Dr Asif Raza Malik

Pakistan Expert — Human Rights, Political Situation & Asylum Cases

Expert at The Human Rights Experts, an international expert witness organisation.

We provide expert witness reports for asylum cases worldwide, covering human rights violations, political persecution, and systemic oppression. Our reports are trusted by lawyers, courts, and immigration authorities, in full compliance with procedural standards and tribunal requirements in the UK (CPR Part 35, Upper Tribunal PD, First-tier Tribunal IAC PD), USA (Federal Rules of Evidence), Canada, and the EU.

Occupation

• Country Witness Expert on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India
• Human Rights Specialist
• Legal Researcher and Academic Consultant
• Independent Journalist and Investigative Reporter on Human Rights

Expertise

I provide expert analysis on all five Refugee Convention grounds — political opinion, religion, ethnicity, membership of a particular social group (including LGBT and gender-based cases), and nationality — with a focus on the following countries:

Pakistan: Political opposition in Pakistan faces repression from both military and civilian authorities, with opposition party leaders, journalists, and activists subjected to enforced disappearances, sedition charges, and extrajudicial killings, particularly in Balochistan, the tribal areas, and Sindh, where security operations target separatist and nationalist movements. Religious minorities — including Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, Shia Hazara, and Sikhs — face blasphemy accusations weaponized for personal vendettas, mob violence, forced conversion, and targeted sectarian attacks by extremist groups operating with varying degrees of state complicity. Women and girls experience endemic gender-based violence including honour killings, acid attacks, forced marriage, and domestic abuse, with weak legal enforcement and societal norms that shield perpetrators. LGBT individuals face criminal penalties under colonial-era legislation and severe societal persecution, and transgender persons (khwaja sira), while having some legal recognition, experience widespread violence, discrimination, and sexual exploitation. Ethnic Baloch, Pashtun, and Sindhi communities face military operations, enforced disappearances, and collective punishment in areas of active security operations.

Afghanistan: Under Taliban governance, Afghanistan has become the most repressive country in the world for women and girls, with bans on secondary and higher education, employment, and freedom of movement effectively erasing women from public life, while former government officials, military personnel, and civil society workers face systematic reprisal attacks including extrajudicial killings, detention, and torture. Ethnic Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities face targeting by both the Taliban and the Islamic State affiliate, with Hazara Shia populations subjected to repeated mass casualty attacks on mosques, educational institutions, and public spaces. Former members of the Afghan security forces and those who worked with international organizations face targeted killings despite Taliban amnesty declarations, and LGBT individuals face the death penalty under Taliban-imposed Sharia law. Religious minorities, including Sikhs and Hindus, have been virtually eliminated from the country through violence and forced displacement.

India: Indian political space is increasingly constrained for dissenting voices, with human rights defenders, student activists, journalists, and members of opposition movements facing prosecution under sedition, anti-terrorism, and unlawful activities legislation, particularly those critical of majoritarian nationalism or advocating for minority rights. Religious minorities, especially Muslims, face escalating violence, discriminatory citizenship legislation, and restrictions on religious practice and interreligious marriage under laws targeting so-called love jihad, while Dalits experience caste-based discrimination, atrocities, and barriers to justice despite constitutional protections. Women face epidemic sexual violence, dowry-related murder, trafficking, and acid attacks, with marginalized caste and tribal women facing compounded vulnerability. LGBT individuals, despite the decriminalization of same-sex relations, continue to face severe family rejection, violence, and societal stigma, and ethnic minorities in Kashmir, the Northeast, and Adivasi communities face military operations, enforced disappearances, and the denial of self-determination.

Experience

• Delivered expert witness reports and testimony in over 95 asylum proceedings before UK immigration tribunals and US immigration courts, covering political persecution, religious minority claims, blasphemy allegations, and gender-based cases from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.
• Provided expert evidence to the Upper Tribunal and the Board of Immigration Appeals on the treatment of Ahmadis, Christians, and Shia Hazara in Pakistan, the situation of women and former government workers in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and the treatment of Muslims and Dalits in India.
• Authored country condition reports and risk assessments on security force operations, blasphemy law application, and the treatment of vulnerable groups in the region for legal aid solicitors, barristers, and international protection bodies.
• Served as Associate Professor of Law and Human Rights at LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences), with extensive field research on religious persecution, forced disappearances, and the rule of law across Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.
• Worked with international non-governmental organisations to document enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and the weaponization of blasphemy laws against religious minorities in South Asia. Expert member of The Human Rights Experts.

Full professional experience is available in the CV. Please email us to receive the detailed expert CV.

Publications

Available upon request and detailed in the expert CV.

Languages

• Urdu (Native)
• Punjabi (Native)
• English (Fluent)
• Pashto (Conversational)
• Hindi (Fluent)

Religious Groups Expertise

All religious groups

Contact Email

info@thehuman-rights.com