Prophet Mohammed in an address to parliament. According to police, the content they posted on Facebook insulted the companions of Mohammed, which, they said, infuriated Sunni Muslims. Smaller minorities are collectively labelled as 'other'. The constitution mandates that the government take steps to enable Muslims, individually and collectively, to order their lives in accordance with the fundamental principles and basic concepts of Islam and to promote the observance of Islamic moral standards. Shia Population Shia by Country (cont.) On November 9, also in Peshawar, an 82-year-old retired Ahmadi government worker was killed by unknown gunmen while waiting for a bus. 4,465,000. In addition to addressing a legal gap by providing documentation needed for identity registration, divorce, and inheritance, the Hindu Marriage Acts allow marriages to be voided when consent was obtained by force, coercion, or by fraud. The acts allow for the termination of the marriage upon the conversion of one party to a religion other than Hinduism.