USA: USCIRF Wants Pakistan to Be Designated 'Country of Particular Concern' for Religious Persecution

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"Why is there rarely any accountability in Pakistan for killing people accused of blasphemy? Why are law enforcement officials not held responsible for failing to apprehend the killers?

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Christian Today
By Michael Logan | June 5, 2015

Two women representing the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are calling for Pakistan to be designated a "country of particular concern" due to their harsh blasphemy laws that are often enforced on religious minorities.

Katrina Lantos Swett, chairwoman of the USCIRF, and Mary Ann Glendon discussed on NationalInterest.org their visit to Pakistan, where they met with high-level government officials. Their visit reaffirmed their belief that Pakistan's blasphemy laws have become a serious concern within the country and need to be reformed.

"Why is there rarely any accountability in Pakistan for killing people accused of blasphemy? Why are law enforcement officials not held responsible for failing to apprehend the killers? And what, if anything, can the United States and the world community do about it," they wrote in their blog.

"The blasphemy law on its face flatly violates both freedom of religion and freedom of expression. Worse still, Pakistan vigorously applies this law."

In the Islam-dominated country, many relgious minorities, including Christians, face severe punishment for commiting blasphemy against Islam.

"Consequently, we remain convinced that the State Department should designate Pakistan a 'country of particular concern' for its continued record of failure in protecting religious freedom."

This designation would enable the United States to employ sanctions against Pakistan for its religious freedom violations.

In addition to this, the two feel that the United States can take action to work with Pakistan to provide protection for those who are persecuted for their faith in the country.

"For instance, creating a new avenue for U.S.-Pakistani engagement would strengthen Pakistani institutions that seek to help religious minorities," they suggested.

In Pakistan, it is illegal to set fire to religious text and can be punishable by the nation's blasphemy laws that lead to the death penalty. However, "vigilante mobs" tend to take matters into their own hands.

Last year, a Pakistani Christian couple were brutally beaten and burned to death by an angry mob who accused them of blasphemy.

Sajjad Mesih, 26, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were attacked by enraged Muslims at their workplace, a brick factory, in November last year when Bibi was accused of burning verses of the Koran. The mob beat them before setting them on fire in an industrial kiln in the workplace.

In another case, Pakistani Christian mother Asia Bibi was sentenced to death last year for blasphemy charges. Bibi was first arrested in 2009 after she got into an argument with Muslim women regarding sharing the same drinking water. This resulted in the Muslim women filing blasphemy charges against her for insulting Muhammad, Islam's prophet.

If the death sentence remains upheld, Bibi will be the first woman in history to be legally executed under Pakistan's blasphemy laws.

Earlier this month, Pakistan was named one of the worst places in the world for religious freedom in a USCIRF report.

"Pakistan continued to experience chronic sectarian violence targeting Shia Muslims, Christians, Ahmadi Muslims, and Hindus," USCIRF stated. "Despite positive rulings by the Supreme Court, the government has failed to provide adequate protection to targeted groups or to prosecute perpetrators and those calling for violence."




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