Pak source of 'religiously-motivated' violence: US panel

Lalit K Jha

Washington, May 2 (PTI) Identifying Pakistan as "a
country of particular concern", a Congress-backed US religious
freedom panel has said there were links between the ISI and
extremist groups and that the State has become a source of
"religiously-motivated violence" that also targeted India.

"Pakistan has become a significant source of religious
intolerance and religiously-motivated violence in the region
and beyond," said a report released by the US Commission for
International Religious Freedom here.

"The well-planned November 2008 terrorist attacks in
Mumbai, India, have been linked to the Pakistan-based
extremist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, a connection publicly
acknowledged by Pakistan's then-Interior Minister in February
2009," it said.

The panel recommended the State Department to place
Pakistan under the category of the 'Country of Particular
Concern'.

However, the State Department has not followed the
recommendations of the Commission since 2002, the panel's Vice
Chairman Elizabeth Prodromou told reporters on the occasion of
release of the annual report on religious freedom for 2008.

While the report said that of late Pakistani authorities
had made efforts to curb such extremists, who also threatened
Pakistan's own security, it acknowledged the link between ISI
and religious extremist groups.

"There are extensive reports that the Pakistani military
and intelligence agencies have given Taliban-associated and
other extremists operating against neighbouring Afghanistan
and India safe havens, operational bases, and other support,"
the report said.

As the result of such support, the Afghan-Taliban were
able to re-group, re-arm, and intensify cross-border attacks
inside Afghanistan after being ousted by US and coalition
forces, substantially increasing instability and violence in
that country, it said.

Prodromou said this year has seen the largely unchecked
growth in the power and the reach of Taliban-associated
extremist groups, whose members are engaged in violence both
within Pakistan and abroad.

"Pakistan's central government in Islamabad has ceded
effective control of more and more of the country to these
Taliban-associated extremist groups, notably of course in the
Swat valley and its neighboring districts," she said.

Prodromou expressed concern over the continued "sectarian
and religiously-motivated" violence in Pakistan. "Particularly
acute are violations against Shia Muslims, Ahmadis,
Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. Pakistanis have repeatedly been
murdered while engaging in religious worship," she said.

Charging that the Pakistan government officials do not
provide adequate protection to members of religious minority
communities, Prodromou said perpetrators of violence against
those communities are seldom brought to justice, reflecting
problems with the judicial and policing systems.

"Now Ahmadis, who number approximately three to four
million in Pakistan, are prevented by law from engaging in the
full practice of their faith," she said. "They also face
criminal penalties for a wide range of practices that
are common to Muslims in Pakistan."

Referring to the recent incidents in Swat, which is under
the Taliban control, Prodromou said religious extremism poses
serious threat to women and girls.

"Pakistani women and girls are denied equal protection
under the law. They're denied access, oftentimes, to education
and to a range of other rights, in those spaces in particular
that are controlled by Taliban-associated extremists."

Besides Pakistan, the nations listed in the category of
"country of particular concern" are Myanmar, North Korea,
Eriteria, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The "Commission's Watch
List" include Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia,
Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka have been put into
the category of "Additional Countries Closely Monitored." PTI
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