Observers reported that English-language media continued to cover issues facing religious minorities in an objective manner, but Urdu-language media continued to show bias in reporting on minority religious groups, including multiple instances in which media censored references to Ahmadis on talk shows, used inflammatory language, or made inappropriate references to minorities. By years end, police had dropped the case due to lack of evidence and pressure from activists. Several statues were destroyed. According to the bill, all publishers would be required to submit to the Directorate General Public Relations, the provincial government authority with jurisdiction over printing presses and publishing houses, four copies of every edition of each title they print. What is the population of Shia in Pakistan in 2020? Under the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony is responsible for reviewing internet traffic and reporting blasphemous or offensive content to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority for possible removal or to the Federal Investigative Agency for possible criminal prosecution. According to the Center for Social Justice, a national nongovernmental organization (NGO), at least 199 individuals were accused of blasphemy offenses, a significant increase over 2019 and the highest number of blasphemy cases in a single year in the countrys history. Other NGOs corroborated that 2020 had seen an increase in blasphemy cases. 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. The case was based on the complaint of a local shopkeeper who claimed Zamin Alis Facebook page contained a blasphemous song that hurt the religious sentiments of Sunni Muslims. Groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and other governments, such as ISIS, also committed violent acts. Ahmadiyya community leaders said he was targeted due to his religious beliefs. The high circulation daily Jang also published a lengthy editorial on the struggle to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims in a special magazine edition. The anti-Shia Muslim campaign first began gathering pace on social media in September, demanding that Shia Muslims were declared heretics. The Sunnis, on the other hand, nurse the fear that they have decisively lost power and things . According to eyewitnesses, police officials in at least four police vans cordoned off the area and arrested Soomro, who initially resisted. 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. Islam in Pakistan - Wikipedia 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. Following the killing of Ahmadi physician Tahir Ahmad in November, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom posted an official tweet calling upon authorities to ensure the safety of all Pakistanis. According to 2017 census total house hold in Pakistan are 32205111. The constitution states, All existing laws shall be brought into conformity with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah [Islams body of traditional social and legal custom and practice]. It further states no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to Islam. Median age total: 33.7 years male: 33.1 years Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom, Actions of Foreign Forces and Nonstate Actors, Section III. The government requires all madrassahs to register with the Ministry of Education in addition to registration with one of the five wafaqs. Updated: September 04, 2020 06:14 AM GMT. 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. 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. Following the address, the Special Adviser convened an interfaith roundtable discussion at Karachi University, which included Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Parsis. Estimates of the Zikri Muslim community, located in Balochistan, range between 500,000 and 800,000 individuals. Persecution seems to be waiting for the Shia minority, said Hamza Baloch, a founding member of Secular Shia Voices, an advocacy group. The FSCs review power applies whether the cases involve Muslims or non-Muslims. The traffickers told pastors and parents they would arrange marriages to Chinese men who had supposedly converted to Christianity, after which the women were taken to China, abused, and in some cases, sexually trafficked. The constitution prohibits discriminatory admission based on religious affiliation to any governmental educational institution. On July 27, an antiterrorism court sentenced a member of SSP to 13 years imprisonment for facilitating terrorist activities. Following complaints by some Sunni groups, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority temporarily suspended 24 News from broadcasting, citing Jaffars comments as hate-inciting content.. Processing and dissemination of data in the form of Census Reports. After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. Population of males is 106018220 and females is 101344632. The court ordered police to hand over the woman to her Hindu husband and no police or court action was taken against Domki. The four men were charged with defacing antiquities. Representatives of religious minorities said a glass ceiling continued to prevent their promotion to senior government positions, but one NGO also stated that due to insufficient higher education opportunities compared to the majority religious community, few religious minorities met the qualifications to apply for these positions. 