Minorities Under Attack in Pakistan

Christophe Jaffrelot (1)

1 CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS)

Religious minorities were bound to be treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan as the country was conceived as the homeland of Muslims from the British Raj and became an Islamic Republic. Hindus, Christians, and others were confined to separate electorates for quite some time and on several occasions. A new minority, the Ahmadis, emerged in 1974 when the 1973 Constitution was amended for defining who a Muslim is. All these groups are victims of discrimination, including ghettoization. They are particularly affected by the anti-blasphemy law.

Keywords: separate electorates; anti-blasphemy law; Pakistani Christian; Pakistani Hindus; Ahmadis

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Political science

Christophe Jaffrelot. Minorities Under Attack in Pakistan. Volker Kaul; Ananya Vajpeyi. Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe, Springer, pp.173 - 182, 2020, 9783030340971. ⟨hal-02951320⟩