LAHORE: The participants in a seminar at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Tuesday highlighted an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities during the last year.

Launched at the seminar, the HRCP’s report, Streets of Fear: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2024/25, documents a deeply troubling year for religious freedom and minority rights in Pakistan.

The report points out an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities, including targeted killings of the Ahmadis and the demolition of protected places of worship. In a chilling development, two individuals accused of blasphemy were extra-judicially killed by the police while seeking protection from hostile mobs. Such incidents underscore the urgent need for reform within law enforcement and accountability mechanisms.

The report also draws attention to persistent forced conversions and underage marriages of Hindu and Christian girls in Punjab and Sindh, exposing the systematic failure to enforce child marriage restraint laws.

Meanwhile, the rise in hate speech—ranging from threats against the chief justice of the Supreme Court to public vilification of elected representatives—points to shrinking civic space and emboldened extremist elements.

The HRCP notes with concern the increasing tilt of bar associations towards positions aligned with extremist religious groups—a trend that undermines the independence of the legal profession. The report also documents allegations of collusion by state institutions in cases where several hundred young men and women were entrapped in accusations of blasphemy and extorted.

Despite these challenges, the report acknowledges limited progress, including the passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2025 and provincial legislation establishing research-based centres of excellence on countering violent extremism.

Among other recommendations, the HRCP strongly urges the federal 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.

The commission says 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. Moreover, swift action should be taken against those who instigate such mobs. As recommended in the HRCP’s previous reports, the government must urgently establish an independent statutory national commission dedicated to the rights of minorities, ensuring equal representation for all religious communities.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2025