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. According to current population projections, Pakistan will reach its peak population in 2092 of 404.68 million people. Human rights and religious freedom activists and members of minority religious groups continued to report that they exercised caution and, occasionally, self-censorship when speaking in favor of religious tolerance because of a societal climate of intolerance and fear. by Senge Sering in Baltimore Post Examiner, Feb 27, 2023 The writer is the President of Gilgit Baltistan Institute in Washington D.C. After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. The text messages stated, Sharing of blasphemy, pornography, terrorism, and other unlawful content on social media and the internet is illegal. 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 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. . Courts issued two new death sentences for blasphemy and sentenced another individual to five years imprisonment. On January 21, the center in Khairpur hosted a Religious Freedom Day event at which 25 students discussed the importance of being able to practice religion freely in Pakistan. Throughout the year, Islamic organizations with varying degrees of political affiliation held conferences and rallies to support the doctrine of Khatm-e-Nabuwat. Police took him into protective custody and transferred him to a senior police officers office as the mob blocked the Indus Highway and demanded police hand over the alleged blasphemer. 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. Shia majority reduced to minority in Gilgit Baltistan: Barrister Hamid It directs the state to endeavor to secure the proper organization of Islamic tithes, religious foundations, and places of worship. On September 8, Mehwish Hidayat, a Christian woman, was reunited with her family after being abducted by a Muslim man and spending three months in captivity. Similar to the previous year, some Sikh and Hindu places of worship reopened during the year. The charges carry up to three years imprisonment and a fine. The incident was the first attack on a Hindu temple in Tharparkar in more than 30 years. The population of Pakistan in 2020 was 227,196,741, a 1.75% increase from 2019. In 2017, TLP was responsible for forcing a law minister to quit over a perceived softening in the blasphemy laws. Ahmadiyya leaders stated the ambiguous wording of the legal provision forbidding Ahmadis from directly or indirectly identifying themselves as Muslims enabled officials to bring charges against members of the community for using the standard Islamic greeting or for naming their children Mohammed. In May 2000, the Shia Muslims based in the Gilgit district of the then Northern Areas began to agitate against the recently changed curriculum of government schools in the region. In modern times, the split has fostered battles for power and resources. The victims, burned to death by an angry mob, were Babar Noman and Hafiz Naeem. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a national NGO, expressed concern over a surge in blasphemy cases against religious minorities, particularly the Shia community, and the continued potential for sectarian violence. Representatives of the Bahai community said this policy particularly affected them because the Bahai World Center the spiritual and administrative center of the community was in Haifa, Israel. The government continued to permit limited non-Muslim foreign missionary activity and to allow missionaries to proselytize as long as they did not preach against Islam and they acknowledged they were not Muslim. The population density in Pakistan is 287 per Km 2 (742 people per mi 2 ). Violence against Shia Muslims continues unabated in Pakistan - ANI News 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. Population Census | Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Wafaqs (independent academic boards) register seminaries, regulate curricula, and issue degrees. 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. India with 21 million is in second place closely followed by Pakistan (20 million). The Punjab provincial government adopted three anti-Ahmadi measures: in May, a resolution that Ahmadis not be permitted to join the federal governments National Commission for Minorities unless they acknowledge they are not Muslims; in June, a new curriculum law that requires school textbooks to state the finality of the Prophet Mohammed; and in July, the Protection of the Foundations of Islam bill giving the provincial government authority to censor objectionable materials and inspect any publishing house or private home for banned Ahmadi literature. Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board - IRB Qatar. Then, in the 2018 election, ASWJ and TLP were allowed to run in the election, winning seats in parliament. 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. victims of Takfiri terrorism and govt apathy - Tehran Times There were reported cases of government intervention and assistance from courts and law enforcement in situations of attempted kidnapping and forced conversion, although enforcement action against alleged perpetrators was rare. On July 22, Saeed Amanat, a Muslim man, abducted a 15-year-old Christian girl on her way to church in Faisalabad, Punjab. 