For the first time in the country's history, Pakistan witnessed a democratic transition of power between two elected governments in 2013. Soon after coming to power, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party expressed a resolve to pursue peace talks with the Taliban and address the root causes of the separatist conflict in Baluchistan. Nevertheless, a general state of insecurity has prevailed in the country, with numerous attacks carried out against minorities. Violence affecting various minority groups remained at alarmingly high levels, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) reporting 'unprecedented' levels of violence against Shi'a. In its annual report, HRW recorded over 400 Shi'a being killed in targeted attacks across the country during 2013; other NGOs reported higher figures.

Many of the most violent attacks against Shi'a have been concentrated in Baluchistan, in particular around the city of Quetta where there is a large community of 500,000 Shi'a Hazara. On 10 January, an estimated 91 people, mostly Hazara, were killed and at least 150 were injured in two attacks, a suicide bombing and a car bomb in the same location. The next month, at least 84 people were killed and over 160 were injured in a bomb attack on a bazaar in Quetta's Hazara Town. Estimates of the death toll from these incidents by some local activists are even higher. The militant Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for both incidents. In the context of the ongoing conflict between the government of Pakistan and Baluch nationalists, security forces have done little to prevent these attacks and have been accused of carrying out torture, disappearances and other rights abuses against suspects. However, efforts have been made by the Supreme Court to hold the security forces accountable for their violations, and the newly elected government has also expressed a commitment to ensure a speedy resolution of the cases of missing Baluch persons.

Attacks against Shi'a have also taken place elsewhere, including an explosion in Karachi in the beginning of March that killed at least 47 people and injured 135 outside a Shi'a mosque. According to MRG research, targeted attacks against Shi'a professionals such as professors, lawyers and religious leaders appear to be part of a campaign to demoralize the community. These incidents, far from being carried out in a social vacuum, have capitalized on existing social anxieties and tension to provoke spiralling violence between communities. For example, in November, sectarian violence in Rawalpindi during the annual Shi'a religious procession marking the day of Ashura led to at least nine people being killed, many injured and a government-imposed curfew. The incident was reportedly sparked by hardline anti-Shi'a comments broadcast from a mosque. A judicial commission was established by the Lahore High Court to investigate the causes, although it quickly came under fire from Shi'a community leaders who called for it to be led by the Supreme Court instead.

Members of the Ahmadi community were killed by assailants in targeted attacks. Violence and oppression against religious minorities is also rooted in deep-seated structural discrimination. Ahmadis are forbidden by law to call themselves Muslims or identify their places of worship as mosques. In September, bowing to pressure from a local cleric, police undertook the demolition of minarets at an Ahmadi place of worship in Sialkot. The following month, police in Lahore stopped various members of the Ahmadi community from sacrificing animals on Eid al-Adha, forbidding them from observing this Islamic ritual.

The situation for Pakistan's non-Muslim minorities also remains tense: among other incidents, in March a mob burned down scores of homes belonging to Christians in Lahore. Reports suggested that the immediate cause was a dispute that subsequently resulted in a false blasphemy charge – thus illustrating how a relatively trivial incident between individuals can escalate into a group conflict. In another incident in September, a suicide bomber killed 81 Christians and wounded at least 130 at a Sunday morning service in a church in Peshawar. This was the most lethal attack on Christians in the community's history. However, in an attempt to delegitimize the perpetrators who carried out the attack in the name of religion, the largest Muslim clerical body in the country condemned the blast, saying that the council was 'standing with our Christian brothers in this tragedy'.

Pakistan's Hindus also continued to face hostility and discrimination. In one incident in October, a crowd of Islamic fundamentalists, chanting 'God is Great', dug up the grave of a Hindu man and dragged his body through the streets following a dispute over the siting of the grave. A Hindu legislator claimed that discrimination against Hindus, including forced conversions, was forcing community members to migrate to safety outside the country. Women – especially young girls – are reportedly especially vulnerable to forced conversions in the context of marriage.

