Shia Muslims mourning the death anniversary of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in Karachi on 8 October. Those wishing to be listed as Muslims must swear they believe Mohammed is the final prophet and must denounce the Ahmadiyya movements founder as a false prophet and his followers as non-Muslim. The government collects a mandatory, automatic 2.5 percent zakat (tax) from Sunni Muslims who hold savings accounts in banks. On September 5, the HRCP expressed concern over the surge in blasphemy cases against religious minorities, particularly the Shia community, and the potential for sectarian violence. According to the penal code, the punishments for persons convicted of blasphemy include the death penalty for defiling the Prophet Mohammed, life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the Quran, and up to 10 years imprisonment for insulting anothers religious feelings. Speech or action intended to incite religious hatred is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment. Wafaqs (independent academic boards) register seminaries, regulate curricula, and issue degrees. The court ordered the chief executive officer of GEPCO to hire the two Christians, but he did not do so. In July, religious and right-wing parties criticized the governments plan to permit construction of a new Hindu temple in Islamabad. 2,724,000. Courts issued two new death sentences for blasphemy and sentenced another individual to five years imprisonment. On August 24, the Karachi center hosted a talk entitled, How to Develop Religious Tolerance and Empathy, with Syed Ali Hameed from the Shaoor Foundation and a consulate general officer. Salman Khan, the head of the Muslim family, remained at large. In the provincial assemblies, there are three such reserved seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; eight in Punjab; nine in Sindh; and three in Balochistan. The constitution requires the President and Prime Minister to be Muslims. In modern times, the split has fostered battles for power and resources. The law prohibits publishing any criticism of Islam or its prophets or insults to others religious beliefs. The name also comes from one of the names of Allah, Al-Wahab, which means the all-giver.. I fear for myself and my family. With the police on their way to interrogate him, and fearing the violent fate that extremist Sunni groups in Pakistan inflict on those accused of blasphemy, last month Kareem and his family chose to disappear. Members of religious minorities, particularly lower-caste Hindus, complained of forceful evictions from their homes and villages by individuals desiring their land with assistance from government officials. There were some cases in which police received custody of the accused from a court for 14 days for a senior officer to carry out an investigation. Neither the National Assembly nor the Senate had acted on the 2018 judgment by years end, but Ahmadiyya community representatives said that NADRA required Ahmadis to declare in an affidavit that they are non-Muslims to obtain a national identification card, another requirement of the high court judgment. Courts also penalized antiblasphemy groups. In 2018 the Islamabad High Court issued a judgment requiring citizens to declare an affidavit of faith to join the armed forces, judiciary, and civil services and directed parliament to amend laws to ensure Ahmadis did not use Islamic terms or have names associated with Islam. Karachi, the financial hub of Pakistan, has witnessed at least four big anti-Shia rallies since September 11, held by different Sunni groups. Human rights groups reported an increase in blasphemy cases and allegations against members of the Shia Muslim community. Christian advocates also called on the government to allow them to travel to Israel. In May, after the government announced that Ahmadis would be excluded from the National Commission for Minorities, Religious Affairs Minister Qadri said on a popular television show, Anyone supporting Ahmadis is not a Muslim. Ahmadiyya Muslim community representatives stated that the Urdu-language press frequently printed hate speech in news stories and editorials, some of which could be considered as inciting anti-Ahmadi violence. Unofficial estimates vary widely with regard to the size of minority religious groups. On July 27, an antiterrorism court sentenced a member of SSP to 13 years imprisonment for facilitating terrorist activities. Bangladesh with a 153 million Muslim population is in 4th place followed by Nigeria (10 million) in the fifth spot. On August 20, attackers attempted to kill Sheikh Nasir Ahmad, an Ahmadi man from the Lalamusa area of central Punjab. The Hindu community in Sindh and Balochistan remained vulnerable to targeted killings and kidnappings for ransom. On November 20 in a rural area of Punjab, a teenage boy killed Ahmadi doctor Tahir Ahmad and seriously wounded three of his family members. Then, in the 2018 election, ASWJ and TLP were allowed to run in the election, winning seats in parliament. Their refusal to sign the statement meant they were automatically disqualified from fulfilling the admissions requirements. The division between Sunni and Shi'a is nearly as old as Islam itself, having stemmed from a disagreement in AD 632 about who should succeed . Azerbaijan - 65-75% . The constitution directs the state to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of minorities, to secure the well-being of the people irrespective of creed, and to discourage sectarian prejudices. The NCHR is also mandated to monitor the governments implementation of human rights and review and propose legislation. The charges carry up to three years imprisonment and a fine. Identification cards are used for voting, pension disbursement, social and financial inclusion programs, and other services. After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. On July 31, Hindu business owner and member of the Khairpur Chamber of Commerce and Industries Raja Kishan Chand was killed by unknown gunmen in that city. Representatives of the Kalash, an indigenous group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, continued to report their youth were under pressure from Muslim schoolteachers and others to convert from their traditional beliefs. Minority religious leaders stated members of their communities continued to experience discrimination in admission to colleges and