By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput and Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou

At the U.N. General Assembly last week, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called for a strategy of "enlightened moderation" to combat terrorism, to end conflicts affecting Islamic states, and to "bridge ... the growing divide" between Islamic and Western countries.

Musharraf's action plan suggests it is Western countries that must change their behavior toward Muslims, and not the other way around. He called two measures "imperative": to "end racial and religious discrimination against Muslims" and to "prohibit the defamation of Islam."

Musharraf fails to address the urgent need to bring "enlightened moderation" to his own country, where intolerance and violence is aimed at both Muslims and non-Muslims. Pakistan already has strict anti-blasphemy laws, which criminalize defamation of Islam, and these result in extensive human- rights abuses. Allegations of blasphemy, which are often false and used to intimidate or settle personal scores, have resulted in the lengthy detention of Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus and members of other religious minority communities, as well as Muslims whose views are deemed offensive by religious extremists. Criminal penalties for blasphemy include the death penalty for anyone who "defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad," life imprisonment for whomever "willfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran," and 10 years' imprisonment for insulting the religious feelings of any citizen.

Who judges what constitutes blasphemy, a term that is open to arbitrary interpretation? Given the sway that Muslim extremists hold over Pakistan's judiciary, judges' findings and penalties for blasphemy reveal an arbitrariness intended to squelch fundamental freedoms of thought and expression.

Another area where some enlightened moderation is still lacking in Pakistan is the country's reviled Hudood Ordinance. This set of laws criminalize sexual relations outside of marriage, so that women who have reported being raped are routinely imprisoned for the crime of adultery, and face a potential sentence of death by stoning.

In 2003, the National Commission on the Status of Women in Pakistan found as many as 88 percent of female prisoners, many of them rape victims, were serving time for violating the decrees.

While based in Islamic law, Pakistan's judiciary applies the Hudood Ordinance to both Muslims and non-Muslims. Human Rights groups in Pakistan have sought the repeal of the Hudood laws since their introduction in 1979.

Under pressure from human rights groups, Musharraf has initiated a review of possible reforms to the Hudood laws, but critics charge that the discussion is merely rhetorical window dressing designed to placate international critics while continuing to succumb to the demands of the country's conservative religious parties.

The Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a powerful alliance of Islamist organizations, adamantly rejects any change in the Hudood Ordinance. Musharraf is beholden to the MMA for its 2003 support of a constitutional amendment legitimizing the continuation of military rule in Pakistan and thereby retroactively legalizing the 1999 coup that brought him to power.

In the face of the MMA's vehement opposition to a possible repeal of the Hudood Ordinance, Musharaff's government has sought to strike a compromise over reforms that would purportedly moderate the arbitrary effect of the laws by introducing new laws of evidence and opening the possibility for trial in secular, rather than religious, courts. However, human rights groups maintain that the proposed changes will make things even worse for women. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called the compromise on the Women's Protection Bill "nothing more than a joke" and a "farcical attempt at making the Hudood Ordinances palatable."

The Women's Action Forum, a Pakistani non-governmental organization, also criticized the compromise, saying it would make the Hudood Ordinance even harsher.

The struggle over reforming the Hudood Ordinance speaks to the larger political and strategic question of whether the Musharraf government is willing to combat Islamic extremism in order to support the rule of law and to protect the fundamental human rights and religious freedoms intrinsic to sustainable democracy.

Currently, sectarian and religiously motivated violence persists in Pakistan, particularly by Sunni Muslim militants, against Shiite Muslims, Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians. Perpetrators of attacks on religious minorities are seldom brought to justice. Pakistan's nearly 4 million Ahmadis are prevented by law from fully practicing their faith.

Pakistan's substantive cooperation is essential to U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. There is grave cause for concern over the failure of the Pakistani government to combat religious extremism. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the State Department designate Pakistan a "country of particular concern" for serious religious freedom violations under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

The State Department's annual International Religious Freedom Report, released Sept. 15, also noted serious violations of religious freedom in Pakistan, including fatal violence against Ahmadis, torture of Christians, attacks against Shiite clerics, and vandalism and destruction of churches.

The ability of Pakistan to build a sustainable democracy that is not a haven for terrorism depends on President Musharraf's willingness to change his own country's behavior when it comes to human rights and religious freedom. It means limiting abusive actions and overbroad punishments by extremists, not encouraging them.

Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver is a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Commission Vice Chair Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou is associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2006

Contact:
Angela Stephens, Assistant Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal agency, welcomes the appointment of former United States Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios as President Bush's Special Envoy for Sudan and Darfur, an action the Commission recommended.

The Commission had publicly urged the prompt appointment of a full-time envoy who enjoys the trust and confidence of the President and the Secretary of State and whose sole responsibility should be to coordinate U.S. efforts on the peace process for Darfur and the complete implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan's long North-South civil war, so that a just and lasting peace can be secured for all of Sudan. The mandate given to Mr. Natsios, who previously served with distinction as Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan andspent more than 15 yearsworking with local Sudanese and regional leaders, accords with the Commission's recommendation.

