SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2318lims following the attack. On April 19, unknown gunmen killed TJP activist, IqubalHussain in Multan. On April 26, unknown assailants killed TJP activist, SyedFarrukh Birjis Haider and his personal aide in Khanewal. On April 28, unknowngunmen killed local Shi’a leader Hakeem Syed Shahbaz Hussain Sherazi inChishtian. On May 2, unidentified assailants killed a Shi’a doctor, his pharmaceuticaldispenser, and a patient in the doctor’s Karachi office. The next day, unknownassailants killed Shi’a lawyer, Malik Ibrar Hussain in Toba Tek Singh, Punjab.On May 15, unknown assailants killed Shi’a lawyer Syed Sardar Hussain Jafri.Unknown assailants also killed Qudratullah Cheema, the chief of the Ahmadi communityof Khanpur. On May 19, unknown assailants killed eminent Sunni clericMaulana Yousuf Ludhianvi and Abdur Rehman, a teacher at the Sunni Banuri townreligious school in Karachi; following these murders, hundreds of Sunni Muslims riotedin Karachi and torched a newspaper office, a movie theater, and a bank (seeSection 2.c.).Ahmadis often are targets of religious intolerance, much of which is instigated byorganized religious extremists. Ahmadi leaders charge that militant Sunni mullahsand their followers sometimes stage marches through the streets of Rabwah, a predominantlyAhmadi town and spiritual center in central Punjab. Backed by crowdsof 100 to 200 persons, the mullahs purportedly denounce Ahmadis and their founder,a situation that sometimes leads to violence. The Ahmadis claim that police generallyare present during these marches but do not intervene to prevent trouble (seeSection 2.c.).On October 30, 2 assailants opened fire on an Ahmadi mosque in Ghatialian inSialkot district, killing 4 Ahmadis and 1 Sunni Muslim. Three suspects were arrested;however, no formal charges were filed by year’s end. On November 10, a mobcomposed of the cleric’s followers killed five Ahmadis in Takht Hazara, Sarghodadistrict following a scuffle between a group of Ahmadis and a Sunni Muslim cleric.Police detained 25 persons for questioning and imprisoned 13 others in connectionwith the killings; however, no charges were filed against any of the suspects byyear’s end (see Section 2.c.).On July 15, in response to pressure from some Muslim groups, the Governmentincorporated the Islamic provisions of the suspended Constitution into the ProvisionalConstitutional Order, including the clause declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.Ahmadis suffer from harassment and discrimination and have limited chancesfor advancement into management levels in government service (see Section 2.c.).Even the rumor that someone may be an Ahmadi or have Ahmadi relatives can stifleopportunities for employment or promotion. Ahmadi students in public schoolsare subject to abuse by their non-Ahmadi classmates, and the quality of teachersassigned to predominantly Ahmadi schools by the Government generally is poor.However, most Ahmadis are home-schooled or go to private Ahmadi-run schools.Young Ahmadis complain of their difficulty in gaining admittance to good collegesand consequently having to go abroad for higher education. Certain sections of thePenal Code discriminate against Ahmadis (see Section 2.c.), particularly the provisionthat forbids Ahmadis from ‘‘directly or indirectly’’ posing as Muslims. Armedwith this vague wording, mullahs have brought charges against Ahmadis for usingstandard Muslim salutations and for naming their children Mohammed.Other religious minority groups also experience considerable discrimination in employmentand education. In the country’s early years, minorities were able to riseto the senior ranks of the military and civil service. Today many are unable to riseabove mid-level ranks. Discrimination in employment reportedly is common. Christiansin particular have difficulty finding jobs other than menial labor, althoughChristian activists say the employment situation has improved somewhat in the privatesector. Christians are overrepresented in Pakistan’s most oppressed socialgroup—that of bonded laborers. Like Ahmadis many Christians complain about thedifficulty that their children face in gaining admission to government schools andcolleges, a problem they attribute to discrimination. Many Christians continue to expressfear of forced marriages between Muslim males and Christian women, althoughthe practice is relatively rare. Reprisals against suspected converts to Christianityoccur, and a general atmosphere of religious intolerance has led to acts ofviolence against religious minorities (see Section 2.c.). According to the HRCP, inJanuary intruders broke into a church in Sialkot and desecrated religious literature.On March 12, men broke into the Lourdes Convent and attacked Sister Christine,a 78-year-old nun; she died in a nearby hospital a few days later. According to theChristian Liberation Front (CLF), an NGO, the perpetrators of the attack wereMuslims who previously had accused Sister Christine of proselytizing. Police officialsdid not arrest anyone in connection with this attack. In May five masked menstopped a factory bus in Ferozwala on which female factory employees were travelingand raped six to eight Christian girls who were passengers; the assailants re-VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00162 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.036 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1