Pakistan is creating hostile environment for minorities by promoting extremism. Analyst at the United Nations

Geneva [Switzerland]September 29 (ANI): A research analyst criticized Pakistan on Friday, accusing it of creating a hostile environment for religious minorities by promoting Sunni Islamist extremism.

Conor Owens, an analyst working with the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) while speaking at the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council said, “The recently introduced resolution that Pakistan introduced in the last session of this Council in the light of the burning of the Koran in Sweden tries to reduce expressions of religious hatred." He added "While religious intolerance should always be condemned, Pakistan's concern for religious hatred abroad is a blatant display of hypocrisy, as it is unwilling to express the same considerations within its own borders".

Owens told the council that the rise of Sunni Islamist extremism, cultivated by the Pakistani military establishment, has created a hostile environment for religious minorities, including the Shia, Ahmadiyya, Christian, Hindu and Sikh communities.

He said: "Lasfeminism and the anti-Ahmadiyya laws currently in place in Pakistan have allowed Islamist extremists to operate under legal cover and persecute non-Muslims on a daily basis. These religious minorities have been subject to frequent, unprovoked attacks, which include mob violence, lynching, murder, forced conversions and desecration of places of worship”.

"This council should be wary of the advice of a fanatical state whose education curriculum breeds hatred against minorities and whose legal system provides impunity for these attackers," the analyst said.

Conor added that it is the responsibility of UN human rights bodies to pressure Pakistani authorities for greater legal accountability. Establishing the mechanism for a fact-finding mission to fully assess the human rights situation of religious minorities in Pakistan is long overdue and extremely urgent, he noted.

"Without such actions, these violations of religious freedom in Pakistan will only continue to worsen," he said.

It was no coincidence that on the same day the Sindhi Foundation held a day-long poster campaign in front of the UN office in Geneva to make people aware of the plight of the Sindhis in Pakistan's Sindh province.

The campaign was held during the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Besides slogans criticizing Pakistan and China for exploiting Sindh's resources, the posters depicted images of several Sindhi political activists, journalists and other intellectuals who were allegedly abducted, tortured and brutally killed by Pakistan's secret agencies.

At the 54th session of the Human Rights Council two days ago, India slammed Pakistan for using the forum for its baseless allegations against New Delhi and also highlighted the prevailing atrocities against the minorities in the neighboring country.

"Pakistan has failed to protect the rights of its ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Ahmadiyas and Shias, who are systematically persecuted on a daily basis and deprived of their human rights, particularly their freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression and right to life," said India.

New Delhi also pointed out the plight of minorities in Pakistan, citing the report published by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an estimated 1,000 women from minority groups are subjected to abduction, forced conversion and marriage in the country every year. (ANI)


https://nord.news/2023/09/29/pakistan-is-creating-hostile-environment-for-minorities-by-promoting-extremism-analyst-at-the-united-nations/?feed_id=47298

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