Dawn: In Pakistan, the Constitution and other laws and policies restrict religious freedom and the government enforced these restrictions, says a US State Department report released on Monday.

The report, which examines religious freedom or the lack of it across the globe, points out in a chapter on Pakistan that individuals accused of blasphemy or who publicly criticised the blasphemy laws and called for their reform continued to be killed.

The two most prominent victims of this practice were Governor Punjab Salman Taseer and Minister of Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, who was the only Christian in the cabinet, the report adds.

“The government demonstrated a trend towards deterioration in respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom,” claims the report, adding that “some government practices limited freedom of religion, particularly for religious minorities”.

The report also points out that:

Abuses under the blasphemy law and other discriminatory laws continued; the government did not take adequate measures to prevent these incidents or reform the laws to prevent abuse.

Since the government rarely investigated or prosecuted the perpetrators of increased extremist attacks on religious minorities and members of the Muslim majority promoting tolerance, the climate of impunity continued. There were instances in which law-enforcement personnel reportedly abused religious minorities in custody.

More: