LAHORE, Pakistan — A rights watchdog chronicled a record 344 new blasphemy cases in Pakistan in 2024, highlighting increased abuse of the country’s condemned blasphemy laws.

Of the 344 new blasphemy cases, 70% of the accused were Muslims, 6% were Christians, 9% Hindus and 14% Ahmadis, according to the annual Human Rights Observer report issued by the Center for Social Justice (CSJ).

“The blatant weaponization of blasphemy laws continued to enable persecution, religious intolerance and widespread human rights violations,” the report stated.

Section 298-A of the blasphemy statutes, which relates to disrespect of holy personages, including the family, wives and companions of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, and the four caliphs and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, was the most used section. Last year, 128 people were charged under this section.

“The next most frequently abused provision was Section 295-A (hurting of religious sentiments) with 106 reported cases,” the report noted. “Section 298-C, which is specifically against the Ahmadi community, was also widely misused, with 69 accused.”

Sections 295-B (desecration of the Quran) and 295-C (disrespecting Muhammad) were also extensively used, leading to 62 individuals accused across various regions of Pakistan, the report noted.

Punjab Province recorded the highest number of blasphemy-related accusations, accounting for 62% of the cases, followed by Sindh Province with 30%, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 5%, Azad Jammu and Kashmir with 2% and Gilgit-Baltistan with 1%.

Among districts, the highest number of reported blasphemy incidents occurred in Punjab Province’s Sheikhupura District with 32, Lahore with 28, Kot Addu with 13, Rawalpindi with 13, Okara with 11, Sargodha with 11 and Gujranwala with 10, as well as Sindh Province’s Tharparkar District with 35 and Larkana with 11. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Mansehra District recorded the highest number of cases with seven.

Ove the course of the year, 10 people accused of blasphemy were extra-judicially killed by individuals or violent mobs, including six in Punjab Province (two each in Lahore and Rawalpindi, and one each in Sargodha and Gujrat), two in Sindh Province (one each in Karachi and Umerkot), while there was one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Swat), and Balochistan (Quetta).

At least 2,793 persons were formally or informally accused of blasphemy in Pakistan over the past 38 years, 1987 to 2024, according to the report. Over those years, 54% of those accused were Muslims, 30% were Ahmadis, 11% were Christians and 3% were Hindus, while the religious identities of another 3% could not be ascertained.

The report stated that at least 104 people were killed extra-judicially following blasphemy allegations between 1994 and 2024, which included 67 Muslims (64%), 26 Christians (25%), seven Ahmadis, one Hindu and one Buddhist, while the religion of two persons was unknown. Punjab was the province with the most killings at 72 (69% of the total), followed by 15 in Sindh, 11 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three in Balochistan, two in Islamabad and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Forced conversions

On the issue of forced conversion of minority girls and women, the CSJ report revealed that at least 421 cases were reported between January 2021 and December 2024 in Pakistan.

The victims included 282 Hindu girls, 137 Christian girls and two Sikh girls; 71% of the victims were minors, of whom 22% were younger than 14, and 49% were between the ages of 14 and 18. Only 13% were adults, and the ages of 16% remained unverified. The report added that the overwhelming majority of cases, 69%, occurred in Sindh Province, followed by 30% in Punjab Province.

The CSJ report also highlighted discriminatory prison policies, where minority inmates are denied remission benefits available to Muslim prisoners. Additionally, textbooks continued to promote Islamic content in non-religious subjects, undermining minority students’ rights, according to the report.

It also observed that despite the introduction of the National Commission for Minorities Bill, 2025, delays and weak enforcement persist. Out of 186 bills tabled in legislative assemblies, only 23 addressed human rights, with just one minority-related bill becoming law.

Pakistan, where the population is more than 96% Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.

This article was originally published at Christian Daily International–Morning Star News 

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/watchdog-warns-of-record-number-blasphemy-cases-in-pakistan.html