South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 Political instability and the entrenchment of an increasingly narrow understanding of national identity has, similarly, undermined FoRB in other countries of South Asia. Religious minorities (including atheists), and in particular Hindus, are frequently victim to reprisals and attacks in Bangladesh, particularly during election cycles, with the highest levels of such violence recorded during national level elections in 2014. In Pakistan, religious and sectarian minorities such as Christians, Hindus, Ahmadiyas, and Shias have suffered alarming attacks by militant groups, as well as individual targeted attacks and vigilante violence. This violence is often linked to discriminatory provisions and legislation, such as blasphemy laws and Ordinance XX, which provide a cloak of legality to such actions. Violations of religious minority rights and discrimination have inhibited Sri Lanka’s transition to peace. Christians (7.6 per cent) and Muslims (9.7 per cent) face FoRB violations including hate speech, discriminatory practices, destruction of property, threats and intimidation, and physical violence perpetrated by both state actors and Buddhist nationalist groups such as the? Bodu Bala Sena, as highlighted by anti-Muslim violence in late February/ early March 2018 in Eastern and Central provinces, sparking a state of emergency. The situation for Muslims has worsened since the Easter bombings of April 2019, which targeted Christian places of worship by radical Islamists, with the general Muslim population viewed with suspicion by their compatriots. The failure to prevent such attacks was partly responsible for the election of the Sinhala nationalist leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who despite having taken pains to assure that he will serve as the leader of everyone, decided to scrap the singing of the national anthem in the Tamil language in the first independence celebrations since his coming to power.3 In Afghanistan, the Constitution does not uphold individuals’ rights to FoRB, and minorities including Hazara Shi’a are often ‘a certificate of registration or certificate of naturalization’ from the central government. 3 Krishan Francis, ‘Sri Lanka scraps Tamil national anthem at Independence Day,’ The Washington Post, February 4, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ world/asia_pacific/sri-lanka-scraps-tamil-national-anthem-at-independenceday/2020/02/04/084f5caa-4728-11ea-91ab-ce439aa5c7c1_story.html. xxiv