Pakistani Hindus worst victims of rape: US report

ISLAMABAD, Hindus in Pakistan are the worst victims of rape, says a report by an independent American group.

In the past 18 months, seven incidents of Hindu girls being raped were reported, says the study by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Not only this, two Hindus were killed and four injured in 16 attacks in Pakistan. Besides this, three Hindus were killed in targeted attacks, the Daily Times cited the report as saying.

There were three cases of attacks on Sikhs in Pakistan, leading to the death of one person.

In the last 18 months, 203 incidents of sectarian violence resulted in 1,800 casualties including 717 deaths. Of these, 635 were Shia Muslims.

The report said sectarian and religious violence in Pakistan was on the rise, and between January 2012 and June 2013 the Shia community had been the worst victim.

The factsheet prepared under the "Pakistan Religious Violence Project" took into account publicly reported attacks against religious communities.

The report said the already poor religious freedom environment for Hindus, Christians and Ahmadiyas continued to deteriorate.

There were 77 attacks on Shias, leaving 635 dead and 834 injured. They also suffered 18 bomb blasts and 46 targeted shootings.

Christians, the second biggest religious community in Pakistan, were attacked 37 times in which 11 people were killed and 36 injured. Five Christian girls were raped.TOI