Freedom of Religion or Belief Across the Commonwealth: Hard Cases, Diverse Approaches

Abstract

This paper addresses freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) issues that have been emerging in the Asian Commonwealth, including religious minorities, violent extremism, religion and development, rising secularism, and religious equality and around nondiscrimination. Pakistan and India have turned their attention to addressing the situation of minorities. Other nations, Bangladesh, with concerns about rising Islamism and secularism; Sri Lanka, with its legacy of inter-ethnic conflict; and Malaysia, with multiculturalism alongside religious protections, have recently advocated tolerance, respect, unity, harmony, and peace, even as interreligious tensions appear to be rising. This paper will examine the state of FoRB in these Commonwealth nations.

Keywords:

• religious freedom
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• religious minorities
• religious extremism
• secularism
• nondiscrimination

ORCID

M. Christian Green http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4929-0005

Notes

1 The CIFoRB project is based at the Edward Cadbury Centre for Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Birmingham. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/ptr/departments/theologyandreligion/research/ciforb/index.aspx.

2 These themes and several of the case studies were also the focus of a CIFoRB submission to the Australian Parliament. See CIFoRB, “Contribution to the Australian Parliament’s Inquiry into Freedom of Religion or Belief Around the World,” April 28, 2017, Submission No. 310. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/Freedomofreligion/Submissions.

3 The CIFoRB Twitter account is located at the handle @ciforb_uob. The tweet content is taken from Google Alerts set up to capture news items on all individual nations of the Commonwealth, as well as particular themes, which increased in number and specificity during the monitoring period, as thematic areas began to emerge and cluster from the research. Most tweets are prefaced by the name of the Commonwealth country discussed. The hashtag #FoRB is the most common one used in CIFoRB tweets, but others include #religiousminorities, #religionconflict, #religiousextremism, #secularism, #development, and many more. So, one can, for example use the Twitter search feature to search “ciforb_uob Bangladesh #secularism” to turn up tweets on issues within particular national contexts. Some limitations of this “Twitter method” of research stem from the fact that it is often limited to secondary source stories that have been reported by news outlets, but we believe that it has been a useful method of capturing both broad and specific trends across the commonwealth.

4 See “U.S. Places Pakistan on ‘Special Watch List” for Severe Violations of Religious Freedom,” VOA News, January 8, 2018; United States Commission on Freedom of Religion or Belief, “Constitutional and Legal Chapters Faced by Religious Minorities in India” (Washington, DC: USCIRF, February 8, 2017). For an excellent account of the overall situation of religious minorities in Pakistan, see (Ispahani 2016). For an apt discussion of the situation of religious minorities in India, especially amid the growing Hindu nationalist influence, see Basu (2015).

5 See Ispahani (2016).

6 Aftab Alam, “Taking Minority Rights Seriously,” CrossCurrents.org, December 27, 2016.

7 In the latest annual report of the United States Commission on Freedom of Religion, Pakistan was designated a “Country of Particular Concern,” meriting the highest level of attention in U.S. foreign policy on FoRB and India was placed in the next highest Tier 2 category. See (USCIRF 2018, Pakistan).

8 Anam Zakaria, “Perceiving the ‘Other’ in Pakistan, Within and Across Borders,” The Wire, December 19, 2016. For an excellent account of the overall situation of religious minorities in Pakistan, see Ispahani, Purifying the Land of the Pure.

9 Haroon Khalid, “Tracing the Journey of Pakistan’s Hindus Through Shirvratri at the Katas Raj Shrine,” Scroll.in, March 3, 2017.

10 “EP Conference Raises Questions about Ethnic & Religious Rights in Pakistan and the Role of the EU,” UNPOorg, May 11, 2017.

11 Ehsan Rehan, “U.N. Member States Criticize Pakistan’s Human Rights Record,” Rabwah Times, November 14, 2017.

12 See United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Pakistan Leads the World in Blasphemy Prisoners,” USCIRF Press Release, March 27, 2014.

13 Salman Ali, “Religious Minorities’ Rights,” Daily Times, November 12, 2017.

14 Shamim Shahid, “HR Activists Demand Equal Constitutional Rights for Minorities,” Pakistan Today, February 25, 2017.

15 “Minorities Enjoy Legal Rights in Pakistan, Says Minister,” The News International, January 17, 2017; “Minorities Fully Enjoying Religious Freedom,” The Nation, January 3, 2017; “Rights Bodies Present Amendments to Fix Laws on Minorities” The News International, January 28, 2017.

16 Madeeha. 2016. “Restoration of Minorities’ Rights Is Inevitable Says Julius Salik,” christiansinpakistan.com, December 22, 2016.

