Washington, March 8 (IANS) The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged the US government to redesignate Pakistan as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) over systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.
In its 2026 Annual Report, the US federal watchdog recommended that the US government lift the existing waiver that exists for Pakistan, or not issue a waiver, releasing the administration from taking otherwise legislatively mandated action as a result of the CPC designation. Furthermore, the body called for imposing targeted sanctions on Pakistani officials and government agencies responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing assets of those individuals and/or barring their entry into the United States under human rights-related financial and visa authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations.
It also urged the US government to enter into a binding agreement with Pakistan under the IRFA to encourage measures to address violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), including release of people imprisoned for blasphemy or their religion or beliefs, repealing blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws and introducing reforms to make blasphemy a bailable offence, require evidence by accusers, carrying out proper investigations by senior police officials, and allow authorities to dismiss unfounded accusations and implementing existing penal code articles criminalising perjury and false accusations and holding accountable individuals who incite or participate in vigilante violence, targeted killings, forced conversion, and other religiously based crimes.
In the report, the USCIRF stated: “The US Congress should incorporate religious freedom concerns into its larger oversight of the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship through hearings, letters, resolutions, and congressional delegations and advocate for the release of FoRB prisoners in Pakistan.”
“In 2025, religious freedom conditions in Pakistan continued along a troubling trajectory. The government continued to enforce its strict blasphemy law, impacting people of all faiths, including religious minorities. Increasing vigilante attacks and mob violence targeting religious minorities, specifically Ahmadiyya Muslims and Christians, contributed to an intensified climate of fear and intolerance.”
“Authorities continued to wield the blasphemy law and its death penalty provision to punish those deemed to have insulted Islam. In January, four individuals were sentenced to death for allegedly posting blasphemous content on social media. The same month, a mentally ill Christian man, Farhan Masih, was imprisoned on blasphemy and terrorism charges. Despite being acquitted, Masih could not return to his village out of fear for his safety. In February, a sessions court sentenced another man to death after a member of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) accused him of ‘insulting religious sentiment.”
Violent attacks against religious minorities occurred with impunity and in some cases under accusations of forced conversions in Pakistan. In September last year, two gunmen attacked Christian pastor Kamran Naz as he travelled to Islamabad to lead a church service. The pastor had previously received death threats and was accused of “proselytising among Afghan refugees”.
Reports continued to emerge about forced conversions of Hindu and Christian girls in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan in 2025. In February, a 12-year-old Christian girl was reportedly forcibly converted to Islam and married to a 35-year-old man in Sindh Province.
In July last year, the Sindh Human Rights Commission voiced concern about the alleged kidnapping and forced conversion to Islam of a 15-year-old Hindu girl, Shahneela, in Matli. In a police report, her uncle claimed that two gunmen forcibly entered the residence of the girl and kidnapped her, according to the report. Furthermore, authorities in Pakistan continued to impose restrictions on Ahmadiyya Muslims’ ability to practice their faith and allowed for assaults against Ahmadiyya mosques.
–IANS
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