"Mr. Natsios is uniquely qualified to hold this position. We hope hecanfocus attention and diplomatic resources toend the genocidal conflict in Darfur, bring relief and safety toits victims,and establish a just and lasting peace for the entire country," said Felice D. Gaer, Chair of the Commission. "Khartoum is carrying out a genocidal assault on its own people in Darfur, and the United States cannot look away."

The Commission visited Sudan earlier this year, and expressed concern about significant delays and shortcomings in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, including its provisions for the protection of religious freedom and other human rights. "These problems must be addressed, and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement fully implemented, in order to forestall a possible breakdown in the peace process and potentially a resumption of the North-South civil war that cost 2 million lives," Gaer said.

The Commission recommends that the Special Envoy:

• Be given regular access to the President and Secretary of State to advise them on the policyin Sudan;
• Call publicly for full implementation of all UN resolutions on Darfur;
• Fully use U.S. participation in Sudan's Assessment and Evaluation Commission, established under the CPA, to ensure the timely, transparent, and complete implementation of the CPA's power-sharing, revenue-sharing, and security arrangements;
• Report publicly every six months on the status of implementation of the CPA;
• Ensure that U.S. government assistance to Sudan advances legal protection and respect for freedom of religion or belief throughout Sudan, in recognition of the central role of religion in the North-South civil war; and
• Lobby within the U.S. government for the allocation of appropriate personnel resources to pursue a just and lasting peace in Sudan, including a coordinator for U.S. assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons and a ranking official in the Embassy working full-time on human rights issues.

A complete list of the Commission's latest recommendations on Sudan can be found in its  2006 Annual Report . The Commission's  Policy Focus on Sudan  can be found on the Commission's web site,  www.uscirf.gov .

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2006

Contact:
Angela Stephens, Assistant Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240, ext. 14

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) concludes that the country conditions described in the State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, released today, clearly support the Commission's recommendations that Saudi Arabia, Iran and Vietnam, as well as Burma, China, Eritrea, North Korea, and Sudan, should be redesignated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) for severe religious freedom violations. Three other countries-Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan-clearly merit CPC designation as well.

"The Commission is simply shocked that the Department removed longstanding and widely quoted language from its report that freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia," said Felice D. Gaer, Chair of the Commission. In July, the U.S. government confirmed a variety of Saudi policies to improve "religious practice and tolerance"-many of which were first recommended in Commission reports. However, the new State Department report shows that such policies have not yet been implemented.

The Commission continues to conclude that freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia. The Department's own report states that "there generally was no change in the status of religious freedom during the reporting period." The government of Saudi Arabia persists in banning all forms of public religious expression other than that of the government's own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam and forcefully represses private religious practice. Members of the Shi'a and other non-Sunni communities, as well as non-conforming Sunnis, are subject to government restrictions on public religious practices and official discrimination. There is a continuing pattern of punishment and abuse of non-Muslim foreigners for private religious practice. The government also continues to be involved in financing activities throughout the world that support extreme religious intolerance, hatred, and, in some cases, violence toward non-Muslims and disfavored Muslims.

The report also highlights certain improvements in Vietnam, but these advances have not been uniform and serious abuses continue against members of all of Vietnam's religious communities. "The CPC designation has been an important incentive for dialogue on addressing religious freedom concerns in Vietnam," Gaer said. "Nevertheless, given the current level of engagement between the U.S. and Vietnamese governments and the ongoing religious freedom abuses, the CPC designation for Vietnam should be maintained."

The Department's report also describes continued serious violations in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan, three countries that have not been previously designated as CPCs. "In Uzbekistan, a government crackdown on Muslim individuals, groups and mosques that do not conform to government-prescribed practices has resulted in the imprisonment of thousands of persons, and torture is endemic," Gaer said. "Turkmenistan is among the most repressive states in the world today, with independent religious activity quashed by the authoritarian and increasingly megalomaniacal rule of President Saparmurat Niyazov. In Pakistan, minority religious groups are targets of violence and discrimination, and religious extremism is growing in the country with little response from the government," she added.

The Annual Report on International Religious Freedom is an important tool that documents conditions of religious freedom in every foreign country. The Commission commends Ambassador John V. Hanford III and his staff at the State Department for all their work, as well as personnel at U.S. embassies around the world who contribute to the report, which is required under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). The report is a major component of information from which Secretary Rice will, at a later date, make designations of CPCs, those countries whose governments engage in or tolerate "systematic, ongoing and egregious" violations of religious freedom, as defined by international standards.

The Commission each year recommends in its  Annual Report , released in May, which countries should be designated by the State Department as CPCs.

Once a country is designated a CPC, IRFA requires the President to take one of a range of actions specified in the Act. Such measures include agreement with the foreign government to end particularly severe violations, economic or political sanctions, and a waiver of action.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.