Pakistan: 1) Information on bombings or student uprisings in Karachi during the last two years; 2) How are female Roman Catholics treated in Pakistan?

1.        No information on student uprisings in Karachi during the last two years could be found among the sources currently available to the IRBDC. There have, however, been many intercommunal riots and demonstrations in the city in the past few years. Many of the gunmen have reportedly been youths. [ "Pakistan Death Toll Hits 222 as Gun-Toting Youths Clash", The Ottawa Citizen, 2 October 1988.] One source indicates that unemployed youths in Karachi "play a predominant role in bank and highway robberies and abductions under the guise of political activism". [ Salamat Ali, "Polarised Politics", p. 20.]

During 1985 and 1986, intercommunal riots broke out between the Mohajirs (the people who fled India after the partition in 1947) and the Pathans (Pushtuns) who had grown in influence since 1979 with the influx of Afghan Pathans fleeing the conflict in their own country. [ Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXIII, March 1987, p. 34995.] The Mohajirs believe themselves to be deprived of employment opportunities and economic privileges on the basis of their ethnic identity. [ Henry Kamm, "By the Sea, a City Bursts With Squalor and Rage", The New York Times, 19 April 1988.] Other ethnic groups, such as the Sindhis and the Pathans, believe that they face the same deprivations in Karachi, a city with a growth rate of seven percent and an inadequate infrastructure to meet the needs of its eight to ten million residents. [ Ibid.; Salamat Ali, "Polarised Politics: The Sindh Government is Paralysed by Ethnic Disorder", Far Eastern Economic Review, 21 September 1989, p. 20]

A political organization, the Mohajir Quami Mahaz, leads the fight to secure rights for the Urdu-speaking Mohajir community of Karachi, and, though characterized by at least one source as a "militant youth organisation", won 96 of the 204 seats in local government elections in January 1988. [ Ahmed Rashid, "Life Among the Ruins of a Karachi Slum", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 April 1988, p. 49.]

Some of the worst intercommunal rioting occurred in December 1986, when 195 people died in Karachi. [ Hussain Haqqani, "Karachi Ethnic Riots Leave 25 Dead", Far Eastern Economic Review, 19 May 1988, p. 12.] Sporadic incidents of ethnic clashes have continued. For example, ethnic riots in the western district of Karachi between Mohajirs and Pathan settlers from North-West Frontier Province led to the death of 25 people and the injury of 120 others on 8 May 1988. [ Ibid. ] Massacres of hundreds of people in Hyderabad and Karachi in October 1988 were carried out by "thousands of gun-toting youths". [ "Pakistan Death Toll Hits 222 as Gun-Toting Youths Clash", The Ottawa Citizen, 2 October 1988.] And, after ethnic rioting in Karachi led to scores of deaths in November and December 1988, the Government put an indefinite curfew on the city on 16 December (which lasted until 26 December). [ "The Week: Pakistan", Far Eastern Economic Review, 29 December 1988, p. 9.] This followed a curfew which had been lifted two weeks earlier, on 4 December 1988. [ "Curfew Lifted in Karachi Areas 4 December" FBIS-NES-88-233, 5 December 1988, p. 72.] Ethnic violence in Karachi has continued into 1989.

2.             The Islamicization of the legal code initiated by the Pakistan Government in June 1980 generated opposition from women's groups and minority religious groups. [ Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXIII, March 1987, p. 34992.] The adoption of Shari'a (Islamic) Law reduces the value of a woman's evidence in court to half that of a man's; likewise, two women's signatures equal the signature of one man on a business contract. [ "The Lady Tops the Men", The Economist, p. 35. Keesing's, p. 34992.] On 15 June 1988, Zia-ul Haq announced the enforcement of Koranic-Shariah law through an ordinance which permitted courts to eliminate laws contrary to Islamic injunctions. [ Hussain Haqqani, "Legal Entanglements", Far Eastern Economic Review, 30 June 1988, p. 30.] Despite promises to change discriminatory laws, [ Ahmed Rashid, "War of Nerves: Islamic Fundamentalists Take Aim at Bhutto", Far Eastern Economic Review, 16 March 1989, p. 24.] Prime Minister Bhutto has failed to make significant alterations to the status of women since she was elected almost a year ago. One article discussing the rights observes that, "From birth to death, no matter what is being measured, females in Pakistan are less likely than males to survive infancy, receive an education, earn money or reach old age." [ Farida Shaheed and Khawar Mumtaz, "Bhutto Inherits Laws Which Restrict the Rights of Women: Veils of Tears", Far Eastern Economic Review, 28 September 1989, p. 129.]