universities. The constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but states, Subject to law, public order, and morality, every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice, and propagate his religion. According to the constitution, every citizen has the right to freedom of speech, subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the glory of Islam, as stipulated in the penal code. Sunnis are not only dominant but also the majority sect in Pakistan. In the same election, ASWJ also threw its influential backing behind 70 candidates from Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which won and formed the government. Editorial note: This project covers the period through 2019. . Pakistan's blasphemy laws have come under hefty criticism, as. Multiple civil society groups and faith community leaders stated the government had increased efforts to provide enhanced security at religious minority places of worship, which had been frequent targets of attack in past years. Ahmadi community leaders said they saw the requirement to designate Mohammed as last of the prophets as directly targeting them. According to religious minority activists, provincial governments also often failed to meet quotas for hiring religious minorities into the civil service. Government officials condemned the incident, suspended more than 100 police officials for failure to stop the mob, and ordered the temple rebuilt. Kuwait (City) The majority of Kuwaiti citizens are Muslim, with an estimated 60-70% Sunni and 30-40% Shia. On January 30, police arrested two Shia men in Tando Mohammed Khan, southern Sindh, and charged them with blasphemy. Then, in mid-September, a march of more than 30,000 people, organised by extremist Sunni Muslim groups, gathered in Karachi over two days to call Shia Muslims unbelievers and blasphemers and called for their beheading. The Washington-based United States Institute for Peace said 3,800 Shias were murdered between 2007 and 2013, with 325 of those killings occurring in 2012. The constitution states, Subject to law, public order, and morality, every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice, and propagate his religion. It also states, A person of the Qadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves Ahmadis) is a non-Muslim. The courts continued to enforce blasphemy laws, punishment for which ranges up to the death penalty. In July, the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) demanded that the federal interior ministry prevent the Ahmadi community from sacrificing animals on Eid al-Adha. Zaidi. The family was in another location, however, and survived. Ahmadiyya Muslim community representatives continued to state that Ahmadi families were unable to register their marriages with local administrative bodies, known as union councils, since those councils considered Ahmadis to be outside the authority of the Muslim Family Law of 1961. 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. The law requires elected Muslim officials to swear an oath affirming their belief that Mohammed is the final prophet of Islam. Similar to the previous year, some Sikh and Hindu places of worship reopened during the year. The author of the article wrote that COVID-19 had been hidden since the 1960s to be used against Muslims.. The non-Pakhtun population of Pakistan is predominantly Barelvi. Members of this religious group have suffered persecution specifically from Mughal Emperors. Getty Images. Religious community representatives estimate religious groups not identifying as Sunni, Shia, or Ahmadi Muslim constitute 3 to 5 percent of the population. Download Historical Data Save as Image From: To: Zoom: Current Historical U.N. 2.4.1 The Shia Muslim population is estimated to be between 20 and 40 million (in . According to civil society reports, there were many individuals imprisoned on blasphemy charges, at least 35 of whom had received death sentences, as compared with 82 individuals imprisoned on blasphemy charges and 29 who received death sentences in 2019. RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP via Getty Images January 7, 2020, 12:20. 4. It is more accurate than the previous one. Non-Muslims may not appear before the FSC. Shiite Muslims protest in Karachi, Pakistan, against a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan, on Jan. 30, 2015. Police and security forces throughout the country enhanced security measures during religious holidays in consultation with religious leaders. Members of parliament and officials of the Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry of Law and Justice held consultations with church leaders from prominent Christian denominations and with NGO representatives, but the denominations, church leaders, and NGO representatives had not agreed on elements of the draft law pertaining to divorce and interfaith marriage by years end. Because of some limitations in many countries Population of Shia is not clearly known. Sunni groups held three large rallies in Karachi in September, with speakers warning Shia Muslims of dire consequences, including beheadings, if they continued to blaspheme against the Prophet Mohammeds companions. On September 30, media reported that a 17-year-old girl from a Hindu Dalit community committed suicide after having been gang-raped a year earlier by Muslim men and subsequently blackmailed by them in Tharparkar, Sindh. The penal code does not explicitly criminalize apostasy, but renouncing Islam is widely considered by clerics to be a form of blasphemy, which can carry the death penalty. Any country in which Muslims make up 50% or more of the population is considered a Muslim majority country. . Leaders in other NGOs agreed the actual number of blasphemy cases was likely higher, but uneven reporting and lack of media coverage in many areas made it difficult to identify an exact number. Victims said their attackers singled them out as vulnerable due to their religious minority identity. The law requires clearance from the Muttahida Ulema Board, a Punjab-based advisory council of religious scholars from multiple Muslim schools of thought, to publish content on Islam in school textbooks, which Assembly Speaker Elahi said was necessary to stop the publishing of blasphemous material against Mohammed and his companions. The Katas Raj Hindu temple was reopened for Hindus after renovation in the Chakwal district of Punjab.