note: provisional results of Pakistan's 2017 national census estimate the country's total population to be 207,774,000. country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data): 5. International and local media, as well as Christian activists, reported that young Christian women, many of them minors, were specifically targeted by Chinese human traffickers because of their poverty and vulnerability. In May, Daniel Masih appealed to the court in the Sargodha District of Punjab, urging authorities to rescue his brother Bashir and his family from bonded labor under a Muslim landlord. Prime Minister Imran Khan gave verbal approval to build the temple following a request from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Hindu and Christian members of the National Assembly. 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. Other blasphemy cases continued without resolution. The government announced it would seek a review from the Council on Islamic Ideology and at the end of the year it was unclear whether it still maintained its support for the temple. On July 27, an antiterrorism court sentenced a member of SSP to 13 years imprisonment for facilitating terrorist activities. His was the first acquittal for blasphemy since October 2018, when Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in 2010, was acquitted. Provinces of Pakistan Population Detail Information About Provinces Wise Population These terrorist outfits have committed horrendous crimes in this mountainous region . The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony is responsible for organizing participation in the Hajj and other Islamic religious pilgrimages. Shiite Muslims protest in Karachi, Pakistan, against a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan, on Jan. 30, 2015. Parliament, church leaders, and advocates continued to debate the text of a draft law to govern Christian marriages nationwide, because the existing regulation dated from 1872. No arrests were made, and no one was charged. Shia Numbers are in the range of 320 Millions to 350 Millions and according to some estimates its in the range of 400 Millions. Authorities provided enhanced security for Shia Muslim, Christian, and Hindu places of worship at various times throughout the year, including around particular religious holidays or in response to specific threats. 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. Pakistan (212,300,000) India (200,000,000) Bangladesh . The incident was the first attack on a Hindu temple in Tharparkar in more than 30 years. The constitution requires the President and Prime Minister to be Muslims. And up to 18 million of Pakistan's 74 million jobs may be lost. The events were often covered by English and local-language media and featured anti-Ahmadiyya rhetoric which Ahmadiyya community representatives said could incite violence against Ahmadis. Phillip Smyth. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, Section II. 11.0%. In April, some members of the Hindu community in Karachis Lyari area were denied food packages provided by a local charity, according to local sources. 2.4.1 The Shia Muslim population is estimated to be between 20 and 40 million (in . However, violence is inevitable because the anger and anxiety on both sides seem to be mounting. The militants were also convicted for running an al-Qaida media cell in Gujranwala. The constant tension between Shia and Sunni has led to the creation of Shia-Specific organizations. Other NGOs also said that 2020 had seen an increase in blasphemy cases. Taking into account the Ahmadi boycott of the official census, however, community sources put the number of Ahmadi Muslims at approximately 500,000 to 600,000. 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. While schools were required to teach Islamic studies and the Quran to Muslim students, sources reported many non-Muslim students were also required to participate because their schools did not offer parallel courses in their own religious beliefs or ethics. No casualties were reported. Any country in which Muslims make up 50% or more of the population is considered a Muslim majority country. According to a 2019 report by Pakistan's National Commission for Human Rights, an independent watchdog, at least 509 Hazara have been murdered for their faith since 2013. Ahmadiyya community leaders said he was targeted due to his religious beliefs. 4,465,000. The HRCP said forced conversions of young women of minority faiths, often lower-caste Hindu girls from rural Sindh province, continued to occur. The court ordered police to hand over the woman to her Hindu husband and no police or court action was taken against Domki. The court acquitted a second Christian in December. On July 22, the Punjab Provincial Assembly passed the Protection of Foundation of Islam Bill, which prohibits the printing and publication of objectionable material in the province. In 2020, the provincial government began to implement the act, and NADRA began registering Hindu marriages in Sindh, according to Hindu community activists. The Ministry of Interior maintained multitier schedules of religiously oriented groups it judged to be extremist or terrorist that were either banned or had their activities monitored and curtailed (Schedule 1) and individuals whose activities in the public sphere could also be curtailed, including during religious holidays such as Ashura (Schedule 4). During the year, courts overturned some blasphemy convictions upon appeal and acquitted others after the accused had spent years in prison. Members of religious minority communities stated public schools gave Muslim students bonus grade points for memorizing the Quran, but there were no analogous opportunities for extra academic credit available for religious minority students. Shias in Pakistan reputedly account for about 20 percent of the population or 42 million out of the population of 210 million making it the second largest Shia population in the world . On June 10, police arrested Sajid Soomro, a professor at Shah Abdul Latif University, in Khairpur, Sindh, on blasphemy charges. A local jihadist group and a violent protest movement are driving renewed sectarian strife in Pakistan. Among the restrictions outlined in the bill, publishers, editors, and translators would be barred from printing or publishing any book and material containing statements or anything deemed to be of a blasphemous nature. 