ICC Note:
On October 23, U.S. President Obama and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will hold a meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss the future relations of the two countries. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has called on President Obama to highlight the increasingly extreme levels of religious intolerance growing in Pakistan. Just last month, over 100 Christians were killed in a twin suicide bombing of a church in Peshawar, located in Pakistan’s northwestern regions. Christians, and other religious minorities, remain the target of false blasphemy accusations, which historically have led to innocent people receiving life imprisonment and death sentences. Please pray that the suffering of Christians and other religious minorities is discussed at today’s meeting.
10/23/2013 Washington, D.C. (USCIRF) – During his October 23 White House meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, USCIRF urges President Obama to raise concerns about the dire religious freedom situation in Pakistan, with both Muslims and religious minorities consistently confronting violence or jail.
“Based on USCIRF findings, Pakistan represents one of the worst situations in the world for religious freedom,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert George.    “The September attack on All Saints Church that killed close to 100 worshippers underscores Pakistan’s exceedingly poor religious freedom situation. The violence extremists perpetuate threatens all Pakistanis, including Shi’as, Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus, as well as those members of the Sunni majority who dare to challenge extremists.”
“Given that President Obama and Prime Minister Sharif reportedly will be discussing how best to counter violent extremism, we urge the U.S. to incorporate concern about freedom of religion into these conversations,” said Chairman George. “To successfully counter violent extremism, Pakistan must have a holistic approach that both ensures that perpetrators of violence are jailed and addresses laws that foster vigilante violence, such as the blasphemy law and anti-Ahmadi laws.  For the sake of his country, the Prime Minister should be pressed to take concrete action.”
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