On August 15, the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) released a report titled Hope Behind Bars from its national office in Lahore.

The NCJP expressed grave concern about the treatment of minority prisoners in Pakistan’s jails. Over the past three years, legal and procedural barriers, along with a lack of cooperation from prison authorities, have prevented the NCJP’s legal and paralegal teams from gathering sufficient information.

The report states: “Prisoners belonging to minority faiths become vulnerable in the wake of religious discrimination in the jail system.”

According to NCJP—a human rights body of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan—Pakistan operates 128 functional prisons with a total capacity of approximately 65,811 inmates. However, official statistics regarding religious minority prisoners are unreliable. For example, while the Punjab (provincial) Prison Department reported 1,180 non-Muslim inmates across various facilities, a former inmate incarcerated under false allegations claimed that more than 500 Christian inmates were held at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore alone. Punjab is the largest province in Pakistan.

During Pakistan’s most recent review under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in October 2024, the United Nations raised serious concerns about prison conditions, including overcrowding and inadequate access to food, clean water, sanitation, feminine hygiene products, and healthcare. These issues disproportionately affect prisoners from minority communities’ backgrounds, making them particularly vulnerable.

In Pakistan, religious minorities—including Christians and Hindus—are disproportionately represented in the prison population. While exact numbers vary, their incarceration rates often exceed their proportion of the overall population, suggesting possible systemic bias within the justice system.

Generally, minority citizens face both direct and indirect discrimination in nearly every aspect of daily life, including incarceration. According to a report by World Watch Monitor, Christian inmates revealed that once their religious identity is known, they are subjected to poorer treatment by both fellow inmates and prison staff. They are often regarded as “untouchables” and assigned demeaning tasks, such as cleaning toilets.

Many individuals from minority communities belong to the most deprived and economically disadvantaged segments of society. Persistent poverty, social marginalization, and a lack of resources—combined with limited parental supervision due to economic pressures—create conditions that leave children vulnerable to harmful influences. This often leads to involvement in theft, substance abuse, or association with criminal elements. With little guidance, these children may unknowingly fall into criminal activity, eventually ending up in jail, the report notes.

The report includes testimonies from several Christian prisoners—some of whom are innocent—describing discriminatory treatment by both jail authorities and Muslim inmates.

NCJP has called on the federal and all provincial governments to establish mechanisms to address systemic discrimination against minorities.

It also urged that civil society organizations working on prisoner rights be granted access to provide legal aid and educational outreach to minority prisoners. This includes informing them about remission rules and procedures for accessing both formal and religious education programs, especially for vulnerable groups.

The report further recommends: “Implement comprehensive measures to eliminate torture within correctional facilities and establish confidential, impartial, and effective complaint mechanisms that allow prisoners to report abuse, violence, and inhumane treatment. These mechanisms must operate under the monitoring oversight of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the National Commission for Human Rights to ensure accountability and adherence to international human rights standards.”

NCJP hopes the report will encourage policymakers and lawmakers to take meaningful action in addressing the concerns of religious minorities as part of broader prison reform efforts.

Pakistan is an Islamic republic where religious minorities constitute less than five percent of the population, with Muslims making up nearly 95 percent.
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Aftab Alexander Mughal