17 Intikhab Hanif, “Punjab’s Package on Women’s Day: Christian Family Laws Being Amended,” Dawn, March 8, 2017.

18 Lorrraine Caballero, “Christian Activists Welcome Pakistan’s Criminal Law Amendments to Protect Religious Minorities,” Christian Daily, February 12, 2017.

19 “New Amendments in Act 2016 Fall Short to Satisfy Christians,” Pakistan Christian Post, February 10, 2017; Madeeha. 2016. “Blasphemy Law Not Being Used Against Minorities: Interior Minister,” christiansinpakistan.com, January 30, 2017.

20 Rajesh Kumar, “Hindus’ Minority Status: Majorities as Minorities,” IndiaLegalLive.com, November 7, 2017.

21 “Pakistan to Conduct First Census Since 1988, Source of Fear and Hope for Minorities,” First Post, May 22, 2017, Asim Malik, “Religious Minorities Expect Greater Political Representation After the Census,” Aaj News, May 21, 2017; “A Question of Faith in the Census of Pakistan,” Pakistan Christian Post, February 24, 2017.

22 Nadeem F. Paracha, “Smoker’s Corner: The Power of the Minority Vote,” Dawn, January 15, 2017; Madeeha2016, “Lahore: Minorties Demand for Direct Elections for Their Representatives, Place for Worship and for Burial,” christiansinpakistan.com, January 12, 2017.

23 Zacaria, “Perceiving the ‘Other’.”

24 Rana Tanveer, “Social Media Being Used as a Tool Against Minorities,” The Express Tribune, December 26, 2016. See also Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development, “Desecrating Expression—An Account of Freedom of Expression and Religion in Asia” (Bangkok: Forum-Asia, 2016). The entire report is accessible at: https://www.forum-asia.org/?p=21941

25 “Bloggers Unite to Bring Minorities’ Issues into the Limelight,” The Express Tribune, January 28, 2017.

26 “Hindus in Pakistan Declining Due to ‘Forced’ Conversions: Pak Media,” The Deccan Chronicle, June 21, 2017.

27 Abbasi, “US Commission Seeks Repeal; “Pakistan May Face Isolation If Minorities Bill Repealed,” Jantaka Reporter, December 26, 2016; Mobarik A. Virk, “Minorities Want Sindh Not to Repeal a Bill in Their Favour,” The News International, December 26, 2016.

28 Abbasi, “US Commission Seeks Repeal.”

29 Virk, “Minorities Want Sindh Not to Repeal’; Zia Ur Rehman, “Sindh Govt Slammed for Backtracking on Promise to Protect Minorities,” The News International, June 21, 2017. For a comprehensive analysis of the Sindh marriage issue, see Ruben Ackerman, Forced Conversions & Forced Marriage in Sindh, Pakistan (Birmingham: CIFoRB/University of Birmingham, 2018). https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/ptr/ciforb/Forced-Conversions-and-Forced-Marriages-in-Sindh.pdf.

30 Olivia Enos, “Religious Freedom in Pakistan Take 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back,” The Daily Signal, December 29, 2016; Umair Jamal, “The Politics of Religious Exclusion in Pakistan,” The Diplomat, October 18, 2017.

31 Waquar Gilllani, “In the Shadow of Society,” The News, December 25, 2016. See Ispahani (2016) for extensive discussion of the problem of determining who is Muslim in Pakistan and how this has impeded the Pakistani objective of establishing an Islamic State.

32 “Ahmadi Professor Found Murdered in Pakistan; Second Such Attack This Month,” The Hindustan Times, April 19, 2017.

33 Tom Strode, “Pakistani Death Sentences Show Blasphemy Laws’ Threat,” Baptist Press, November 8, 2017.

34 Saad Sayeed, “Pakistan’s Long-persecuted Ahmadi Minority Fear Becoming Election Scapegoat,” Reuters, November 15, 2017.

35 “State Minority Commission,” Daily Excelsior, December 13, 2016.

36 “AICC Minority Department Reaches Out to Christian in NE,” Nagaland Post, December 13, 2016.

37 Koride Maheshi, “TRS Government Threatens to Move Apex Court for Muslim Quota,” Times of India, November 20, 2017.

38 “Govt Appoints 5 to the Member-less Nat Commission for Minorities,” PTI News, May 24, 2017.

39 J Venkatesan, “Triple Talaq Hearing Begins, 5 Judges of 5 Religions on SC’s Bench,” The Deccan Chronicle, May 11, 2017; Ambika Panditl, “Triple Talaq a Social Ill, Not a Religious Issue: Muktahr Abbas Naqvi, Times of India, May 11, 2017.

40 “Triple Talaq: India’s Court Bans Islamic Instant Divorce,” BBC News, August 22, 2017.

