A new report has revealed that prisoners from Pakistan’s religious minority communities continue to suffer widespread discrimination and harsher treatment in the country’s jails than Muslims.
The study, Hope Behind Bars, published on August 15 by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), documents the testimonies of Hindu and Christian prisoners who describe being denied basic rights, subjected to degrading tasks, and overlooked for privileges routinely granted to Muslims.
According to the NCJP - the human rights body of the Pakistani Catholic Church - once a prisoner’s religious identity is disclosed, officials often assign minorities menial work such as cleaning toilets, while refusing them sentence reductions or remission available to Muslims who learn the Quran by heart or fast during Ramadan.
During 2022 and 2025, some 1,937 Muslim inmates had their sentences cut by prison authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, while Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs were excluded from these benefits.
The three-year study from March 2023 to March 2025 examined conditions across 128 prisons in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which collectively hold over 102,000 inmates.
Of these, around 1,748 belong to minority faiths, with Punjab housing the highest proportion.
Christian prisoners face the harshest treatment, the report says, often being stigmatised as “untouchables”.
Many also report harassment by fellow inmates and prison staff.
Those accused of blasphemy are among the most vulnerable. According to NCHR, 705 people - including Muslims and non-Muslims - are currently jailed in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under blasphemy laws.
The report highlights the case of Nadeem James, a Christian sentenced to death on accusations of circulating poems deemed blasphemous via WhatsApp.
His elder brother, Faryad Masih, told UCA News that police detained and tortured eight members of their family in 2016 to force James to surrender.
“This was not justice; it was coercion — driven by mob pressure and religious extremism,” Christian rights activist Joseph Jansen told UCA News.
He called for international pressure on Pakistan to end such abuses and to push for essential prison reforms consistent with UN human rights standards.
The NCJP is urging prison authorities to implement reforms including equitable access to religious programmes, stronger mental health care, protected complaint procedures, skills development, and better legal aid.
