shia population in pakistan 2020
On October 10, 1993, the then Central government had announced elected . Since 1980s, Parachinar, with majority Shia population, has seen the emergence of radical Saudi-sponsored Salafist groups, and sectarian violence has become a disturbing phenomenon, fueled by local and global terrorist organizations like the Taliban and ISIS. 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 . Although there continued to be no official restriction on the construction of Ahmadiyya places of worship, according to Ahmadiyya Muslim community leaders, local authorities regularly denied requisite construction permits, and Ahmadis remained forbidden to call them mosques. In a September editorial, the largest Urdu daily, Nawa-i-Waqt, described the 1974 legislation declaring Ahmadis officially non-Muslim as a historic day in the countrys history. Victims said their attackers singled them out as vulnerable due to their religious minority identity. 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. Senior Department of State officials, including the Office of International Religious Freedoms Special Advisor for Religious Minorities, the Charge dAffaires, consuls general, and other embassy officers met with government officials and senior advisors to the Prime Minister, including the Minister for Human Rights, and officials from the Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, and Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony to discuss blasphemy law reform; laws concerning Ahmadi Muslims; the need to better protect members of religious minority communities; sectarian relations; and religious respect. By law, madrassahs are prohibited from teaching or encouraging sectarian or religious hatred or violence. On December 2, the Secretary of State redesignated Pakistan as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended, for having engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom, and announced a waiver of the sanctions that accompany designation as required in the important national interests of the United States. The incident was the first attack on a Hindu temple in Tharparkar in more than 30 years. Although the government continued to implement elevated security measures around Hazara neighborhoods in Quetta, some Hazara community members continued to state that these measures had turned their neighborhoods into isolated ghettos. The Sunni majority is using blasphemy laws to target and murder those they call heretics. According to sources, the Shia population of Pakistan is estimated to be between 10 and 15 percent (Australia 20 Feb. 2019, para. 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. On July 27, an antiterrorism court sentenced a member of SSP to 13 years imprisonment for facilitating terrorist activities. Pakistan: Rampant Killings of Shia by Extremists After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world's third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten percent of the total population. 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). The official state religion of Iran is Shia branch of Islam. 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. Their refusal to sign the statement meant they were automatically disqualified from fulfilling the admissions requirements. Non-Muslims are required to have the head of their local religious communities verify their religious affiliation. 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.. According to the 2017 Census, Muslims make up 96.2 percent of Pakistan's population, Hindus 1.6 percent, Christians 1.59 percent, Scheduled Castes 0.25 percent, Ahmadis 0.22 percent, and other minorities 0.07 percent. Shia Muslims also fear their religious freedom is being legislated away. In July, a teenager killed U.S. citizen Tahir Naseem in a Peshawar courtroom, where Naseem was on trial for blasphemy. The country is home to the second largest Shia population after Iran. The non-Pakhtun population of Pakistan is predominantly Barelvi. For example, the Lahore Waste Management Company continued to employ mainly Christian street sweepers, which HRCP criticized as the result of employment advertisements continuing to specify that religious minorities should apply. Khattaks brother, who witnessed the killing, named two suspects in his criminal complaint, including a friend of Khattak a lecturer from the University of Agriculture in Peshawar with whom Khattak had had a heated religious argument on October 4. Community leaders continued to state the government did not take adequate action to protect its poorest citizens, including religious minorities, such as Christian and Hindu Dalits, from bonded labor practices. The ministrys budget covers assistance to indigent minorities, repair of minority places of worship, establishment of minority-run small development projects, celebration of minority religious festivals, and provision of scholarships for religious minority students. U.S. government cultural centers in Khairpur, Hyderabad, and Karachi held events to promote religious freedom. 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. Most Shias (between 68% and 80%) live in just four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. Several historians argue that the Indian Shia elite played a. The wafaqs operate through an umbrella group, Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan, to represent their interests to the government. The temple had also been part of a government-run school. Police arrested more than 45 JUI-F followers and clerics involved in the destruction. The group also painted slogans insulting the Ahmadiyya community. Vali Nasr claims the Shia . The last census was conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics in 2017. Other government officials, including Prime Minister Khan, advised Sarwar against signing the bill, according to a Lahore-based journalist. The youngest was three years old. Local authorities did not allow the repair or unsealing of Ahmadi mosques damaged or demolished by rioters in previous years. Population: 233,500,636 (July 2017 est.) Pakistan's Perpetual Shia Shame - Globalpoliticsnews 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. Processing and dissemination of data in the form of Census Reports. The government took some measures to protect religious minorities. 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. The gurdwara had been used as a government-run girls school since 1947. In 2017, TLP was responsible for forcing a law minister to quit over a perceived softening in the blasphemy laws. 