Blasphemy Laws & Persecution of Christians in Pakistan

Mob violence, lynching, forced marriage and conversion, debt slavery, and accusations of blasphemy. Pakistan is now considered the 7th most dangerous place for Christians.

In May 2024 of this year, an elderly Christian man named Nazir Masih was beaten to death by an angry muslim mob in Punjab, Pakistan. The incident erupted over false accusations that he had defiled the Quran. The muslim mob looted a shoe shop owned by his son and burned down his home, where twelve family members lived. The crowd was caught on video shouting slogans from Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), an Islamic extremist party known for attacks on Christians and Hindus. This latest incident is part of a larger campaign of repression faced by Pakistan’s Christian minority, which comprises only 1.27% of the population, roughly 4.2 million people.

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are strict, and those found guilty can be sentenced to death. they are particularly used to target Christians. Accusations of blasphemy can incite mob violence against the accused and their communities. In August 2023, after a group of religious extremists accused two Christians of defiling the Quran, hundreds of Muslim men attacked Jaranwala, a Christian settlement in the Faisalabad district of Punjab province. The mob, armed with stones, sticks, and fire, damaged churches, Christian homes, and cemeteries. The National Catholic Institute of Theology in Karachi reported that local mosques were broadcasting messages instructing Muslims to gather and “attack the churches and Christian community.” In total, about 1,000 Christian families were affected.

Although Pakistan has never actually carried out a death sentence for blasphemy, according to Human Rights Watch several people are currently sitting on death row after up to a decade of imprisonment on blasphemy charges linked to material shared on social media. Furthermore, many of those accused are horribly beaten or even lynched before reaching jail. Since 1990, 65 people have been killed after being accused of blasphemy. 

Once accused, it is problematic to fight a blasphemy charge because it is an offense that is not bailable. Additionally, finding representation is complicated because lawyers who choose to defend individuals accused of blasphemy face significant risks, including threats to their safety and life. There have been instances where lawyers, judges, and others involved in blasphemy cases have been attacked or killed by extremists. This creates a climate of fear, discouraging many legal professionals from taking on such cases. 

Knowing how difficult it is to survive an accusation of blasphemy; Muslims have been known to use false accusations as a means to steal property from Christians or turn them into bond slaves. Families are often willing to pay almost anything or cede any property rights to avoid arrest and trial for blasphemy. Due to the egregious violation of human rights that these blasphemy laws pose, international human rights organizations have called on Pakistan to repeal them.

The persecution of Christians in Pakistan is a significant and ongoing issue. In 1997, Shantinagar, a Christian village in Punjab, was attacked by a mob, leading to the destruction of homes and churches. The worst attack in recent history occurred in 2009 when a mob in Gojra, Punjab, burned 60 homes and killed six Christians. In 2013, a mob attacked Joseph Colony, a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, Punjab, burning homes and displacing hundreds of residents after a Christian man was accused of blasphemy.

Recently, persecution of Christians in Pakistan has been on the rise again. Christians are often marginalized and face discrimination in employment, education, and social services. Many are relegated to poverty, working in public sanitation, sewer cleaning, and other low-level menial jobs, a fate endured by at least 600,000 Christian women. One of the occupations dominated by Christian men in Pakistan is brick kiln labor. The kilns, often owned by Muslims, frequently make loans to employees to cover emergent medical bills or to pay for a daughter’s wedding. Subsequently, the worker’s meager wages are garnished, and the worker effectively becomes a slave, unable to leave his employer for years until the debt is repaid. This cycle of debt bondage traps many Christian families in a state of perpetual servitude.

There are numerous reports of Christian women being subjected to abduction, forced conversions to Islam, and marriages against their will. In addition to marginalization, mob violence, and the destruction of their places of worship and graves, targeted killings are an extreme form of persecution faced by Christians. Last year, in two separate incidents, gunmen killed a Catholic layman and priest.

The violence against Christians is emboldened by government inaction. For example, under Pakistani law, once a girl is forcibly abducted, converted, and married, her parents have no legal recourse to get her back, even if she is underage.

The Pakistani government has been criticized for failing to adequately protect Christians and other religious minorities. As a result, Pakistan ranks 7th on the ’ World Watch List, most dangerous country in the world for Christians due to the high levels of persecution and discrimination they face.