Islamabad, July 22 (IANS) A leading minority rights group on Wednesday accused Pakistan of failing to curb the misuse of blasphemy laws, citing false allegations, widespread mob violence against the accused and failure to protect the minorities from their consequences. According to the Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), the blasphemy laws remain among Pakistan’s most “controversial issues”, with their impact on religious minorities and the continued failure of institutions to prevent their mis…
Latest Religious minorities News & Updates
Islamabad, July 19 (IANS) Pakistan’s Supreme Court has overturned the sentences of the final three men convicted in the 2014 murder of a Christian couple, a decision that has once again drawn criticism from Church leaders who say religious minorities in the country are routinely denied justice after being targeted in incidents of violence, according to a recent report.The victims, 26-year-old Shahzad Masih and his 24-year-old pregnant wife Shama Bibi, were brutally killed after being thrown into…
New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) During the recently concluded 62nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Human Rights Without Frontiers raised the need to recognise the mass atrocities committed in Bangladesh in 1971 as “genocide”.”It was a deliberate effort to connect past injustice with present-day human rights concerns — particularly the protection of freedom of religion or belief,” wrote Willy Fautre, Founder of Human Rights Without Frontiers (Belgium), in ‘Modern Diplomac…
Dhaka, July 11 (IANS) While Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan has long been associated with mass killings, displacement and systematic repression, Brussels-based Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) said that the religious dimension of the violence remains insufficiently recognised. The organisation noted that Hindu communities were disproportionately targeted and persecuted on the basis of their religious identity, a report has stated.The debate over formally recognising the vi…
Brussels, July 10 (IANS) The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the abduction, forced conversion, and child marriage of underage girls from religious minorities in Pakistan, while expressing concerns over the broader pattern of such abuses.According to the European Parliament, the resolution particularly highlighted the case of Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl who was abducted, converted to Islam, and forcibly married to her abductor in March 2026.The Me…
Chandigarh, July 1 (IANS) Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Kewal Singh Dhillon on Wednesday condemned the incident in which a portion of the nearly 125-year-old historic Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Pakistan’s Farooqabad was demolished by land mafia elements. He criticised the Pakistan government in strong words over this unfortunate act.Dhillon said in a statement that the building had itself been declared a “historic monument” by the Pakistan government, and there is a complet…
Washington, June 5 (IANS) The European Union (EU) has faced growing criticism for allegedly enabling Pakistan’s severe abuses of human rights standards since at least 2014, with observers repeatedly warning of the consequences and calling for significant change. Brussels-based organisation ‘Human Rights Without Frontiers’ (HRWF), for example, described the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP-plus) status granted to Pakistan as “the bad deal between the EU and Pakistan”, adding that “The …
Islamabad, May 10 (IANS) Human rights abuses have increased in Pakistan, particularly for the most vulnerable groups. Women experience the most severe consequences of Pakistan’s structural inequalities in the form of a femicide crisis. Gender-based violence, including acid attacks, forced and child marriage, rape, trafficking, forced conversion, and domestic abuse remain widespread in Pakistan, a report has stated. Hundreds of women are killed each year in so-called “honour killings”, often by r…
Washington, April 28 (IANS) In the wake of the spate of attacks on places of worship of minorities, a bipartisan bill in the US Congress seeks to protect Hindu temples and other places of worship from harassment, as lawmakers cite rising threats to faith communities.The Safeguarding Access to Congregations and Religious Establishments from Disruption (SACRED) Act would make it a federal crime to intimidate, obstruct or harass people within 100 feet of a place of worship.The measure was introduce…
Colombo, April 23 (IANS) The Christian community in Pakistan continues to face severe discrimination, untouchability and oppression due to persistent misuse of blasphemy laws, societal intolerance and recurrent mob violence while state response has been inadequate, with little accountability for perpetrators, a report has stated. As minorities, Christians face many challenges in Pakistan, from experiencing discrimination every day to the threat of deadly violence. On April 11, a 25-year-old Chri…