Bahá'í
Academics Resource Library
HRP: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
IRF: Annual Reports to Congress on International Religious Freedom
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
The Constitution (which was suspended following the October 1999 coup)
provides for freedom of religion, and states that adequate provisions shall
be made for minorities to profess and practice their religions freely;
however, the Government imposes limits on freedom of religion. Pakistan
is an Islamic republic; Islam is the state religion. Islam also is a core
element of the country's national ideology; the country was created to
be a homeland for Muslims....
The Government fails in many respects to protect the rights of minorities.
This is due both to public policy and to the Government's unwillingness
to take action against societal forces hostile to those that practice a
different faith.
BAHÁ'Í COMMUNITY
Religious minority groups believe that they are underrepresented in government
census counts. Official and private estimates of their numbers can differ
significantly. Current population estimates place the number of...Baha'is
at 30,000 [IRF 1999-2000: 12,000].
TRAVEL
Links with coreligionists in other countries are maintained relatively
easily.... However, the Government prohibits Ahmadis from participating
in the Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia) and Baha'is
from traveling to their spiritual center in Israel.