'Christians, women top blasphemy targets in Pakistan'
Feb 07, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 7 : Violence against Christians is on the rise in Pakistan, particularly among Christian women, according to a new report by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ).
CSJ reports suggest, roughly 70 per cent of female victims of extrajudicial murders on blasphemy charges come from these minority communities, and the bulk of the victims are Christian women.
"If you're a Christian woman in Pakistan, you're probably the most likely to be charged with blasphemy following torture, a lengthy trial, and, most likely, a death sentence are the end results," reported Times of Israel.
Despite making up just 5 per cent of the population, minority populations are implicated in roughly one-third of all blasphemy cases, suggests the report's findings.
Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are used to settle personal disputes, reported the Times of Israel.
Over half of the 484 members of minority communities charged with blasphemy were Christians (264), nearly 40 per cent were Ahmadis (188), and the rest were Hindus (21), Pervaizis (7), Ismailis (1), Sikhs (1), and Buddhists (2).
According to a report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) in Islamabad, of those accused of blasphemy, 89 have been subjected to extrajudicial murder by lynch mobs since the country's inception in 1947.
Most of the cases, approximately 70 per cent, occurred in Punjab. The remaining instances primarily occurred in Sindh, where 177 accusations were reported during the ten year period, and Islamabad, where 55 cases were reported during the same time.
