Pakistan paramilitary soldiers act as a human barrier as Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani arrives for the funeral ceremony of Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Lahore. (AP photo)

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. State Department has rejected recommendations by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to name Pakistan a “Country of Particular Concern” -- despite the fact that Pakistan is responsible for “systematic, egregious and ongoing violations of religious belief and freedom,” according to the commission's 2011 report to Congress and to the State Department.

In fact, the report paints Pakistan as a nation where blasphemy against Islam is a state crime, underage Christian girls are raped with impunity and religious extremism has led in the last year to assassinations, suicide bombings, attacks on mosques and churches and other attacks by armed extremist Muslims against religious minorities. 

“The forces that threaten Pakistani and U.S. security interests are largely motivated by a violent extremist ideology that rejects international human rights standards, including freedom of religion or belief,” the USCIRF report states.

“In light of these particularly severe violations, USCIRF again recommends in 2011 that Pakistan be designated a country of particular concern, or CPC,” the commission wrote. “Since 2002, USCIRF has recommended Pakistan be named a CPC, but the U.S. State Department has not followed that recommendation.” 

The commission is an official U.S. government body charged with monitoring religious freedom around the globe.

The report noted that while new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari “has taken some positive actions to promote religious tolerance and remedy abuses,” the Pakistani government “has failed to reverse the erosion in the social and legal status of religious minorities.” 

About 97 percent of all Pakistanis are Muslims. Sunni Muslims constitute 77 percent of the population and Shi’a adherents make up an additional 20 percent. Christians, Hindus, and members of other religions each account for about 1 percent of the population.

In fact, religiously-linked violence -- especially violent attacks against religious minorities who are opposed by extremist Islamic groups -- has reached unprecedented levels.

“Armed extremists, some with ties to violent extremist groups or the Pakistani Taliban, intensified their attacks, including bombings, against Barelvi Sufis, Shi‘a Muslims, Ahmadis and Christians. Sectarian or religiously motivated violence reached beyond Pakistan‘s tribal northwest, targeting groups in major urban centers,” the report said.

In addition, Pakistani law makes blasphemy against Islam a state crime.

“Blasphemy laws are used against members of religious minority communities and dissenters within the majority Muslim community, and frequently result in imprisonment on account of religion or belief and/or vigilante violence,” the commission reported.

The controversial law, Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, introduced in 1986 by then-President Mohammed Zia, states that “whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Prophet Muhammad shall be punished with death or imprisoned for life and shall be liable to fine.”

The law extends to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, but it has been indiscriminately used against members of religious minorities.

“Three individuals had death sentences imposed or upheld against them during the reporting period (2010-2011),” the USCIRF report noted.  

Even Pakistani government officials have been targeted for violence and association for opposing extremist Islam.

“Pakistani media reported in January that several violent extremist groups were joining forces to target government leaders and Shi‘a clergy,” the report said.

Assassinations of Officials By Muslim Extremists

In the last year, two prominent Pakistani officials -- Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti -- were assassinated because of their opposition to the blasphemy law and support for efforts to soften it.

“On January 2, Salman Taseer, a longtime political ally of President Zardari and an outspoken critic of the blasphemy law, was assassinated by one of his police bodyguards,” the report noted.

“After shooting Taseer multiple times, the assassin, Mumtz Qadri, surrendered peacefully and confessed that he had killed the governor because of his views on blasphemy. Qadri was assigned to the protective detail, despite reports that Qadri had shared his plans to kill Taseer with other guards and that supervisors had listed him as a security risk.

“While Taseer‘s murder was condemned by political leaders, 500 Muslim clerics from the Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat, a prominent organization for Barelvis, praised Qadri‘s actions and warned people against mourning Taseer. As a result, Taseer‘s family had great difficulty finding an imam to officiate the funeral.

“While Prime Minister Gilani attended the funeral, President Zardari did not. In Islamabad, lawyers showered Qadri with rose petals when he arrived in court for his arraignment.”

The other assassination, which occurred on March 2, involved a long-time Christian activist.

“Shahbaz Bhatti, the first-ever Christian to be appointed to Pakistan‘s federal cabinet, was killed outside his mother‘s home in Islamabad by members of Tehrik-i-Taliban, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban,” the USCIRF report said.  

Bhatti was on his way to a meeting of the cabinet, without a security detail.

“The timing of the attack has led to speculation that the assassins had informants within the Ministry of Interior or the Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence,” the commission stated.

“Bhatti had received multiple death threats because of his advocacy against the blasphemy law, including one from Tehrik-i-Taliban threatening to kill him if he was reappointed to the cabinet.”

Religiously-motivated violence included several other attacks in the last year launched against innocent Pakistanis by extremists who used religion to justify their crimes. Ahmadi Muslims were a favorite target.

-- On May 28, 2010, the largest incident of anti-Ahmadi violence in recent years occurred in Lahore,  when militants carried out coordinated attacks against two Ahmadi mosques, killing at least 93 people and wounding scores more.

“Gunmen associated with Tehrik-i-Taliban attacked both mosques simultaneously with high-powered rifles and grenades as Friday prayers were ending. About 1,500 worshipers were in each mosque,” the commission reported. “Police eventually regained control of both mosques after lengthy gun battles.”

Several large-scale attacks also targeted shrines of the Barelvi Sufis – adherents of a form of mystical Islam historically referred to as Whirling Dervishes.

“Sunni extremists condemn Barelvis, who come from a Sufi tradition, for certain beliefs and practices, including the use of music for religious purposes and the veneration of living and dead religious figures. Barelvi leaders have publicly condemned the Pakistani Taliban and supported the government‘s military campaign against anti-government elements, but some leaders also publicly supported the murder of Salman Taseer,” the report stated.

-- On July 1, 2010, militants bombed the Sufi Data Darbar shrine in Lahore, killing at least 40 and wounding hundreds. 

-- On Oct. 7, two suicide bombers attacked a major shrine in Karachi, the Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine. Reports indicated that 14 were killed and 60 wounded.

“The bombings were coordinated to ensure a high number of casualties -- the first bomber detonated as devotees were leaving the shrine, with the second following moments later targeting the fleeing crowds,” the report noted.

Shi‘a Muslims and mosques were also targeted.

-- On Sept. 1, three bombs were detonated during a Shi‘a religious procession in Lahore, killing 29 and wounding more than 200. The procession of about 35,000 marchers was marking the anniversary of the death of Imam Ali, the first Shi‘a imam. Days later, on Sept. 3, a suicide bomber attacked a Shi‘a procession in Quetta, killing 43 people and wounding 78. Tehrik-i-Taliban claimed responsibility for both.

-- On January 25, 2011, a suicide bomber attacked a Shi‘a procession in Lahore. Seven people were reported dead, 25 were wounded.

Sexual Assaults on Underage Christian Girls

The USCIRF commission report noted that there were no murders of Christians for religious reasons over the last year, but said that “several churches were attacked in March 2011, reportedly in response to the burning of a Koran in Florida,” and added that there were also several individual incidents of violence against Christians accused of blasphemy during the last year.

But the commission noted that sexual assaults against underage Christian girls by Muslim men were an ongoing problem -- and went largely unpunished.

“In March 2011, a 10-year-old Catholic girl was allegedly raped in Punjab province and authorities have arrested the accused perpetrator,” the report said. “Such a police response is not always the norm.”  

The commision cited a July 2010 report from a non-government organization, CLASS, that in one rape case, Muslim extremists “had successfully pressured local police not to file a First Information Report on the alleged incident, thereby preventing any investigation or prosecution.”

In another case involving the rape and murder in January 2010 of a 12-year-old Christian girl in Lahore, the commision said “her Muslim employer, a prominent attorney and former Lahore Bar Association president, was acquitted in November 2010. However, President Zardari directed the federal government to provide compensation to the mother.”