Whereas the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a
multi-religious society comprised of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis,
Parsis (Zoroastrians), Sikhs, Buddhists, Baha'is, and others;
Whereas support for religious freedom and related human
rights in Pakistan will help ensure the future of Pakistan as a free, strong,
and vibrant society and that enduring stability in Pakistan will come from an
active civil society in which religious freedom flourishes;
Whereas there is a correlation between the lack of
religious freedom protections for all, the persecution of religious minorities,
and the rise of religious extremism, which threatens Pakistan’s national
security and ultimately United States national security interests;
Whereas Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of
Pakistan, envisioned a nation of religious plurality and equality;
Whereas while Islam is the state religion, the
Constitution states that subject to law, public order and morality,
every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice, and propagate his
religion
and that there shall be no discrimination in rights based on
religion in the provision of government services, property rights, education
and public access;
Whereas the government of President Asif Ali Zardari and
Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani appointed the first cabinet-level official on
religious minorities, Minister of Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, on
November 3, 2008, to protect the rights of minorities as envisioned under the
1973 Pakistan Constitution;
Whereas the Government of Pakistan allocated a quota of
five percent of all federal jobs for members of minority religious groups
through a law passed and implemented on May 26, 2009;
Whereas, in 2008, the Government of Pakistan for the first
time recognized the holidays of minority religious groups in addition to Muslim
holidays;
Whereas, on August 11, 2009, President Zardari declared
August 11 as “Minorities Day” to celebrate and recognize the role that
Pakistan’s minorities played in the country’s independence and
development;
Whereas the parliament unanimously passed a resolution
denouncing the August 1, 2009, attacks against Christians in Gojra, Punjab, and
affirming that their rights should be protected in accordance with the vision
of the founder of Pakistan;
Whereas the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom has found that a number of Pakistan's laws, including those
criminalizing blasphemy and restricting the rights of Ahmadis, frequently
result in imprisonment on account of religion or belief and/or violence against
the accused;
Whereas blasphemy allegations, which often are false and
for which due process is lacking, result in the lengthy detention of and
sometimes violence against Muslims, as well as Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus, and
members of other religious minorities;
Whereas extremist groups have used the blasphemy laws to
trigger sectarian violence, intimidate members of religious minorities and
others with whom they disagree, and exploit these laws for their own political
ends;
Whereas Prime Minister Gilani has expressed support for
reviewing the blasphemy laws for which prescribed penalties include life
imprisonment and the death penalty, saying “a committee will review the laws
detrimental to religious harmony to sort out how they could be
improved”;
Whereas education is a major vehicle for the transmission
of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs, and some madrassas (religious education
institutions) in Pakistan have taught extremist doctrine in support of
terrorism;
Whereas interfaith dialogue reflects the multi-religious
nature of Pakistan and the vision of Pakistan’s founder;
Whereas the foreign policy of the United States is to
promote internationally the right of everyone to freedom of thought,
conscience, and religion in accordance with international human rights
standards and the United States Government supports interfaith dialogue among
persons of all faiths and nationalities;
Whereas reducing extremism and related violence is a key
goal of the United States in its relations with Pakistan; and
Whereas Minister of Minorities Affairs Bhatti has launched
an initiative on interfaith dialogue, which promotes inter-religious respect
and tolerance at the national level, and establishes at the district and local
levels interfaith councils designed to promote respect among different
religious communities and counter religiously motivated enmity and violence:
Now, therefore, be it
That it is the sense of the House of
Representatives that the United States should—
(1)ensure the promotion of inter-religious
dialogue and protection of religious freedom and related human rights are key
components of the United States engagement strategy with the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan by—
(A)clearly articulating a concern for
upholding religious freedom and related human rights as an essential element of
United States engagement with Pakistan;
(B)supporting efforts
by the Government of Pakistan to foster inter-religious dialogue by using its
civilian financial assistance to strengthen initiatives by the Ministry of
Minorities Affairs to promote inter-religious respect and tolerance at the
national level, and to establish at the district and local levels interfaith
councils designed to promote respect among different religious communities and
to counter religiously motivated enmity and violence;
(C)supporting
Pakistani civil society institutions that work to uphold and guarantee
religious freedom and related human rights and ensuring that nonmilitary
assistance emphasizes respect for human rights, religious freedom, civil
society, constitutional processes, and democratic institutions;
(D)using its
nonmilitary financial assistance to Pakistan to strengthen institutions crucial
to Pakistan’s democratic development, particularly the judiciary and
police;
(E)expanding programs
leading to the sustained engagement of the United States with the Pakistani
people, such as the Fulbright Program, the International Visitor Program, and
other exchanges for professionals, students, and religious and civil society
leaders from all of Pakistan’s diverse communities;
(F)urging the Government of Pakistan to set
national textbook and curriculum standards that actively promote respect for
the religious beliefs of others; and
(G)ensuring that the United States Embassy and
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission support
these initiatives;
(2)support efforts by the Government of
Pakistan to protect the religious freedom of all Pakistanis and prioritize the
prevention of religiously motivated and sectarian violence and the punishment
of its perpetrators by—
(A)investigating acts of religiously motivated
and sectarian violence, and punishing perpetrators in a timely manner;
and
(B)repealing the
blasphemy laws; and
(3)urge the Government of Pakistan to review
other legislation that restricts the right to profess, practice, and propagate
religion or that constitutes discrimination on the basis of religion or belief
in order to bring Pakistani law into conformity with international human rights
standards.