Irreligion Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ...

is present among a minority of mainly young people in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Atheists in Pakistan face discrimination, persecution, and

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

in society. Pakistan is reported by some sources to be among the thirteen countries where atheism can attract

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, but according to the Library of Congress of the United States, "there is no specific statutory law that criminalizes apostasy in Pakistan." On the other hand, the Pakistani government can impose the death penalty for blasphemy. Pakistani blogger Ayaz Nizami, the Vice President of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan. and founder of the website realisticapproach.org, an Urdu website about atheism, is currently detained under the charges of blasphemy and could face the death penalty. This happened shortly after former Prime Minister of Pakistan

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

supported a crackdown on blasphemous material posted on social media and described blasphemy as an "unpardonable offence" in March 2017. Many atheists in Pakistan have been lynched and imprisoned over unsubstantiated allegations of blasphemy. When the state initiated a full-fledged crackdown on atheism starting 2017, it has become worse with secular bloggers being kidnapped and the government running advertisements urging people to identify blasphemers among them and the highest judges declaring such people to be terrorists.

History

Islam is the official religion of Pakistan, and has been since the formation of the modern Pakistani state. While freedom of religion is guaranteed in Pakistan, atheists are not protected under the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. There are minority populations of

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, Sikhs, Ahmaddiyas, and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

in Pakistan today, however atheism is not an option in the census. Many of the non-Muslim populations living in Pakistan have remained there since the

Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

of India and Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, wanted the country to be an Islamic, Quranic state, which it was until 1955, when the government adopted the Pakistani constitution, making it an Islamic Republic. Most of the atheists in Pakistan are those who have decided to leave Islamic teachings, rather than being born into atheism. Irreligious movements have picked up momentum only in recent history, especially since the birth of the internet, where Pakistani atheists have been able to publicly voice their concerns on forums and websites anonymously. Blasphemy in Pakistan has been an issue for years, and there have been many instances of murders against victims who have been accused, before they have been officially charged. Currently, there are over 80 people in Pakistan on death row for blasphemy.

Legal status, rights, and laws

Atheism is against the law in Pakistan, and it is among thirteen countries where the theological position carries the death penalty. The blasphemy laws have been part of the Pakistani constitution since its adoption, but were made more severe under

General Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...

's administration, between 1980 and 1986. Section 295C of the Pakistani penal code mandates death as a penalty for:

"Use of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, etc. defiles the name of Muhammad or other Prophet(s)"

Pakistan recently passed a cyber crime law, making posting blasphemous content online illegal, and punishable by death. This law is being applied to its full extent, with the government posting advertisements in newspapers urging citizens to report others that may be promoting atheism anonymously. There are several worries that come from the implementation of the bill, including the loss of several rights, including the freedom of religion. The bill is far-reaching, including the ability for the government to work with any foreign governments or agencies in order to track down individuals who may be posting blasphemous content.

Demographics

It is hard to know the exact number of irreligious people in the country. Gallup polls conducted in 2005 showed that around 1% of people were atheist, In 2015, however, another Gallup poll indicated that number had dipped down to 1% again. While not atheists, around 8% of the population said that they were "not religious". However, almost every leader of Pakistan has supported the blasphemy laws.

Persecution and attacks

Attacks on irreligious people in Pakistan happen often, with more attacks occurring especially after the introduction of the blasphemy laws in the 21st century. One of the most high-profile cases involved former Punjab governor

Salman Taseer Salman Taseer ( Punjabi and ur, ); ( 4 January 2011) was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011. A member of the Pakistan Peoples Party since the 1980s, ...

, who was assassinated by his bodyguard in 2011 as a reaction to his public opposition to blasphemy laws. There have been several instances since then of several online activists being abducted by Pakistani security forces, including Salman Haider, a left-leaning poet who often voiced his opposition to Pakistani policies online. Several prominent irreligious Pakistanis have either fled the country, or continue to be activists outside of Pakistan. For example, activists like Ali A. Rizvi and Aliyah Saleem have spoken out against blasphemy laws from outside of Pakistan, and have not returned since making these comments.

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

is an example of an activist that fled the country in order to protect himself from persecution from the Pakistani government, leaving Pakistan for

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in his twenties and becoming a strong proponent for atheism. Vigilantism is a big problem for those accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, and many go into hiding, are put into solitary confinement, and/or are denied bail in order to protect those yet to be put on trial.

Pakistan Atheists and Agnostics

A notable organization in Pakistan is the Pakistan Atheists and Agnostics. The group originally began on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

, but was frequently shut down and unused because of the lack of anonymity. In 2011, the group began a website, which has then become incredibly popular in not just Pakistan, but plenty of other Islamic countries where atheists may be persecuted. The website was initially reported by some Indian media outlets to be a place for Pakistani youth that were turning away from Islam, but the PAA argues against this. Instead, they see it as a place for all atheists and agnostics in Pakistan to discuss various topics, including those that have left Hinduism and Sikhism. Various related groups on Facebook and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

have led to a multitude of meetings and discussion, both online and in person, which have led to long-term friendships between members. There have been various efforts by the Pakistani government to take down these pages, some of which end up being successful. Facebook pages have gone down several times, as well as the Twitter accounts linked to PAA. A formal notice to take down the PAA Twitter account was sent by the Pakistani government in 2019, after which there have not been any more tweets from the account. In 2012, Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan was founded by Fauzia Ilyas. It was the first public atheist and non-religious organization in a country with Islam as its state religion. Ilyas and her co-founder, Sayed Gillani, married and fled the country after their identities were revealed in 2015. After being charged with blasphemy, they received asylum in

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and have been living there since, continuing to be activists and lobbying the Pakistani government to revoke blasphemy laws. As of 2015, the organization had over 3,000 members.

Notable non-religious Pakistanis

* Ali A. Rizvi * Aliyah Saleem *

Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-wr ...

* Sarah Haider * Muhammad Syed * Fauzia Ilyas *

Sami Shah Sami Shah (born 24 August 1978) is a Pakistani-Australian stand-up comedian, writer, improvisational actor, and radio presenter. Shah was a member of the improvisational comedy group "BlackFish" created by Saad Haroon in 2002, and later perform ...

* Ayaz Nizami *

Ibn Warraq Ibn Warraq is the pen name of an anonymous author critical of Islam. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and used to be a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry, focusing on Quranic criticism. ...

Younus Shaikh Mohammed Younus Shaikh ( Punjabi, ur, , born 30 May 1952) is a Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist and freethinker. When he was a teacher at a medical college in Islamabad, Shaikh was an active member of the South Asia Peace Move ...

References

Reference given at Sr.2 and 4 referred to Gallup report wherein people reported as atheist 2%. This figure is wrong and actual is 1%. For reference see original report on link https://gallup.com.pk/84-of-pakistanis-define-themselves-as-a-religious-persons-12-say-they-are-not-religious-1-claim-they-are-atheists-3-did-not-answer-gilani-pollgallup-pakistan/.

External links

Atheist and Agnostic Alliance Pakistan
{{Asia topic, Irreligion in Religion in Pakistan

Persecution by Muslims