While many targeted killings are politically motivated, violence has also taken on an inter-ethnic dimension. Bombings and assassinations have been used by different factions to control particular constituencies, in particular by displacing ethnic groups to other areas. Reports suggest well-established links between criminal groups and some members of mainstream political parties. Migration towards major cities such as Karachi further aggravates tensions as parties fear losing votes and engage in inflammatory statements against other groups (such as Pashtuns and Muhajirs – Muslims who migrated from other parts of South Asia to Pakistan, especially after Partition with India) as part of a strategy to shore up support by deploying the exclusionary rhetoric of ethnic politics and identity.

Hate speech has played an important role in the deteriorating situation for minorities in Pakistan. Although Pakistan has legislation against hate speech as part of its blasphemy law, which prescribes punishments for those who insult religion, it has mostly been abused to persecute individuals rather than transform the fundamental drivers of hate speech. While the blasphemy law nominally protects all religions from denigration, it has frequently been used against minority members such as Sawan Masih, a Pakistani Christian whose case sparked rioting in Lahore in March. Thousands attacked Lahore's Christian Joseph colony following reports that Masih had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. Some 150 homes were looted and burned, as well as two churches. Although Masih has maintained that he is innocent and that the charges stem from a property dispute, he was sentenced to death in March 2014. Another prominent case concerned Rimsha Masih, a Pakistani girl who was arrested in 2012 over allegations of burning the Qur'an. Though the case was subsequently thrown out following accusations of fabricated evidence, the girl was forced into hiding as a result and in 2013 was given asylum in Canada.

Hate speech against minorities, by contrast, has regularly occurred with impunity. In September, some hardline Sunni clerics held a conference to mark the passage of a 1974 constitutional amendment which declared the Ahmadi community – one of Pakistan's most persecuted religious minorities who identify themselves as Muslim in faith – as non-Muslims. Conference participants were told that they had a duty to wage a holy war against them, that Ahmadis had 'polluted the city' and that their mosques were 'centres of conspiracies'. Posters in public spaces inciting hatred against Ahmadis are also common.

Shi'a Muslims have also been subjected to hate speech. At a rally in January, members of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) declared them infidels and demanded that they be killed. However, the problem of hate speech in Pakistan is not confined to religious extremists and public forums; inflammatory statements have even been found in children's school textbooks. There are also Facebook pages containing hate speech and calls for violence against Shi'a Muslims, Ahmadis and other minorities.

Nevertheless, despite these challenges, there have been certain small but encouraging developments in addressing the root causes of violence and hate speech towards minorities. Towards the end of the year, in an attempt to emphasize national pluralism over sectarianism, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain made public appeals for interfaith harmony. In addition, Pakistan's constitutionally mandated Council of Islamic Ideology for the first time requested the government to revise the country's blasphemy law so that anyone who wrongly accuses a person of blasphemy would face the death penalty. While this falls far short of being a positive move in line with recommendations by human rights groups, it suggests that a critical discourse on reform may be opening up.

Some Islamic scholars have also lobbied for restrictions on hate speech, including the use of loudspeakers, graffiti and other platforms to spread inflammatory messages, to help reduce sectarian violence. Shi'a and Sunni religious leaders agreed towards the end of the year to frame a code of conduct prohibiting each group from engaging in hate speech against the other. Furthermore, in response to the problem of online hate speech, the government has ordered various agencies to take action against hate speech disseminated through social media and mobile phones. These messages were reinforced by the Prime Minister's call near the end of the year for police to take action against wall chalking and other forms of hate speech.

Another positive counter-measure is the creation of online tools and websites to monitor and condemn individuals who engage in hate speech. In a more long-term move to prevent radicalization, a pilot scheme has also been implemented to stop radicalization at 18 religious schools in Punjab; government-trained teachers are joining the faculties. It remains to be seen whether these measures will be sufficient to address the increasing levels of violence and discrimination confronting Pakistan's religious and ethnic minorities.

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