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. Shia Population Shia by Country (cont.) The Kuwaiti population consists of 70% foreigners and 30% Kuwaiti. Shiite Muslims protest in Karachi, Pakistan, against a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan, on Jan. 30, 2015. There were continued reports that some madrassahs taught violent extremist doctrine, which the government sought to curb through madrassah registration and curriculum reform. The young man and two coconspirators were indicted, taken into government custody, and were awaiting trial at years end. According to civil society and media reports, the government restricted the movement and activities of these individuals because they were known for exacerbating sectarian tensions. The embassy highlighted the principles of religious freedom and examples of interfaith dialogue in the United States on its social media platforms throughout the year. Phillip Smyth was a Soref Fellow at The Washington Institute from 2018-2021. Phillip Smyth. It stated that more than 40 cases against religious minorities were registered under the blasphemy laws in August alone. That same day, a Punjab Provincial Assembly lawmaker from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Mohammed Ilyas Chinyoti, participated in an international Khatm-e-Nabuwat conference in the Chanab Nagar area of Punjab near the Ahmadiyya Muslim communitys headquarters. Anti-Shia Violence: Widening Sectarian Schism in Pakistan On November 21, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari posted a tweet calling for the government to protect all its citizens. Civil society groups continued to state that the blasphemy laws disproportionately affected members of religious minority communities. At least 40 cases were registered against Shias in one month Some community representatives said Christians continued to face difficulties in registering marriages with Islamabad union councils because the councils claimed they had no authority to deal with unions recorded by Christian marriage registrars (usually church authorities). The four men were charged with defacing antiquities. The constitution states no person shall be required to take part in any religious ceremony or attend religious worship relating to a religion other than the persons own. Many social media users celebrated Naseems killing. Getty Images. A constitutional amendment devolves responsibility for minorities affairs, including religious minorities, to the provinces. 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 Human Rights Commission reported more than 200 terrorist attacks resulted in nearly 700 Shia deaths and over 1,000 Shia injuries in 2013. A New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan | Crisis Group Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of the Islamic Faith, after Sunni Islam, having about 15% of Muslims worldwide. According to an unofficial and unverified estimate, between 700 and 5,000 Pakistan Shias from Karachi, Parachinar, and Gilgit-Baltistan, recruited by Iran, went to Syria to fight against the. In the absence of specific language in the law authorizing civil or common law marriage, marriage certificates are signed by religious authorities and registered with the local marriage registrar. Bakhtawar Jaffri, a Shia rights activist in Punjab, said she had recently filed a police report for anti-Shia hate speech but it had been ignored. In September, several religious groups from the Deobandi and Barelvi schools of Sunni Islam organized a series of rallies in Karachi to denounce Shia defamation of revered Sunni religious figures. Human rights groups reported an increase in blasphemy cases and allegations against members of the Shia Muslim community. Police intervened on multiple occasions to quell mob violence directed at individuals accused of blasphemy. The population of Pakistan in 2019 was 223,293,280, a 1.62% increase from 2018. Following Naseems death, there were a series of additional violent incidents targeting Ahmadis, and Ahmadiyya community members said they felt in more danger than ever before. The attackers relationship to organized terrorist groups was often unclear. There is no option to state no religion. National identity cards are required for all citizens upon reaching the age of 18. NGOs expressed concern about what they stated was the increasing frequency of attempts to kidnap, forcibly convert, and forcibly marry young women from religious minority communities, especially young Hindu and Christian women. Qataris are all Muslims and followers of the Sunni Salafi version of Islam. The constitution requires the government to amend the law as directed by the court. In addition to addressing a legal gap by providing documentation needed for identity registration, divorce, and inheritance, the Hindu Marriage Acts allow marriages to be voided when consent was obtained by force, coercion, or by fraud. The acts allow for the termination of the marriage upon the conversion of one party to a religion other than Hinduism. Any country in which Muslims make up 50% or more of the population is considered a Muslim majority country. 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. In February, a court in Jacobabad, Sindh, ruled that the marriage with Raza was illegal under the 2013 Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. Most minority religious groups said they continued to face discrimination in government hiring. Timeline: Modern Sunni-Shia Tensions - Council on Foreign Relations Shiites are estimated to be 21-35 percent of the Muslim population in South East Asia. Islam is the largest and the state religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Department of State programs, including outreach activities such as speakers and workshops, helped to promote peacebuilding among religious and community leaders. A large portion of . 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. Azerbaijan - 65-75% . On June 25, an antiterrorism court sentenced five al-Qaida militants to 16 years imprisonment each for terrorist financing and possession of explosives. Then, in the 2018 election, ASWJ and TLP were allowed to run in the election, winning seats in parliament. Barelvi Islam - GlobalSecurity.org Shia Population - Worldmapper 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. There were a series of additional violent incidents targeting Ahmadis following the Tahir Naseem killing in a Peshawar courtroom. 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. Other NGOs also said that 2020 had seen an increase in blasphemy cases. extremist, and militant groups have come together to harass the Shia population right in the eyesight of the country's security apparatus. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) designates religious affiliation on passports and requires religious information in national identity card and passport applications. There is a small myth that Christianity has been existent in Pakistan ever since a few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus . Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, Section II. On November 23, the Sindh High Court dissolved the marriage of an underage Christian girl to a 44-year-old Muslim man. Pakistan has the third largest Shia population after India and Iran. 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. Shias are around 20% of the world muslim population. The accused were mostly Shia (70 percent of cases) and Ahmadi Muslims (20 percent of cases). The womans mother filed a police report against the abductor, who was subsequently arrested. Following the address, the Special Adviser convened an interfaith roundtable discussion at Karachi University, which included Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Parsis. Sunnis are generally believed to be 80-85 percent of the Muslim population, and Shia Muslims, including Hazara, Ismaili, and Bohra (a branch of Ismaili), are generally believed to make up 15-20 percent.
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