According to Sindh Province’s Home Department, the marchers, not Islamists, were to blame for the disturbances.

LAHORE, Pakistan: According to sources, officials in Sindh Province are under pressure from an extremist Islamist party that vehemently opposes any changes to Pakistan’s stringent blasphemy laws and is trying to impose a ban on the organizers of a minority rights march.

In an official letter to the Commissioner of Karachi Division on Friday (August 23), the Sindh Home Department stated that the organizers of the Minorities Rights March on August 11, National Minorities Day, had violated their responsibility “to uphold religious harmony and respect interfaith boundaries.”

After reviewing the correspondence, the Senior Superintendent of Police recommended that Mr. Luke Victor and his associates be banned from planning events because they violated the code of conduct.”This action aims to prevent potential disruptions to the rule of law.”

Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and other Islamist parties, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Sunni Tehreek, had earlier threatened the Sindh government with unrest if it allowed the minority’s rights march on August 11. The government initially withdrew the NOC granted to march organizers in Karachi. However, it later allowed them to hold a gathering after protests against the decision.

On Friday, August 23, hundreds of TLP workers clashed with the police outside the office of the Sindh Police Inspector General. In violation of Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, they insisted that the organizers face legal consequences for disseminating “fake propaganda.”

The law carries a mandatory death penalty for disrespecting Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.

Only after senior police officials pledged that they would not issue NOCs for similar marches in the future did the TLP workers leave the scene of their stone-wielding assault on police officers, injuring multiple officers.

Attorney Luke Victor, one of the organizers of the Minorities Rights March, said surrendering to illegal demands from extremist forces would not bode well for Pakistan.

“The TLP and some other Islamist parties had begun a campaign to stop the minorities march on the false pretext that we were demanding the abolition of the blasphemy laws,” Victor told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News from Karachi. “This is a blatant lie because no such demand was made in our social media campaign or rally itself.

Our demand has always been to stop the abuse of the blasphemy laws and the violence perpetrated against religious minorities in their name.”

The lawyer-activist rejected the propaganda that the march organizers were “anti-Islam” and “anti-Pakistan.”

“We are as much Pakistanis as they are, and we have never said or done anything that undermines Islamic teachings,” he said.

“Our objective is a pluralistic Pakistani society where citizens of all faiths, caste or creeds can live freely. We are opposed to the abuse of the blasphemy laws against any citizen and have always urged the state to look into this issue with due seriousness.”

Victor said that march organizers and participants believed all religions preach peace and tolerance.

“This is the reason why many Muslims endorsed and participated in the gathering to show support for the just demands of the religious minorities,” he said. “We are demanding protection for vulnerable communities from societal discrimination and persecution, including abduction and forced conversion of underage Christian and Hindu girls, and their fundamental right to quality education, health, and other privileges enjoyed by the majority community.”

Pastor Ghazala Shafique, another organizer of the minority rights march, lamented that some in the local Christian community were colluding with extremist groups for their vested interests.

“They have tagged me as an ‘Ahmadi’ and are falsely propagating that I’m promoting a ‘Qadyani [derogatory term for Ahmadis] agenda’ in the church,” Pastor Shafique said. “This is a hazardous attempt to disrupt peace and interfaith relations and damage the church. The government should strictly notice this propaganda that strengthens extremist elements.”

Although Pakistani Muslims consider the Ahmadis to be a branch of Islam, Islamist organizations frequently attack Ahmadi temples.

On August 22, the Supreme Court of Pakistan diluted its verdict in a case regarding bail granted to an Ahmadi after TLP activists called for the murder of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Under immense pressure and threats, the Supreme Court announced that it was ready to review its verdict for a second time, a first in the country’s judicial history.

Isa said, “I don’t want to say [it], but I am helpless; I pray in every prayer that may God prevent me from making any wrong decisions,” as a three-judge bench presided over by the chief justice ordered the exclusion of the contentious paragraphs from the verdict, including one about freedom of religion in which the court had cited Article 20 of Pakistan’s Constitution.

According to Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List, Pakistan retained its seventh position as one of the most challenging countries for Christians, consistent with the previous year’s ranking.