Document #1024973
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The DIRB has reported extensively on
religious persecution in Pakistan, particularly of Christians. For
basic information on the above-mentioned subject, please refer to
Responses to Information Requests PAK17522.E, PAK14202, PAK13119,
PAK4930, PAK1705, PAK4930, PAK6808 and PAK8972.
For an update on the current state of the
relations between Christians and the Muslim majority, and between
Christians and the government, please refer to the attachments.
Also, refer to the 19 September 1993 News from Asia Watch
(pp. 1-21) report on "persecuted minorities" in Pakistan and to
Country Reports 1993 (pp. 1377-38). The two documents are
available at your Regional Documentation Centre.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
AP Worldstream. 5 April 1994. Kathy
Gannon. "Lone Gunman Kills Christian Accused of Insulting Islam."
(NEXIS)
Agence France Presse (AFP). 5 April
1994. "One Christian Killed, Three Others Injured in Attack."
(NEXIS)
The Daily Telegraph [London]. 30
November 1994. Ahmed Rashid. "Muslims Want Boy, 12, Hanged for
Blasphemy." (NEXIS)
_____. 28 September 1993. Ahmed Rashid.
"Christians Win the Right to Vote." (NEXIS)
The Economist [London]. 7 May
1994. "Prophet and Loss." (NEXIS)
Encyclopedia of the Third World.
1992. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File, pp.
1471-72.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
n.d. State of Human Rights in Pakistan 1993. Lahore: Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan, pp. 40-43.
Inter Press Service. 19 September 1993.
"Pakistan: Asia Watch Says Drive to Islamicize Laws Hurts Rights."
(NEXIS)
International Herald Tribune
[London]. 18 June 1994. John Ward Anderson. "Islamic Vigilante
Justice ...." (NEXIS)
Los Angeles Times. 25 April 1994.
Home Edition. John-Thor Dahlburg. "After Attacks, Christians Feel
Threatened in Pakistan." (NEXIS)
The Observer [London]. 28
November 1993. "Boy Faces Death for `Blasphemy'."(NEXIS)
Reuters. 28 September 1993. BC Cycle.
Jane Macartney. "Pakistan's Christians Seek Electoral Equality."
(NEXIS)
_____. 21 April 1994. BC Cycle. Aurang
Zeb. "Pakistani Christians March Against Blasphemy Law."
(NEXIS)
Rocky Mountain News [Denver]. 20
March 1994. "Anti-blasphemy Law Tough." (NEXIS)
The San Francisco Chronicle. 9
June 1994. Final Edition. Rahul Bedi. "Bhutto Gives in to
Militants."