3.72; Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019; US 18 Dec. 2019), or "some 17-26 million people" ( Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 Oct. 2019). The Kuwaiti population consists of 70% foreigners and 30% Kuwaiti. The attackers relationship to organized terrorist groups was often unclear. In August, a case was opened against three Ahmadi men after an official of a religious seminary approached police complaining that the men sacrificed an animal on Eid al-Adha. Members of civil society reported that converts from Islam lived in varying degrees of secrecy for fear of violent retribution from family members or society at large. The Shia population is spread all over Pakistan. Their refusal to sign the statement meant they were automatically disqualified from fulfilling the admissions requirements. Shias, who make up 15 percent of Pakistan's 220 million population, commemorate the seventh-century massacre of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Husayn and his family and friends at the Battle of Karbala in Iraq for refusing . In July, the Department of State issued a statement following the killing of Tahir Naseem expressing outrage over the killing and noting that Naseem had been lured from his home in the United States by individuals who used blasphemy laws to entrap him. According to sources, the Shia population of Pakistan is estimated to be between 10 and 15 percent (Australia 20 Feb. 2019, para. Shias account for 15-20% of the Muslim population in Pakistan. In addition to the large JUI-F conference and rallies, the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami also held a large event in September in Peshawar; both parties criticized the PTI-led national government for failing to enforce Islamic law. According to religious minority activists, provincial governments also often failed to meet quotas for hiring religious minorities into the civil service. NGOs, legal observers and religious minority representatives continued to raise concerns regarding the failure of lower courts to adhere to basic evidentiary standards in blasphemy cases, and the slow pace of adjudicating these cases, which led to some suspects remaining in detention for years as they waited their initial trial or appeals, and to some convicted persons spending years in prison before higher courts overturned their convictions and freed them for lack of evidence. 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. The Sunnis, on the other hand, nurse the fear that they have decisively lost power and things . 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. On July 21, the government returned a 200-year-old Sikh gurdwara to the Sikh community in Quetta. Because of some limitations in many countries Population of Shia is not clearly known. According to technology companies and religious minority activists, the definition of objectionable content in the draft law was vague and subject to government interpretation. AsiaNews, the official press agency of the Roman Catholic Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, reported that two members of a Christian family were shot and wounded after buying a house in a neighborhood inhabited primarily by Muslims on June 4 in the Sawati Phatak Colony of Peshawar. Although sectarian data is difficult to pin down in Afghanistan, an estimated 15 to 29 percent of the population is Shia (mostly the Twelver sect that dominates the Islamic Republic, but also some Ismaili Shia). Shias adhere to the teachings of Islamic prophet Muhammad, but differ from Sunni in following the religious guidance of his family (who are referred to as the Ahl al-Bayt) or his descendants known as Shi'a Imams, whom they consider to be infallible. Minority lawmakers and civil society activists reacted strongly to the attack, stating the boys had been instigated by local Muslim clerics. As well as the 50 who have been charged in the blasphemy crackdown, five have been killed since September and many more Shia families and well-known figures have gone into hiding. While the Ministry of Law and Justice was officially responsible for ensuring the legal rights of all citizens, in practice, the Ministry for Human Rights continued to assume primary responsibility for the protection of the rights of religious minorities. Her family said she had been kidnapped and forcibly converted. Azerbaijan and Iran were both conquered by Shah Ismail I around the same time where he also forced a conversion of Sunnis to Shia Islam. Pakistan population is equivalent to 2.83% of the total world population. In its 2020 World Watch List report, the international NGO Open Doors listed Pakistan, noting that Christians face extreme persecution in every area of their lives, with converts from Islam facing the highest levels. According to Open Doors, all Christians in the country are considered second-class citizens, inferior to Muslims. The NGO stated Christians are often given jobs perceived as low, dirty and dishonorable, and can even be victims of bonded labor. The NGO also said that Christian girls in the country were increasingly at risk of abduction and rape, often forced to marry their attackers and coerced into converting to Islam.. 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. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) designates religious affiliation on passports and requires religious information in national identity card and passport applications. On January 22, the Hyderabad center hosted an event on educational institutions roles in promoting tolerance and creating peaceful communities. On October 25, a Hindu temple was vandalized in Nagarparkar, Sindh, during the nine-day Navratri celebrations. There is a small myth that Christianity has been existent in Pakistan ever since a few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus . The constitution states the government shall make Islamic studies compulsory for all Muslim students in state-run schools. The provincial and federal governments have legal responsibility for certain minority religious properties abandoned during the 1947 partition of British India. Pakistan 2020 population is estimated at 220,892,340 people at mid year according to UN data. In Sindh, police provided enhanced security at churches and Hindu temples, especially in Karachi, on eves of festivals such as Christmas and Diwali. Since voters who registered as Ahmadis were kept on a separate voter list, they said they were more exposed to threats and physical intimidation, and many Ahmadis continued their longstanding practice of boycotting elections. Non-Muslims are required to have the head of their local religious communities verify their religious affiliation. The information in the following paragraph was provided in a country report on Pakistan by the . By law, decisions of the FSC may be appealed to the Supreme Courts Shariat Appellate Bench. 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. It is more accurate than the previous one. The text messages stated, Sharing of blasphemy, pornography, terrorism, and other unlawful content on social media and the internet is illegal. The killings took place during protests sparked by twin suicide bombings outside two churches there. According to some estimates, the Barelvi school of . 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. In May, the Cabinet approved a proposal creating a National Commission for Minorities within the Ministry of Religious Affairs. On April 14, police filed a blasphemy case against Shia singer Zamin Ali in Jamshoro, Sindh. NGOs and legal observers also stated police often did not file charges against individuals who made false blasphemy accusations. In February, a court in Jacobabad, Sindh, ruled that the marriage with Raza was illegal under the 2013 Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. Members of religious minority communities said there continued to be an inconsistent application of laws safeguarding minority rights and enforcement of protections of religious minorities at both the federal and provincial levels by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Human Rights. Other NGOs corroborated that 2020 had seen an increase in blasphemy cases. Although students of other religious groups are not legally required to study Islam, schools do not always offer parallel studies in their own religious beliefs. On August 20, attackers attempted to kill Sheikh Nasir Ahmad, an Ahmadi man from the Lalamusa area of central Punjab. In November, the government finalized its Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content Rules 2020, which sought to codify the PTAs authority to regulate content the government deemed unlawful. The rules not only enhanced the PTAs ability to compel online content platforms such as Facebook, Googles YouTube, Twitter, and Wikipedia to remove content but also extended the regulators purview to include local internet service providers that could also be held liable for such content. On January 29, an antiterrorism court in Lahore acquitted and ordered the release of 42 individuals accused of participating in the 2015 lynching of two Muslim men in Lahore. Some court judgments have considered the marriage of a non-Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man dissolved if she converts to Islam, although the marriage of a non-Muslim man who converts remains recognized. Three U.S. government cultural centers in Sindh Province and Islamabad held events to promote religious freedom. Sunni coalition to demand arrest of Shia clerics in Pakistan. In the provincial assemblies, there are three such reserved seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; eight in Punjab; nine in Sindh; and three in Balochistan. The court may suspend or increase the sentence given by a criminal court in these cases. Sunnis represent approximately 75 percent of this population and Shias 20 . 0.5% Shia, and 0.3% Ahmadi. According to the constitution and the penal code, Ahmadis may not call themselves Muslims or assert they are adherents of Islam. Hindu activists in Sindh reported discrimination against the Hindu community during COVID-19 food-relief efforts by private charities. extremist, and militant groups have come together to harass the Shia population right in the eyesight of the country's security apparatus. 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). In Pakistan, Shia Muslims make up around 20% of the population, and while the country is tragically home to some of the worst sectarian violence in the world, in 2017 alone 95% of sectarian killings and violence worldwide was focused solely on Shia Muslims. Instances of torture and mistreatment by some police personnel were part of broader human rights concerns about police abuses against citizens of all faiths reported by local and international human rights organizations; some police agencies took steps to curb abuses by incorporating human rights curricula in training programs. The constitution states that no person attending any educational institution shall be required to attend religious instruction or take part in any religious ceremony relating to a religion other than the persons own. Shia leaders, meanwhile, denounced the specific honors prescribed by the bill to Mohammeds companions, which they said risked stoking discord between Shia