The religious group most severely affected by the Islamicization of the State, has been the Ahmaddiya movement. According to the U.S. Department of State Country Reports, "minorities can practice their own religion openly", but proselytizing among Muslims is prohibited. [ U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1989), p. 1468.] Please refer to the section in the Country Reports 1988 on Freedom of Religion (pp. 1468-9). A mission of the International Commission of Jurists reported that at least one Christian church had ben attacked. [ International Commission of Jurists, Pakistan: Human Rights After Martial Law, (Geneva: ICJ, 1987), p. 102.] The mission also reported on the feelings of insecurity among religious minorities engendered by laws which set them apart from the majority Muslim population. For a discussion of the treatment of minority religious groups in Pakistan, see the attached:

-               International Commission of Jurists, Pakistan: Human Rights After Martial Law, Geneva: ICJ, 1987

-               Christian Conference of Asia, Pakistan: Struggle for Human Rights, Pakistan International Affairs, 1986.

Please refer to the following attachments for more information on the position of women in Pakistani society and on intercommunal rioting:

-               Husain Haqqani, "Judges Clear the Way: Supreme Court Orders Election to be Held as Planned", Far Eastern Economic Review, 13 October 1988.

-               "The Ethnic Melting Pot: Minorities Resent the Dominance of Populous Punjab", Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 November 1988.

-               Hamish McDonald, "A New Ethnic Force Flexes its Muscles", Far Eastern Economic Review, 1 December 1988.

-               Anis Haroon, "Islamisation and Women in Pakistan", Religion and Asian Politics National Dialogue - Pakistan, Hong Kong: Christian Conference of Asia International Affairs, June 1987.

-               Ahmed Rashid, "War of Nerves: Islamic Fundamentalists Take Aim at Bhutto", Far Eastern Economic Review, 16 March 1989.

-               "Pakistan Death Toll Hits 222 as Gun-Toting Youths Clash", The Ottawa Citizen, 2 October 1988.

-               Salamat Ali, "The Great Ethnic Divide", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 January 1988.

-               "Hitting at Punjabi Hegemony", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 January 1988.

-               "Ethnic Rioting in Karachi Kills 46 and Injures 50", The New York Times, 2 October 1988.

-               "Rooftop Gunmen Kill 5 as Curfew Briefly Lifted", The Toronto Star, 3 October 1988.

-               Mark Fineman, "Pakistanis Mystified by Wave of Ethnic Violence Sweeping Country", The Ottawa Citizen, 4 October 1988.

-               William MacLean, "Pakistani Women Hope Benazir Bhutto Will Free Them from Virtual Slavery", The Toronto Star, 21 November 1988.

-               Barbara Crossete, "Bhutto Pledges Aid to Women, Students and Labor", The New York Times, 3 December 1988.

-               Ahmed Rashid, "Life Among the Ruins of a Karachi Slum", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 April 1988.

-               Hussain Haqqani, "Legal Entanglements", Far Eastern Economic Review, 30 June 1988.

-               Henry Kamm, "By the Sea, a City Bursts With Squalor and Rage", The New York Times, 19 April 1988.

-               Farida Shaheed and Khawar Mumtaz, "Bhutto Inherits Laws Which Restrict the Rights of Women: Veils of Tears", Far Eastern Economic Review, 28 September 1989.

-               Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXIII, March 1987.

-               Salamat Ali, "Polarised Politics: The Sindh Government is Paralysed by Ethnic Disorder", Far Eastern Economic Review, 21 September 1989.