HRCP flags violations of minorities rights

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said on Thursday that religious minorities continued to face violations of their fundamental rights, including the misuse of blasphemy laws, forced marriages and conversions, hate speech and discrimination, despite recent legislative measures aimed at protecting them.

In its seventh annual report on freedom of religion, titled "Sanctuary Denied: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2025/26", the HRCP said scores of people accused of blasphemy remained in legal limbo, while alleged perpetrators linked to an "organised entrapment network" had yet to be investigated.

Girls from Christian and Hindu communities continued to face abductions and forced marriages, exacerbated by poverty and inadequate police responses, the report said.

Discriminatory employment practices, controversial changes to school curricula and the marginalisation of minority concerns in mainstream media further undermined the principle of equal citizenship, it added.

Speaking at the report's launch, HRCP Director Farah Zia warned that the state's approach to religious minorities was becoming increasingly exclusionary, according to a press release issued by the commission.

The HRCP welcomed the passage of the National Commission for Minorities Act 2025, as well as legislation in Punjab and Balochistan raising the minimum marriageable age to 18.