41 In the U.S. the theoretical and practical difficulties associated with such state management of religion, especially minority religions, have been amply explored by law and religion scholar Winnifred Fallers Sullivan and colleagues on the Politics of Religion Project. See Sullivan (2005). See Sullivan et al. (2015) and Mahmood (2015).

42 “Human Rights Watch Voices Concern Over Attacks on Minorities in India,” Financial Express, January 14, 2017.

43 “Religious Lynching,” The Nation, May 22, 2017.

44 Naresh Mitral, “Christian Votes in Mind, Cong Eyes Overhaul,” The Times of India, May 11, 2017.

45 Abdul Bari Masoud, “Lawyers Demand Enactment of Anti-Communal Law,” The India Nawaz, December 19, 2016.

46 Arihant Pawariya, “Why Go to SC or NCM? If Modi Govt Wants, It Can Easily Give Minority Status to Hindus in 8 States?” Swarajya, November 10, 2017; Kumar, “Hindus’ Minority Status.”

47 “Mr. Modi’s Embrace of Hindu Extremists,” (editorial) New York Times, March 23, 2017. Others have expressed greater faith in Modi’s FoRB commitment to religious minorities. See, e.g., “Minority Rights More Secure More Safte After Modi,” The Asian Age, November 12, 2017.

48 “Mr. Modi’s Embrace of Hindu Extremists,”; “PM Modi making Yogi Adityanath UP CM is ‘shocking rebuke’ to religious minorities: New York Times,” DNA, March 23, 2017.

49 “Human Rights Abuses Against Minorities on Rise Again in India: Indian-American Group,” Hindustan Times, May 24, 2017.

50 Notably, while not falling into the USCIRF Tier 1 or Tier 2 countries of concern, Bangladesh is a nation that has been regularly monitored by USCIRF, see, e.g. “Bangladesh,” in USCIRF, 2018 Annual Report (Washington, DC: USCIRF, 2018). Bangladesh was on the USCIRF Watch List (now the Tier 2 designation) from 2005 to 2008. See USCIRF, 2005 Annual Report (Washington, DC: USCIRF, 2005: 124–126. It was removed from the list from 2008, but it began to be reported in the USCIRF annual report again in 2013, as the religious freedom situation worsened.

51 “Quotas for Minorities if JP Comes to Power,” bdnews24.com, December 26, 2016.

52 For perspectives on this trend, see Taiabur Rahman and Alvy al Sirjohn, “Demystifying Bangladesh’s Creeping Radicalisation: A Multiple Perspective Analysis,” Daily Sun, October 23, 2016; Subir Bhaumik, “Militant Islam and the Missing Boys of Bangladesh,” SCMP.com, August 20, 2016; Milo Comerford, “Deciphering Bangladeshi Terror: Fallout and Response to the Holey Bakery Attack,” Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, February 14, 2017.

53 Md. Shah Prahan, “Malaysia—A Development Model for Bangladesh?” Daily Sun, September 18, 2016.

54 “Bangladesh Fighting Malicious Social Media Post, Online Hate, Sajeeb Wazed Joy Writes,” bdnews24.com, December 13, 2016.

55 “Bangladesh Arrests Hindu After Post Sparks Deadly Riot,” The Sun Daily, November 14, 2017.

56 See, e.g., Gabriel Samuels, “Bangladesh Considering Dropping Islam as State Religion, According to Senior Minister,” The Independent, November 15, 2016; Samia Huq, “Faith, Dissent, and Extremism: How Bangladesh Is Struggling to Stay Secular,” The Conversation, December 9, 2016; Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury, “The Secular Conundrum in Bangladesh,” wionews.com, March 30, 2017.

57 See, e.g., Joshua Hammer, “The Imperiled Bloggers of Bangladesh,” New York Times, December 29, 2015; Ishaan Tharoor, “These Bangladeshi Bloggers Were Murdered by Islamic Extremists,” Washington Post, May 2, 2016; Emma Graham-Harrison and Saad Hamadi, “Inside Bangladesh’s Killing Fields: Bloggers and Outsiders Targeted by Fanatics,” The Guardian, June 11, 2016.

58 The authors express our appreciation for field work and analysis on Bangladesh conducted by CIFoRB researcher Harriet Hoffler, whose work informs this section.

59 The United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) included chapters on Sri Lanka in its 2014 and 2015 reports. For an excellent background account of the nature and implications of the religious dimensions of the Sri Lankan conflict, see Little (1993).

60 Jehan Perera, “Added Dimension to Tamil Hartal in North and East,” The Island, May 1, 2017.

61 Perera, “Added Dimension to Tamil Hartal in North and East.”

62 Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 1978, amended 2015, Ch. II, art 9. Protection of “Religion or Belief” is later referenced at Ch.III, art 10 and 14(e).

63 While religion was one dimension of Tamil identity it was one of many factors underlying the Tamil Tiger separatist movement. See Welhengama and Pillay (2014).

