China criticized for repression of Muslim ethnic group

Lahore, Pakistan, Nov 2, 2018 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- Following an outbreak of protests in Pakistan in response the acquittal of Asia Bibi on charges of blasphemy, the government has reportedly begun the process of adding her to a list that would prohibit her from leaving the country.

According to Pakistani news source Dawn, the government have made an agreement with the Islamist political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which coordinated the protests against Bibi’s release.

Thousands of angry demonstrators have taken to the streets in the major cities of Islamabad and Lahore, demanding Bibi’s execution.

According to Dawn, in exchange for the TLP halting the protests, the government has agreed to review an appeal of Bibi’s acquittal, and to begin the process of placing her name on the “exit control list,” which would prevent her from leaving the country.

Bibi has not appeared in public following her aquittal due to the protests and concerns for her safety. Prime Minister and former cricket player Imran Khan has called for peace. Khan was elected following a public statement in support of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, a move many commentators considered to be a sopp to hardline voters and a reversal of his platform as a reforming populist.

Some figures in the Pakistani government have denied that her name will be placed on the exit control list. Her current whereabouts are unknown, with some reports suggesting that she is being held in a secured location.

As part of the reported agreement, the Pakistani government also said to have undertaken to release anyone who was arrested during the four days of protests, and the TLP will apologize to anyone “inconvenienced” by the demonstrations.

Bibi was acquitted of blasphemy charges and her death sentence was overturned on October 30. Protests against her release commenced almost immediately.

The blasphemy charges stemmed from an argument over a cup of water in June 2009.

Bibi, whose family were the only Christians in her village, attempted to drink from a cup of water that had previously been used by Muslims. She was told that she could not, as she was “unclean” due to her faith. An argument ensued, and Bibi allegedly said disparaging remarks about the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Several days later, Bibi was reported to authorities.

She is the first female non-Muslim in Pakistan to be charged with blasphemy. She and her family say she is innocent of the charges.

In 2010, she was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging. In Pakistan, defaming Muhammad carries a mandatory death sentence.

Bibi had repeatedly appealed her sentence. Her conviction was upheld in 2014 before the Pakistani Supreme Court agreed to hear her appeal. During this time, two government officials who expressed sympathy towards her plight were assassinated by Islamic extremists.

The complainant in the blasphemy case has now filed a review petition against the supreme court’s decision to overturn her death sentence and conviction. He has also requested that Bibi be placed on the exit control list until that appeal is heard.

It is unclear where Bibi will go after she is released and if she is permitted to leave Pakistan. Her husband and children lived in the U.K. during her trial and appeals process, and she has been offered asylum by several countries.

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The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Hong Kong. Credit: Volodymyr Dvornyk/Shutterstock / null

Denver Newsroom, Jul 5, 2022 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
A Catholic priest overseeing missionaries serving in Hong Kong reportedly told the missionarie… […]

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2020 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Reports of an Indian hospital’s segregated wards for Hindu and Muslim coronavirus patients drew concern from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, though Indian authorities strongly disputed the allegation.

“USCIRF is concerned with reports of Hindu and Muslim patients separated into separate hospital wards in Gujarat,” the commission said on Twitter and Facebook April 15. “Such actions only help to further increase ongoing stigmatization of Muslims in India and exacerbate false rumors of Muslims spreading COVID-19.”

The bipartisan U.S. federal government commission linked to a story in the Indian Express newspaper that cites a hospital official and a patient in the city of Ahmedabad in the western coastal Indian state of Gujarat.

India’s Ministry for External Affairs opposed the commission, saying it was spreading “misguided reports” and “adding religious color” that distracts from India’s efforts to combat the novel coronavirus.

“No segregation is being done in civil hospitals on the basis of religion, as clarified by the Gujarat government,” the ministry said April 15.

The reports concern Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where there are some 1,200 beds prepared for patients suffering from the novel coronavirus.

Medical Superintendent Dr. Gunvant. H. Rathod described the hospital division to the Indian Express, saying “generally, there are separate wards for male and female patients. But here, we have made separate wards for Hindu and Muslim patients.”

“It is a decision of the government and you can ask them,” he said.

Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Nitin Patel said he was not aware of the situation and would make inquiries. Ahmedabad’s district magistrate, K.K. Nirala, also was not aware of any decision, the Indian Express reports.

However, the Indian Express cited a hospital patient who said the names of 28 men in a ward were called out, and they were moved to another ward.

“While we were not told why we were being shifted, all the names that were called out belonged to one community. We spoke to one staff member in our ward today and he said this had been done for ‘the comfort of both communities’,” the patient said.

The Gujarat Health and Family Welfare Department said the reports were “absolutely baseless.” Rather, it said, patients are treated based on symptoms and severity and “according to treating doctors’ recommendations.

As of Wednesday, new known cases of coronavirus in Gujarat rose by 127 to 766, with 88 cases in Ahmedabad. The death toll there totals 33, the Times of India reports.

The Indian newspaper The Week reported that the commission had previously criticized India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which became effective in January 2020.

In December 2019 the commission expressed concern about the legislation, which enshrined a pathway to citizenship for immigrants but specifically excluded Muslims. The commission recommended U.S. sanctions on India as a possible response.

The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom reviews alleged religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the U.S. president, Secretary of State, and Congress.

The commission’s 2019 report said that religious freedom conditions in India “continued a downward trend” in 2018. It said India’s “history of religious freedom has come under attack in recent years with the growth of exclusionary extremist narratives—including, at times, the government’s allowance and encouragement of mob violence against religious minorities—that have facilitated an egregious and ongoing campaign of violence, intimidation, and harassment against non-Hindu and lower-caste Hindu minorities. Both public and private actors have engaged in this campaign.”

Mob violence against Christians by Hindus has been particularly acute.

In August 2019, six suspected members of a radical Hindu group were arrested after dozens of Catholics were attacked on a Marian pilgrimage from Karnataka to the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, a coastal town in south east India.

In September, around 500 armed Hindu extremists attacked a Jesuit mission in the Archdiocese of Ranchi. Armed with sticks, chains, iron bars, knives, and pistols, the mob beat tribal students including two who were seriously injured, and also seriously damaged the school’s facilities.

Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal has said numerous mob lynchings of Christians have occurred in which the victims are accused of eating beef or otherwise harming cattle, which are considered sacred in Hinduism.

Karnataka state suffered a wave of anti-Christian violence in 2008, when Hindu extremist groups led attacks on churches, schools and homes of Christians and physically beat hundreds of people. A 2011 independent report on the violence, known as the Saldhana Report, charged that attacks were pre-planned and backed by the state’s highest government authorities.

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