In its seventh annual report on freedom of religion or belief, titled Sanctuary Denied: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2025/26, the HRCP welcomed the passage of the National Commission for Minorities Act 2025 and laws in Punjab and Balochistan setting the minimum marriage age at 18. However, it warned that implementation gaps and continuing rights violations undermine these measures.
According to the report, the National Commission for Minorities has yet to be constituted, leaving the law unimplemented months after its passage. Hundreds of people accused of blasphemy also remain in legal limbo, while alleged perpetrators of an organised entrapment network have yet to be investigated.
The report documents attacks on the Ahmadiyya community, including two extremist attacks in Chenab Nagar, and describes efforts to restrict Ahmadis’ participation in public and commercial life.
It also highlights cases involving the abduction and forced marriage of Christian and Hindu girls, saying poverty and inadequate police responses compound their vulnerability. Discriminatory employment practices, the inclusion of religious content in school curricula and the marginalisation of minority concerns in mainstream media were also identified as barriers to equal citizenship.
The HRCP has urged the federal government to implement the National Commission for Minorities Act without delay, investigate alleged blasphemy entrapment networks and hold accountable those who incite violence against minorities.
Its recommendations include stronger safeguards against forced conversions and underage marriages, mandatory freedom-of-religion training for law-enforcement agencies, and better protection for human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists. The report also calls on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to enact legislation setting the minimum marriageable age at 18 for everyone.
Speaking at the report’s launch, HRCP Director Farah Zia warned that the state’s approach to religious minorities was becoming increasingly exclusionary.
Minority rights defender Nabila Feroz Bhatti highlighted the case of Kamran Gill, a Christian medical practitioner from Sheikhupura whose dispensary was set on fire by a mob on October 9 following allegations that he had shared blasphemous content on social media.
HRCP Punjab Vice-Chair Raja Ashraf said blasphemy accusations had become a means of exploiting and endangering vulnerable people.
Community representative Amir Mahmood described restrictions on Ahmadis’ freedom of expression and assembly, recalling that the community’s last public gathering had taken place more than 40 years ago.
Shehri Pakistan Director Arafat Mazhar urged the public to consult defence lawyers in ongoing blasphemy cases and allow courts to determine the appropriate legal procedures, rather than turning accused individuals into symbols of the broader debate over blasphemy laws.
Former HRCP chairperson Hina Jilani stressed the need to address discrimination at an institutional level, saying: “Democracy should have no concept of ‘minority’ and ‘majority’.”
The report calls for stronger legal protections, effective implementation of existing laws and greater accountability to ensure religious minorities can exercise their rights as equal citizens.
