'Streets of fear': Targeted killings, forced conversions of Hindu girls: Pakistan human rights body flags atrocities on minorities

Lahore: There has been an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities during the last year apart from forced conversions and underage marriages of Hindu and Christian girls, Pakistan's top human rights body has said.

'Streets of Fear: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2024/25,' a report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) released here on Tuesday documents a “deeply troubling year” for religious freedom and minority rights” referring to the Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians in the country.

“There has been an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities, including targeted killings of the Ahmadis and the demolition of their protected places of worship,” the report said.

There has been persistent forced conversions and underage marriages of Hindu and Christian girls in Punjab and Sindh province exposing the systematic failure to enforce child marriage restraint laws, the HRCP said.

The HRCP said that there has been a trend of mob lynching of those especially minority members accused of blasphemy. “Now the most chilling account is that of extra-judicial killing of minority members accused of blasphemy,” it said.

Two individuals accused of blasphemy were extra-judicially killed by police while seeking protection from hostile mobs, it said and added that such incidents underscore the urgent need for reform within law enforcement and accountability mechanisms.

The report also pointed out the rise in hate speech ranging from threats against the chief justice of the Supreme Court to public vilification of elected representatives. This is because of shrinking civic space and emboldened extremist elements, the report added.

It said it is shocking to see the increasing tilt of the bar associations towards positions aligned with extremist religious extremist groups. “This trend undermines the independence of the legal profession,” the report said even as it documented allegations of collusion by the state institutions in cases where several hundred young men and women were entrapped in accusations of blasphemy and extorted. “This is one of the most alarming trends.”

The report asked the Pakistan government to establish an inquiry commission based on the findings of the National Commission for Human Rights with respect to entrapment in allegations of blasphemy.

“The authorities should also monitor those seminaries that are frequently involved in the conversion of underage girls,” it recommended.

The report further said that law enforcement forces also need to be better equipped to protect individuals from mob violence, with vital police training in intelligence gathering, crowd management, reading early signals of riots, and community policing.

“Swift action should be taken against those who instigate such mobs. The government must urgently establish an independent statutory national commission dedicated to the rights of minorities, ensuring equal representation for all religious communities,” the HRCP report demanded.