An Overview of Pakistan's Jurisprudence on: Free Exercise Clause, and Religious Freedom of Minorities

Abstract

Subject to law, public order and morality … (a) every citizen shall have the right to profess, practice and propagate his religion; and (b) every religious denomination and every sect thereof shall have the right to establish, maintain and manage its religious institutions. [Article 20, The Constitution of Pakistan, 1973] The above noted article of Pakistan’s Constitution has been termed as the most important one concerning the fundamental right to religious freedom in Pakistan, and can be treated as its free exercise of religion clause (Free Exercise Clause). This article provides an overview as to foundational thresholds as to religious freedom in Pakistan in the context of the most important constitutional provision for the same. For convenient reading the body of this article has been arranged into nine parts as below. The first part serves as an introduction to Article 20 as the basic clause in the Constitution for free exercise of religion, the second and third parts explain the meanings to the phrases of “Subject to Law”, and “Religious Denomination and Religious Institutions” as used in the aforesaid Article 20, the fourth part notes the thresholds identifying the Free Exercise Clause in the Light of Islamic Shariah, the fifth and sixth part analyze essential safeguards and historical origins as to religious freedom of minorities in Pakistan, the seventh and eight part highlight couple of examples as to safeguards to specific religious privileges of minorities in Pakistan, and the final part nine serves as the conclusion to this article. Free Exercise Clause, in simple terms, pertains to the right to freely exercise one's religion. It also means that the government shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.