and Sunnis, given their fundamental disagreements over some of the companions status within Islam. Islam in Pakistan. Bibi remained in custody at years end. Minority religious leaders stated members of their communities continued to experience discrimination in admission to colleges and universities. Population: 233,500,636 (July 2017 est.) Getty Images. In October, Punjab police arrested three Ahmadis for using Islamic symbols and practices in their mosque. The five wafaqs each represent major streams of Islamic thought in the country: Barelvi, Deobandi, Shia, Ahle Hadith, and the Jamaat-i-Islami, which is considered ultraconservative. Islamic and minority religious leaders endorsed the code. The name also comes from one of the names of Allah, Al-Wahab, which means the all-giver.. Shias in Pakistan are geographically spread across the. Even Fawad Chaudhry, currently serving as the minister for science and technology in Khans government, conceded that sectarianism was an issue that was getting out of hand. Subsequently, Arfana Mallah, a professor at Sindh University Jamshoro who criticized Soomros arrest and the blasphemy laws, was herself accused of committing blasphemy and had to apologize publicly. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. Print and broadcast media outlets continued to publish and broadcast anti-Ahmadi rhetoric. On January 26, for example, a local court sentenced four boys for vandalizing a Hindu temple in Sindhs Tharparkar District, the first attack on a Hindu temple in that area in more than 30 years; minority lawmakers and civil society activists reacted strongly to the attack. The constitution also grants the FSC revisional jurisdiction (the power to review of its own accord) over criminal cases in the lower courts relating to certain crimes under the Hudood Ordinance, including rape and those linked to Islamic morality, such as extramarital sex, alcohol use, and gambling. Police stated they believed he was targeted because of his religious beliefs. Some religious minority leaders stated the system of selecting minority parliamentarians through the internal deliberations of mainstream parties resulted in the appointment of party stalwarts or those who could afford to buy the seats, rather than legislators who genuinely represented minority communities. T he most intriguing aspect of Kashmir is the dynamic between the Shia and Sunni communities in the Valley. Pakistan has the third largest Shia population after India and Iran. Methodology for Sunni-Shia Estimates Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life / Mapping the Global Muslim Population Edit: August and September of 2020 has seen a renewed attack on Shia Muslims within Pakistan. Shia Muslims 1.1 Demographics According to sources, the Shia population of Pakistan is estimated to be between 10 and 15 percent (Australia 20 Feb. 2019, para. The young man and two coconspirators were indicted, taken into government custody, and were awaiting trial at years end. Hardcore Sunni groups publicly accused Shia Muslims of orchestrating the attack. The year 2020 saw a rise in blasphemy charges - at least 199 people were charged, of which 70% were Shia Muslims. Two days later, the 21-year-old student found himself the subject of a police report, accused of violating Pakistans draconian laws on blasphemy. It distributes the funds through a government-run charity as stipends for poor families and students, payment for medical treatment, and support to Sunni mosques and madrassahs registered with the government. After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. Unfortunately, due to the history that Pakistan has had, especially with regards to security, this remains a huge problem, said Chaudhry. Phillip Smyth was a Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute from 2018-2021. Leh's demand for UT status started in 1947 as the old statements of the former parliamentarian and religious leader, Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, indicate. Throughout the year, some government officials and politicians engaged in anti-Ahmadi rhetoric and attended events that Ahmadi Muslims said incited violence against members of their community. Between 1998 and 2017, Pakistan's average population growth rate was 2.40%. Sources vary on the precise breakdown of the Muslim population between Sunni and Shia Muslims. At least one individual was accused of spreading blasphemous content through social media under PECA. . She denied her abductors claim that she had willfully married him and converted to Islam, and instead asked the court to allow her to reunite with her Hindu husband and minor son. The FSCs review power applies whether the cases involve Muslims or non-Muslims. Legal observers also reported judges and magistrates often delayed or continued trials indefinitely to avoid confrontation with, or violence from, groups provoking protests. On December 15, the Lahore High Court acquitted a second Christian man, Imran Ghafur Masih, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. Estimates of the Zikri Muslim community, located in Balochistan, range between 500,000 and 800,000 individuals. The government took some measures to protect religious minorities. Pakistan's Human Rights Commission reported more than 200 terrorist attacks resulted in nearly 700 Shia deaths and over 1,000 Shia injuries in 2013. The constitution states no person shall be compelled to pay any special tax for the propagation or maintenance of a religion other than the persons own. Community leaders continued to report that the government hindered Ahmadis from obtaining legal documents and pressured community members to deny their beliefs by requiring individuals wishing to be listed as Muslim on identity cards and passports to swear Mohammed was the final prophet of Islam and the Ahmadiyya movements founder was a false prophet.
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