International community must move beyond rhetoric on Pakistan’s persecution of minorities: Report

Islamabad, June 5 (IANS) The United Nations (UN) has repeatedly expressed concern over the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan. However, meaningful change in Pakistan remains elusive despite years of warnings, recommendations, and expressions of concern. The international organisations must move beyond cautious rhetoric as turning a blind eye to the suffering of religious minorities in Pakistan does not serve justice or the values that the international community claims to hold, a report has stated.

One of the most important issue faced by minority community in Pakistan is forced conversions and marriages of Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls and women by Muslim men. At the same time, Ahmaddiya community continues to face systematic religious discrimination and persecution. Several years ago, UN experts carried out investigation into the plight of vulnerable communities in Pakistan, according to a report in Modern Tokyo Times. However, the same grave concerns remain relevant in 2026.

For years, International bodies have criticised Pakistan for human rights abuses, including the sale and sexual exploitation of children, violence against women, the misuse of blasphemy laws, the persecution of religious minorities, and forms of modern slavery linked to bonded labour, the report mentioned. Minority Muslim communities, including the Ahmadiyya, face state-backed discrimination and social hostility in Pakistan. Christian churches and other non-Muslim places of worship have been attacked in Pakistan.

Several years ago, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that they are deeply troubled to hear that girls as young as 13 are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to places far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and forced to convert to Islam, in violation of international human rights law. Notably, these concerns raised years back remain relevant in 2026.

The UN has repeatedly urged Pakistan to adopt and enforce legislation banning forced conversions, forced and child marriages, kidnapping, and trafficking and uphold the rights of women and children.

“Yet despite years of warnings, recommendations, and expressions of concern, meaningful change remains elusive. Statements alone cannot protect vulnerable girls from abduction, shield minorities from persecution, or deliver justice to victims and their families. Pakistan must guarantee equal protection under the law for all citizens regardless of religion, sect, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality. Failure to do so should carry consequences, just as other nations that engage in systematic discrimination face international scrutiny and pressure,” the report in Modern Tokyo Times stated.

“Likewise, international organizations — including the Commonwealth of Nations, the UN, and global human rights bodies — must move beyond cautious rhetoric. Silence, timidity, or selective outrage only embolden those who perpetrate abuses. Genuine commitment to universal human rights requires consistency, moral courage, and a willingness to confront persecution wherever it occurs. Turning a blind eye to the suffering of religious minorities in Pakistan serves neither justice nor the values that the international community claims to uphold,” it added.

Last month, a leading minority rights organisation had warned that escalating persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan is no longer a “quiet crisis” but a glaring indictment of both national failure and global indifference.

According to the Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), year after year, reports reflect the same grim pattern: “targeted violence, systemic discrimination, and a justice system that too often turns away from those most in need of protection”, with the situation continuing to deteriorate.

Citing the latest findings from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the rights body stated that the report reinforced a long-known reality — “Pakistan remains a place where faith can become a fatal liability”. It added that Pakistan’s continued designation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) is not merely bureaucratic language — “but a reflection of lived fear, shattered families, and silenced voices.”

The rights body highlighted a more disturbing pattern of forced conversions and marriages involving Christian girls across the country, some of them barely in their teens.

“These are not isolated incidents — they form a recurring narrative of abduction, coercion, and legal erasure. Families are left powerless, often receiving nothing more than an official declaration that their daughter now belongs to another faith and another household. The emotional devastation is immeasurable: parents grieving children who are still alive, yet irretrievably taken,” the VOPM mentioned.

–IANS

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