Islamabad, Pakistan: Pakistan is continuously decorating in the tolerance of minorities. Amid the several cases of the harming the dignity of minority another hear trenching incident has come in light. The country has gone below the belt with Ahmadiyyas as the graves of their dead are being dug up and their mortal remains being thrown away.
Recently, the latest case was that of Ishfaq Ahmed, who was desecrated on May 19 in Peshawar, as reported by The Friday Times citing Saleem ud Din, the spokesperson of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan.
A day earlier, a 36-year-old Ahmadi man was stabbed to death in front of his two children in Okara. The murderer, who is reported to be affiliated with Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), was a student at a local madrassa, the weekly reported.
Ahmedis are Muslims who were declared non-Muslim by Pakistan in 1973. They are subjected to increased discrimination from the government and the society at large dominated by the majority of Sunnis.
The Pakistani constitution declared the Ahmadis sect of Islam to be ‘infidels’ and
also barred them from ‘posing as Muslims’.
The Ahmadis members alleged that many cases were hushed up and even when the cases are registered, the investigation and prosecution are weak after which the culprits go free.
The Ahmadis are also facing mistreatment from the justice system as many people lost their lives while being tried for blasphemy, the weekly said in its report.
According to the publication, the media at large extent ignores the violence against the Ahmedis, unless it takes place on a large scale, and attracts international attention.
Earlier this year, a 70-year-old Ahmadi man on trial for blasphemy died in Bahawalpur Jail due to alleged mistreatment despite his ill health. He was awaiting his bail hearing scheduled for later this year.
An earlier report of August 23, 2021, quoted historian and lawyer Yasser Latif Hamdani, former BBC Urdu editor Tahir Imran Mian and human rights activists Rabia Mehmood and Ali Warsi alleged that Pakistan accuses the whole world of indulging in Islamophobia, while they themselves are engaged in violence when it comes to minorities and the Ahmedi community.
Most ominously, the Ahmadiyya sect remains the most vulnerable to Pakistan’s violent blasphemy laws, with at least 13 Ahmadis killed and 40 wounded since 2017 owing to their identity. This is in addition to the jihadist attacks on the community. In 2010, twin mosque terror raids in Lahore killed at least 94 Ahmadis, according to a publication citing a detailed report cum analysis in ‘The Diplomat journal’ (February 14, 2022).
Back in 2020, a detailed report by the UK-based All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) revealed details about the discrimination that the Ahmadiyya community has been facing in Pakistan.
The APPG Inquiry heard disturbing evidence that anti-Ahmadiyya hatred is taught to children in schools, including in their textbooks.
According to The Diplomat journal, Pakistan continues to ignore the apartheid against Ahmadis which will result in similar calls against Shia Islam, which are being echoed in the parliament.