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. According to regulations, the only factors affecting admission to government schools are students grades and home provinces, although students must declare their religious affiliation on application forms. 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. 11 Countries with Highest Shia Population - Insider Monkey The government of Punjab, the countrys largest province, passed a series of measures against Ahmadi Muslim beliefs. Because of some limitations in many countries Population of Shia is not clearly known. 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. Hardline Sunni groups on collision course with Shiites - DW - 09/14/2020 Shia Muslims 1.1 Demographics. 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. Sunni groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba,. We call upon authorities to ensure the safety of all Pakistanis.. They said Christians had difficulty finding jobs other than those involving menial labor, with some advertisements for menial jobs specifying they were open only to Christian applicants. Several historians argue that the Indian Shia elite played a. On September 7, the JUI-F party held a large Khatm-e-Nabuwat conference in Peshawar, with party leaders and national and provincial parliamentarians in attendance. A few Protestant groups conduct missions in Pakistan. Hindus formed 28.45 per cent. 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. Pakistan's population is expected to surpass that of Indonesia in 2048 when it will reach 331.29 million. 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. Hardcore Sunni groups publicly accused Shia Muslims of orchestrating the attack. Pakistan's Perpetual Shia Shame - SOUTH ASIAN TRIBUNE Islamist political parties and Punjab Provincial Assembly speaker Chaudhry Elahi (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PTI party) criticized the decision before written approval was issued, however, declaring new temples should never be built in an Islamic country. Sunnis are not only dominant but also the majority sect in Pakistan. Phillip Smyth. Hundreds of Shia Pakistanis gathered on Saturday to bury 11 coal miners from the Hazara community killed by the armed group ISIL (ISIS), ending a week of protests that sought to highlight the. Ahmadiyya Muslim community leaders continued to report they were affected by discriminatory and ambiguous legislation and court judgments that denied them basic rights, including a 2018 Islamabad High Court judgment that some government agencies continued to use to deny national identification cards to Ahmadi Muslims. U.S. government cultural centers in Khairpur, Hyderabad, and Karachi held events to promote religious freedom. The Sindh provincial cabinet adopted regulations to implement the Sindh Hindu Marriage Act in December 2019, which provided more specific rules for implementation. On October 22, a private business school, the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, cancelled an online seminar that was to feature U.S.-based Ahmadi economist Dr Atif Mian, citing pressure by extremists.. The wafaqs operate through an umbrella group, Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan, to represent their interests to the government. Pakistan: Shia Muslims . Sunni Versus Shiite: Countries, History, Impact - ThoughtCo According to a Punjab government official, Sarwar had no intention of signing the bill until there was a consensus that it would not harm religious minorities. The Kuwaiti population consists of 70% foreigners and 30% Kuwaiti. By law, madrassahs are prohibited from teaching or encouraging sectarian or religious hatred or violence. Bangladesh with a 153 million Muslim population is in 4th place followed by Nigeria (10 million) in the fifth spot. According to the SATP, the number of sectarian attacks by armed groups continued to decrease, corresponding with an overall decline in terrorist attacks. No arrests were made, and no one was charged. The non-Pakhtun population of Pakistan is predominantly Barelvi. 03 / Select Countries You can add more than one country or area. At least one individual was accused of spreading blasphemous content through social media under PECA. On October 6, the Lahore High Court acquitted Sawan Masih, a Christian man sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2014, but Masih continued to face death threats and had to go into hiding with his family. Pakistan's current population is estimated at approximately 185 million, of whom approximately 95 percent are Muslim. Pakistan's blasphemy laws have come under hefty criticism, as. 2. In May, the Cabinet approved a Religious Affairs Ministry proposal establishing a National Commission for Minorities housed within the ministry. Population of Pakistan Total Population of Provinces Wise Ahmadi community leaders said they saw the requirement to designate Mohammed as last of the prophets as directly targeting them. Answer (1 of 19): The country Iran has the largest population of Shia. A local jihadist group and a violent protest movement are driving renewed sectarian strife in Pakistan. Embassy officers continued to engage civil society leaders, local religious leaders, religious minority representatives, and legal experts in discussing ways to combat intolerance and promote interfaith cooperation to increase religious freedom. Shia Muslims Population - World Shia Muslims Population The world's largest population of Shia Muslims outside Iran is found in neighbouring Pakistan where they account for an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the population. While the law requires a senior police official to investigate any blasphemy charge before a complaint may be filed, a requirement that NGOs and legal observers stated helped contribute to an objective investigation and the dismissal of many blasphemy cases, some NGOs said police did not uniformly follow this procedure. 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. 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. In court proceedings, the girl retracted her video statement and said she wanted to return to her parents. Human rights activists reported numerous instances of societal violence related to allegations of blasphemy; of efforts by individuals to coerce religious minorities to convert to Islam; and of societal harassment, discrimination, and threats of violence directed at members of religious minority communities. All senior officials, including members of parliament, must swear an oath to protect the countrys Islamic identity. 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. Any country in which Muslims make up 50% or more of the population is considered a Muslim majority country. The Shia population in Pakistan is estimated as being 11.8% of the country's population. 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. Three U.S. government cultural centers in Sindh Province and Islamabad held events to promote religious freedom. This is probably an attempt to contain any outbreak of violence, because Shias in Pakistan are a sizeable minority. Hindu community representatives welcomed the decision to return the temple to the community after 70 years. Shias live in terror as sectarian violence increases in Pakistan 1 These two groups have been at odds for centuries. Civil society activists and media reported young Christian and Hindu women being abducted and raped by Muslim men. 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. U.S. Government Policy and Engagement. Pakistan's Perpetual Shia Shame - Baltimore Post-Examiner The Shia population is spread all over Pakistan. The temple had also been part of a government-run school. Sunni Muslims made up 5 percent of all accused blasphemers, followed by Christians at 3.5 percent, and Hindus at 1 percent. It has an estimated 23 million people who adhere to Islam. The 104-member Senate has four reserved seats for non-Muslims, one from each province. Sanjay Mathrani, a former participant in a U.S. government exchange program, was a featured speaker. 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. Reports continued of attacks on religious minorities holy places, cemeteries, and religious symbols. shia surnames in pakistan. As a result, the maps are designed to give a general overview of where significant Shia population centers, zones of influence, and points of interest . The NCHR was also mandated to conduct investigations of allegations of human rights abuses, but legal sources said the commission had little power to enforce its requests. In June, the Punjab Provincial Assembly unanimously passed the Curriculum and Text Book Board Amendment Bill, which Governor Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar signed into law. Islam is the state religion in Qatar. India's Muslims: An Increasingly Marginalized Population 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. There is no option to state no religion. National identity cards are required for all citizens upon reaching the age of 18. The official state religion of Iran is Shia branch of Islam. Both passed the recruitment test and had successful interviews but were denied appointment by the assistant manager. Despite these problems some international organizations have researched and reported some statistics. Other government officials, including Prime Minister Khan, advised Sarwar against signing the bill, according to a Lahore-based journalist. Shia population: 17 - 26 million Pakistan participates with a similar percentage of Shia Muslim to its neighbor India, with Shia Muslims making 10 - 15% of all Muslims in Pakistan. World Shia Muslims Population - Home UAE: Arbitrary Targeting of Pakistani Shia Residents 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. According to the provisional results of a national census conducted in 2017 (the most recent), 96 percent of the population is Sunni or Shia Muslim. 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 . 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. Provinces of Pakistan Population Detail Information About Provinces Wise Population Although a sizeable. On August 30, police charged Shia cleric Taqqi Jaffar with blasphemy for criticizing Mohammeds companions during a Karachi Muharram procession. 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. The constitution requires the President and Prime Minister to be Muslims. 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. Though Kareem had meant it as a post of religious devotion, it caught the attention of an extremist Sunni Muslim group, who called him a traitor to Muslims.