64 “Disband Special Police Unit – Make Police Independent: Lawyers’ Collective Demand,” Colombo Telegraph, April 30, 2014.

65 “Racial and religious harmony” as a rationale for restricting rights is also referenced several times in Ch. III, art 15 of the Constitution. Religion and other factors bearing on national “unity” are referenced in Ch. VI, art 27(e)(5-6). Art 27(11) of this same chapter on directive principles of the state promises further: “The State shall create the necessary economic and social environment to enable people of all religious faiths to make a reality of their religious principles.”

66 “Religions Meant to Build Bridges, Not Walls,” (editorial) Daily Mirror.lk, January 18, 2017.

67 “Independence Day Messages from Religious Leaders,” News.lk, February 4, 2017.

68 “Sri Lankan Prime Minister Declares Government’s Full Support for Religious Reconciliation,” ColomboPage, March 29, 2017.

69 “Sri Lankan Monks, Bishops Propose Religious Councils,” Vatican Radio, March 14, 2017.

70 S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole, “Navalar Myths Aborting Reconciliation,” The Sunday Leader, December 18, 2016.

71 For insight into the situation of religious minorities under the law in Malaysia, see Shah (2017).

72 See, e.g. Laili Ismail, “Religious Tolerance Is the Cornerstone of a United Malaysia, Says Zahid,” New Straits Times, December 28, 2016; Haikal Jalil, “Malaysia Will Become a Failed State If Religious Respect Disregarded: Najib,” The Sun Daily, February 4, 2017; Loshana K. Shagar, “Unite in Harmony,” The Star, February 5, 2017; “Use Religion to Promote Unity-Sim,” The Borneo Post, February 20, 2017. See also the article by Grüll and Wilson in this symposium issue on the preference for language of “tolerance,” “difference,” and “diversity” over “religious freedom,” “rights,” and “pluralism” in parts of South and Southeast Asia.

73 “Study: In Malaysia, Religious Controls Tighter than in Saudi Arabia, Brunei,” The Malay Mail Online, April 14, 2017 (citing Pew Research Center 2017).

74 See Luke Hunt, “Malaysia Grapples with Chilling Case of Kidnapped Pastor,” The Diplomat, April 22, 2017; Linday Murdoch, “Pastor Raymond Koh’s Abduction Highlights Anti-Christian Fears in Malaysia,” The Sydney Morning Herald, April 17, 2017; “Christians Raise Concerns Over Pastor’s Disappearance,” malaysiakini.com, February 25, 2017; Suzette Gutierrez-Cachila, “Disappearing Christian Leaders in Malaysia: Targeted Attacks Against Religious Minorities?” The Gospel Herald, July 9, 2017.

75 “Malaysia Takes a Turn for the Religious Sinister Side,” Asia Sentinel, March 6, 2017.

76 For discussion of the clash of these laws with Malaysia’s anti-discrimination goals, see “Malaysia: A Never Ending Policy,” The Economist, April 27, 2013. See also Sumisha Naidu, “Najib Places Bumiputera at Centre of Malaysia Growth Plans as Elections Loom,” Channel News Asia, April 19, 2017; Ida Lim, In “New Economic Roadmap, PM Seeks to Boost Bumi Welfare, Income,” The Malay Mail Online, April 19, 2017.

77 Federal Constitution of Malaysia, art. 3.

78 “Ongoing Religious Freedom Challenges in the Commonwealth,” World Watch Monitor, April 20, 2018; Preet Gill, “This Summit Should Confront the Demons of Religious Intolerance,” The Times, April 17, 2018; David Adams, “Open Doors Calls on Commonwealth Heads to Put Religious Freedom at ‘Heart’ of Discussions,” Sight, April 16, 2018.

79 Ewelina U. Ochab, “The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the Importance of Religious Freedom,” Forbes, December 18, 2017.

80 See Baroness Elizabeth Berridge, “How Can the Commonwealth Be a Beacon for Freedom of Religion or Belief?” The Parliamentarian, Issue 1 (2018); Preet Kaur Gill, “Why Religion Is the Solution to the Commonwealth’s Problems,” Huffington Post, April 18, 2018.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Notes on contributors

M. Christian Green

M. Christian Green, J.D./Ph.D., is a scholar of law, religion, human rights, and global ethics. She is Research Director for law, religion, and human rights at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Co-Editor and Special Content Editor at the Journal of Law and Religion, Publications Manager at the African Consortium for Law and Religions Studies (ACLARS), and Academic and Social Media Consultant for the Commonwealth Initiative for Freedom of Religion or Belief (CIFoRB).

Monica Duffy Toft

Monica Duffy Toft is a Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Before joining Fletcher, Toft taught at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. While at Harvard, she directed the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs and was the assistant director of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies.