Pakistan 10th worst in religious hostilities: study

Pakistan ranked 10th in the world in 2015 in terms of having the highest social hostilities involving religion, revealed a research by the Pew Research Centre.

Syria, Nigeria, Iraq and India make up the top four countries that saw the highest social hostilities. Pew has been publishing its annual Global Restrictions on Religion Report since 2009. For the latest report, 18 sources were used and two indices, the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index, were composed.



The latter looks at hostilities between groups based on religion. 13 indicators are used to compose it. These include crimes motivated by religious hatred, mob violence related to religion, communal violence, religion-related terrorist groups, using force to prevent religious groups from operating, the harassment of women for 'violating' religious dress codes and violence over conversion or proselytising.

Pakistan ranked 10th with an index value of 7.2 on 10. India ranked 4th with an index value of 8.7 out of 10.



"[O]ne of the indicators in the Social Hostilities Index looks at whether incidents of violence occurred as a result of tensions between religious groups. In India in 2015, there were instances of attacks by Hindus on Muslims due to alleged cow slaughter, rioting after clashes between Hindus and Muslims, and mob violence involving the two groups," said lead researcher Katayoun Kishi while speaking to Huffington Post India.

Government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion have increased for the first time in three years.

The global rise in social hostilities reflected a number of factors, including increases in mob violence related to religion, individuals being assaulted or displaced due to their faith, and incidents where violence was used to enforce religious norms," Pew said.



This surge was also linked to use of force by governments against religious groups.

Hostilities towards Muslims in particular have increased considerably. In 2015, 32 countries in Europe saw social hostilities towards Muslims. Hostilities against Jews in Europe remained common with a reported 33 countries.



This story originally appeared on Huffington Post India