Citizenship Amendment Act

December 17, 2019

Indian Parliament passed a law this December providing a path to Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The bill excludes other persecuted minorities (like Ahmediyya Muslims, Atheists and Hazars) from these countries as well as all those fleeing persecution from other neighbouring countries (like Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, Tamils from Sri Lanka).

Atheism is a taboo in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Atheists in these three countries face severe discrimination and persecution in society. In-fact, apostasy itself is a crime in Afghanistan and can even get you a death sentence. The number of atheists living in these countries is not known. Islamic fundamentalists of these countries often take it to streets to demand capital punishment for atheists.

In 2013, a hit-list of 84 Bangladeshi bloggers was released on the internet by some fundamentalist groups and a few of them have already been murdered ("Bangladeshi blogger named on hitlist warned - The Guardian." 28 May. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/28/bangladeshi-blogger-ananya-azad-named-hitlist. Accessed 17 Dec. 2019). Many of the attacks against atheists have taken place in broad daylight. This demonstrates the level of impunity these fundamentalists enjoy in the nation.

Though there is no specific law that criminalizes apostasy in Pakistan, the blasphemy law, which allows capital punishment, is often used for this purpose. In 2017, Islamabad High Court declared during a ruling related 'disrespectful' contend on social media that anyone who blasphemies against the Muslim prophet Mohammed is a terrorist.

Taslima Nasreen

Taslima Nareen is a Bangladeshi writer and secular Humanist. She has been living in exile from 1994 after fleeing from Bangladesh ever since an interview of her by the Kolkata edition of The Statesman, quoted her as calling for a revision of the Quran. Some of her books are banned in the country. She is currently staying in India on a resident permit multiple entry visa. She had to wait for six years to get a visa to India. She could not return to Bangladesh even when her mother was on her death bed.

Humayun Azad and his son Ananya Azad

Humayun Azad was a Bangladeshi author who wrote a book about an Islamic fundamentalist group collaborating with the Pakistani army during the Liberation war of 1971. He was assassinated the year after this book was published. His son, an active blogger, had constantly faced with death threats after publishing materials critical of Islam that he had to flee to Europe. He is also mentioned in the hit-list of an Islamic militant group in Bangladesh.

The years 2013 to 2015 saw numerous violent attacks on Bangladeshi atheist/secularist bloggers. In January 2013, Asif Mohiuddin, was stabbed near his office in Dhaka. In February 2013, Ahmed Rajib Haider, was found murdered outside his home. He was murdered using a machete. In March 2013, Sunnyur Rahaman was hacked with machetes while shouting "Allahu Akbar". In November 2014, Shafiul Islam, a teacher in the Rajshahi University, was murdered by a fundamentalist Islamist militant group named 'Ansar al Islam Bangladesh-2' for having prohibited female students from wearing full-face veils in his classes. In February 2015, Avijit Roy was killed when he and his wife were attacked using machetes. In February 2015, Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury Tutul, editor of Shuddhashar, was attacked by assailants with machetes. He was earlier threatened for publishing books of atheist writers and for his secular view. In March 2015, Washiqur Rahman was killed using meat cleavers by fundamentalists for his anti-Islamic blogs. In March 2015, Ananta Bijoy Das, editor of the science magazine Jukti, was attacked and murdered by masked men wielding machetes. In August 2015, Niloy Chatterjee, an organiser of the Science and Rationalist Association Bangladesh, was hacked to death at his home by men armed with machetes. In October 2015, Faisal Arefin Dipan, was hacked to death inside his office allegedly for his association with freethinking, secular and atheist writers. In April 2016, gay-rights activists Xulhaz Mannan (editor of Bangladesh's first LGBT-themed magazine Roopbaan) and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy were hacked to death at Mannan's apartment.

Rahman Md Jillur started receiving death threats from 2015 after writing some articles against Islam. Bangladesh government shut down his blog. He fled from Bangladesh in 2017.

Fauzia Ilyas

Fauzia Ilyas is an ex-Muslim Pakistani activist,and the president and co-founder of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan. She had to flee from Pakistan on facing several death threats and potential use of Pakistan's infamous blasphemy law through which one can legally punishable by death. (https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/12/16/toen-ik-hem-het-hardst-nodig-had-was-allah-er-ni-1567460-a888944).

Ayaz Nizami

Ayaz Nizami, a blogger and founder of the website realisticapproach.org, is currently facing the death penalty in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy. He had translated materials critical of Islam to Urdu for publishing and had also served as the vice president of the Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan.(https://nation.com.pk/24-Mar-2017/blasphemy-crackdown-fia-arrests-2-suspects-from-karachi)

Mohammed Younus Shaikh

In October 2000, Mohammed Younus Shaikh, a Pakistani medical doctor, was charged with blasphemy and was ordered by the judge to pay a fine of 100,000 rupees, and to be sentenced to death by hanging. A court acquitted Shaikh on appeal and he fled Pakistan for Europe as soon as possible.