Report Details Growing Hostility Against Pakistan’s Religious Minorities Online

11/01/2020 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – According to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), hate speech and hostility against religious minorities online in Pakistan grew in 2020. A recent report by the Freedom Network detailed the growing trend.

The report said that online news media platforms reported facing hostility and organized targeting of their content related to religion, religious minorities, and human rights. These platforms faced threats, abuse, trolling, hacking, blocking and charges of treason.

Hate speech against religious minorities on social media and their online harassment were prevalent in 2020,” the Freedom Network report said. “Religious minorities, security agencies, human rights, gender, politics and development were identified as the main discussion themes online that elicited the most hostile reactions from detractors online.

Pakistan ranks among the world’s worst persecutors of Christians according to Open Doors’ World Watch List and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. False blasphemy accusations, forced conversions, and violence perpetrated by extremists list only a few of the ways in which Pakistani Christian experience persecution.