Content against religious minorities in Pakistani textbooks has increased significantly, revealed the 2023 fact sheet of a Human Rights Observer report, adding that the sudden rise started taking place in the year 2022. The report stressed that a lot of perennial and new challenges have emerged in the education system of Pakistan. The report in question was shared by the Pakistani Center For Social Justice on Thursday.
The assertion by the report goes against Article 22 (1) of the constitution of Pakistan. The article stated that “No person attending any educational institution shall be required to receive religious instruction or take part in any religious ceremony or attend religious worship if such instructions, ceremony or worship relates to a religion other than his own”. In March 2021, the centre filed a complaint to the Pakistan Supreme court, ordering the Ministry of Federal Education and Professionals Training to submit a report on the issue.
The report also gave five key issues that are impacting religious minorities in the country, the issues included discrimination in the education system, the prevalence of forced faith conversion abuse of blasphemy laws, the establishment of the National Commission for Minorities and jail remissions for minority prisoners. It stated that as many as 171 people were accused under the blasphemy law. 65% of these cases surfaced in Pujan and 19% from the Sindh province. The two regions are known for having a fair share of religious minorities.
Highest human rights violation observed in Karachi
As per the report, the highest Human Rights violation was observed in the districts of Karachi, which was followed by Chiniot, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Dera Ghazi Khan, Nankana Sahib, Lahore and Sheikhupura. A significant share of religious minorities faced persecution in the country. The Ahmadiyas, Christians and Hindus also bagged the spot in the following orders. The fact sheet also analysed 124 reported incidents of forced faith conversion. Most of these cases involved girls and women of minority communities i.e. 81 Hindus, 42 Christians and one Sikh. 23% of these girls were below the age of 14 years while 65% of these cases were reported in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The report also highlighted the fact that the establishment of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in the country still remains pending.