Rajanpur “District Profile” shows sectarian breakdown as such: Sunni (Brelvi) 60%, Sunni (Deobandi) 25%, Ahl-e-Hadith 4.5%, and Ahl-e-Tashie 10%, while according to Lahore “District Profile”, the city’s sectarian breakdown is as such: Ahl-e-Tashi 10%, Ahl-e-Hadith 10%, Deobandi 25% and Brelvi 50%.

The Rajanpur’s population census of 2017 does not have a sectarian breakdown, instead, it has data divided into Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Qadianis/ Ahmadis, Scheduled Caste, and Others, and the same goes for Lahore.

It is pertinent to mention here of all the districts mentioned on the Punjab government’s official website, Rajanpur and Lahore are the only two districts with sectarian breakdown, while Multan’s district profile is missing.

Dissent Today reached out to the Rajanpur Deputy Commissioner’s Office and they expressed surprise that such data was available on the website and denied their involvement in providing the data.

“We don’t think so we have an online presence,” the deputy commissioner’s office said, while expressing surprise.

“Perhaps, it is a fake website,” he said.

“We cannot give out this sort of information as it could lead to sectarianism,” the office told Dissent Today. 

The numbers available under the Lahore District Information section were either not listed or unreachable.

The Punjab Chief Minister’s Office also denied any involvement in providing the data.

“We have a centralised website, but the districts or the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) could have provided such data.”

However, when Dissent Today contacted PITB, they said they only manage the website’s interface with the data that is already provided to them.

Dissent Today also reached out to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics via their helpline and they confirmed that sectarian breakdown is not collected during the population census. They also added that such data is also not available on their website.

According to a recent report by the United States Institute of Peace, Pakistan has witnessed a surge in extremism and intolerance of diversity and dissent as the state-sanctioned laws and conservative narratives facilitate religious extremist elements and support their narrative, leaving little space for religious inclusion.

Rabia Malik

The author is an educationist and journalist. She can be reached at rabia1091@yahoo.com

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