Islamabad

Many international human rights organisations are alarmed over the recent persecution of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan.

The International Forum for Right and Security (IFFRAS) said that the organisations are documenting the systematic persecution endured by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community at the hands of religious extremists and state institutions.

In the latest incident, a Khatm-e-Nabuwat Conference that was held on September 12 under the aegis of Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan, presided over by JUP (Punjab) Deputy President Maulana Hafiz Muhammad Saleem and the Ulema, demanded that the government remove Qadinias (Ahmadiyyas) from key posts.

The Ulema said that Qadinias deny the end of the Prophethood and are traitors of Islam, said IFFRAS.

Earlier, some radical Muslim clerics even opposed the burial of an Ahmadiyya woman in the local graveyard in Safdarabad, Sheikhupura district in Punjab on June 6, leading to violent clashes between the two sides.

Incidentally, dedicated Ahamdiyya graveyards in Pakistan are even kept locked most of the time for fear of the graves being destroyed by extremists.

An Ahmadiyya mosque was demolished in July by Tahreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) extremists in connivance with local police in the Faislabad district.

Pakistan's media reports also mentioned that various Islamic clerics like Amir of Tahreek-e-Dawat-e-Haq Pakistan, Peer Allama Muhammad Ashgar Noorani, castigate the Ahmadiyyas for distorting 'the Islam faith' and have called on Western countries to stop considering them as part of the Muslim community, reported IFFRAS.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community persecution in Pakistan has been highlighted by the international community.

Siobhain McDonagh MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, UK, in a letter (Dec 2020) to the Pakistan High Commissioner in the UK, expressed concern over reports of efforts to target, harass and persecute Ahmadi Muslims, including the murder of an Ahmadi doctor in Punjab and killing of two Ahmadis in Peshawar in October and November 2020.

Similarly, US Senators Richard Blumenthal and John Cornyn also expressed concern in February and objection over the 'continued and escalating persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan,' including exploitation of cyber and blasphemy laws to target 'an already persecuted religious minority.'

They underlined that six Ahmadiyya Muslims, including one US citizen, had been killed in Pakistan in the last six months, while another Ahmadi had died in prison facing charges for blasphemy, reported IFFRAS.

They pointed out that Pakistani lawmakers, far from condemning these atrocities, instead praised the killers, both in the Parliament and on social media, further inflaming anti-Ahmadi bias.

They called on the Pakistan government to take immediate action to protect one of their most vulnerable religious communities, drop baseless charges pending against senior Ahmadi Muslim leaders and end discrimination towards the community, reported IFFRAS.

David Hartman, Director General of South Asia of Global Affairs Canada in February had also taken up the issue of criminal cases registered against members of the Ahmadiyya community with Pakistan High Commissioner in Canada, reported IFFRAS.