Persecution against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan increased manifold: Report

www.niticentral.com

M Zulqernain

Acts of persecution against the minority Ahmadi community in Pakistan have increased “manifold” over the past year as seven community members fell prey to religious intolerance and 16 were attacked, according to a report. The annual report of Jamaat Ahmadiyya also claimed that due to pressure from extremists, Ahmadis are being persecuted under discriminatory laws. “Acts of persecution against the Ahmadi community have increased manifold while the law enforcement agencies pandered to the whims of the aggressors,” the report said. “Whether it is the desecration of Ahmadi worship places or graves, the Pakistani authorities align themselves with extremists instead of enacting the law,” it claimed. During 2013, there had been significant increase in fabricated news stories published in the Urdu Press.

More than 1,700 news reports and 400 articles appeared (in Urdu Press) during the year depicting Ahmadis in a negative light,” the report claimed. “Ahmadis have been facing political, social and legal discrimination since the promulgation of the notorious Ordinance of 1984 which is contrary to the basic and equal rights of citizenship,” it added. “As many as 237 Ahmadis have been killed since the Ordinance was passed while 193 attempted murders have taken place. Some 27 mosques have been demolished and 31 sealed by the authorities,” the report said.

“Some 37 bodies exhumed after burial while burial of 61 dead bodies of Ahmadis were denied in common cemetery. Not only are the lives of Ahmadis are under constant threat the departed souls are in no peace either,” it added. Jamaat Ahmadiyya spokesman Salmuddin claimed: “The Government’s silence suggest official patronage of these heinous acts.” He said the Government functionaries seemed to have close dealings with extremists under the cover of discriminative legislation against Ahmadis. Pakistan’s Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but were declared non-Muslims through a constitutional amendment in 1974. A decade later, they were barred from proselytising or identifying themselves as Muslims. Some 1.5 million Ahmadis live across the country.