LAHORE, Pakistan — During the first seven months of 2024, blasphemy cases in Pakistan spiked, more than tripling the full-year total for 2023, according to a human rights group.
Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights released a report Oct. 31 showing the threefold increase in the number of people accused of and jailed on allegations of blasphemy against Islam, reported media outlets Christian Daily International and Morning Star News. Collusion between Muslim perpetrators and government entities is a factor in the increase, the commission claimed.
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The report — using figures from Jan. 1 to July 25 — reveals that 767 individuals accused of blasphemy were in jail in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Comparatively, the total for the entire year of 2023 was 213. There were 64 in 2022 and nine in 2021.
Pakistan’s Punjab province — at 594 — accounted for the bulk of 2024’s half-year number, the report shows.
The two media outlets also say a January report of the Special Branch of the Punjab Police “revealed the presence of a ‘blasphemy business’ that exploits the controversial blasphemy laws to entrap victims for extortion.”
Pakistan is No. 7 on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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