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.

Attachments

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."