Persecution Of Ahmadis In Pakistan

The Ahmadiyya branch of Islam has been subject to various forms of religious persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889. The Ahmadiyya Muslim movement emerged from the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all the five pillars and articles of faith required of Muslims."The Ahmadi Muslim Community. Who are the Ahmadi Muslims and what do they believe? Waqar Ahmad Ahmedi gives a brief introduction to the Ahmadi branch of Islam."
''Times Online''. 27 May 2008. Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims since they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the movement, to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah awaited by the Muslims.

The Ahmadis are active translators of the Qur'an and proselytizers for the faith. However, in a number of countries, Ahmadis have faced strong resistance. In many Muslim-majority nations, Ahmadis have been considered heretics and non-Muslim, and subjected to persecution and systematic, sometimes state-sanctioned, oppression.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, Ordinance XX and the Twelfth Amendment of AJ&K declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and further deprive them of religious rights. Hundreds of Ahmadis were killed in the 1953 Lahore riots and the 1974 Anti-Ahmadiyya riots. The May 2010 Attacks on Ahmadi mosques, infamously known as the Lahore Massacre, resulted in the murder of 84 Ahmadis by suicide attack. The 1974 riots resulted in the largest number of killings of Ahmadis.

Pakistan

Approximately 2–5 million Ahmadis live in Pakistan, which has the largest population of Ahmadis in the world. It is the only state to have officially declared the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims as they do not consider Muhammad to be the final prophet; and their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments. In 1974, Pakistan's parliament adopted a law declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims; the country's constitution was amended to define a Muslim "as a person who believes in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad". In 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq, the then military ruler of Pakistan, issued Ordinance XX. The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent "anti-Islamic activities", forbids Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim or to "pose as Muslims". This means that they are not allowed to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques. Although derogatory religious slurs, the terms ' Qadiani', 'Qadianism', 'Mirzai' and 'Mirzaian' are widely used in Pakistan to refer to Ahmadis and the term 'Qadiani' is also the term used by the government in its constitution.

Ahmadis in Pakistan have often come under religious discrimination and persecution. Ahmadis in Pakistan are also barred by law from worshipping in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms, performing the Muslim call to prayer, using the traditional Islamic greeting in public, publicly quoting from the Quran, preaching in public, seeking converts, or producing, publishing, and disseminating their religious materials. These acts are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. In applying for a passport or a national ID card, all Pakistanis are required to sign an oath declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be an impostor prophet and all Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.

As a result of the laws and constitutional amendments regarding Ahmadis in Pakistan, persecution and hate-related incidents are constantly reported from different parts of the country. Ahmadis have been the target of many attacks led by various religious groups in Pakistan."Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan: An Analysis Under International Law and International Relations".
''Harvard Human Rights Journal'', Vol 16, September 2003."Eight die in Pakistan sect attack"
, BBC News"Sect offices closed in Pakistan"
, BBC News All religious seminaries and ''madrasas'' in Pakistan belonging to different sects of Islam have prescribed essential reading materials specifically targeted at refuting Ahmadiyya beliefs.Rahman, Tariq
"Denizens of Alien Worlds: A Survey of the Education System of Pakistan"
Contemporary South Asia, 2004. p. 15.

In a recent survey, students from many private schools of Pakistan expressed their opinions on religious tolerance in the country. The figures assembled in the study reflect that even among the educated classes of Pakistan, Ahmadis are considered the least deserving minority in terms of equal opportunities and civil rights. The teachers from these elite schools showed lower levels of tolerance towards Ahmadis than their pupils.

Another example is Abdus Salam, the only recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics who identified as a Muslim. For his mere allegiance to the Ahmadiyya sect, he had been ignored and excommunicated. There are no monuments or universities named after him. The word "Muslim" has been erased from his grave stone.

1953

In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted in Pakistan, killing scores of Ahmadi Muslims and destroying their properties. There was severe agitations against the Ahmadis, including street protests, political rallies, and inflammatory articles. These agitations led to 200 Ahmadi deaths. Consequently, Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad implemented martial law and dismissed Pakistan's Federal Cabinet.

1974 riots and constitutional amendment

In 1974, a violent campaign, led mainly by the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami, began against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan, on the pretext of a clash between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis at the railway station of Rabwah. This campaign resulted in several Ahmadi casualties and destruction of Ahmadiyya property, including the desecration of mosques and graves.

As a result of pressure from this agitation, legislation and constitutional changes were enacted to criminalise the religious practises of Ahmadis by preventing them from claiming they are Muslim or from "behaving" as Muslims. These changes primarily came about due to the pressure of the Saudi King at the time, King Faisal bin As-Saud, according to Dr Mubashar Hassan, Prime Minister Bhutto's close confidant at the time. Pakistan's parliament adopted a law that declares Ahmadis non-Muslims. The country's constitution was amended to define a Muslim "...as a person who believes in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad."Constitution of Pakistanbr>Art. 260(3)
, added b

S. 3 and amended b

S. 6Cf. ''Abdur Rahman Mobashir vs. Syed Amir Ali Shah Bokhari''
PLD 1978 Lahore 113

Ordinance XX of 1984

On 26 April 1984, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, issued the anti-Ahmadiyya Ordinance XX,PPCbr>Ss. 298-B and 298-C
, added b

which effectively prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs.''Mujibur Rehman vs. Federal Government of Pakistan''
PLD 1985 FSC 8
, affirmed by ''Capt. (Retd.) Abdul Wajid vs. Federal Government of Pakistan''
PLD 1988 SC 167
''Zaheeruddin vs. The State''
1993 SCMR 1718
, affirmin
PLD 1988 Quetta 22
and ''Khurshid Ahmad vs. The State''
PLD 1992 Lahore 1
The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent "anti-Islamic activities", forbids Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim or to "pose as Muslims". This means that they are not allowed to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques. Ahmadis in Pakistan are also barred by law from worshipping in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms, performing the Muslim call to prayer, using the traditional Islamic greeting in public, publicly quoting from the Qur'an, preaching in public, seeking converts, or producing, publishing, and disseminating their religious materials. These acts are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years."Ahmadiyya Islam."
GlobalSecurity.org. 26 April 2005. Retrieved 14 December 2009. Ordinance XX and the 1974 amendment to the constitution effectively gave the state the exclusive right to determine the meaning of the term "Muslim" within Pakistan.

Many Ahmadis were arrested within days of the promulgation of this ordinance, and it gave way for widespread sanctioned as well as non-sanctioned persecution.

In 1986 it was supplemented by a new blasphemy provisionPPCbr>S. 295-C
, inserted b

also applied to Ahmadis.

Shab Qadar incident

The Shab Qadar incident was a public stoning of two members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the town of Shab Qadar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan in April 1995.Amnesty International 8 April 1995, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
page 82 of its Annual Report (1995)
Dr. Rashid Ahmad and his son-in law, Riaz Ahmad Khan, were attacked as they were about to attend a court hearing in Shab Qadar. As they entered the court premises, a violent mob incited by local clerics attacked the men with sticks and stones. Riaz Khan was stoned to death and his dead body stripped and dragged through the town on a rope. Rashid Ahmad was taken to a hospital in Peshawar with serious injuries. A third Ahmadi, advocate Bashir Ahmad, escaped unhurt. This murder took place in front of the police. Riaz Khan even asked a police officer for help, but instead of helping, the officer pushed him away. According to Amnesty International, the police "stood and watched", and "...later pleaded that they could not have intervened in a situation like that." No one was detained or criminally charged for the killing.

The victims—senior Ahmadiyya community members from Peshawar—had come from the provincial capital to file a bail application for another Ahmadi Muslim, Daulat Khan. Daulat Khan had been harassed following his conversion to the sect. Local Muslim clergy reportedly called for his death. Daulat Khan had been arrested and imprisoned on 5 April 1995 under sections 107 (abetment) and 151 (disturbing the peace by joining in unlawful assembly) of the Penal Code. After the lynching of Rashid Ahmad and Riaz Ahmad Khan, Daulat Khan remained in custody and was further charged with posing as a Muslim and preaching Ahmadiyyat (section 298 C of the Penal Code) and insulting the religious sentiments of Muslims (section 295 A).

2000

On 30 October 2000, gunmen opened fire at an Ahmadiyya prayer meeting in the Pakistani province of Punjab, killing at least five worshippers and wounding another seven.

2005

In a 2005 survey in Pakistan, pupils in private schools of Pakistan expressed their opinions on religious tolerance in the country. The figures assembled in the study reflect that even in the educated classes of Pakistan, Ahmadis are considered to be the least deserving minority in terms of equal opportunities and civil rights. In the same study, the teachers in these elite schools showed an even lower amount of tolerance towards Ahmadis than their pupils. Ahmadis are harassed by certain schools, universities and teachers in Pakistan's Punjab province. The harassment includes social boycott, expulsions, threats and violence against Ahmadi students by extremist students, teachers and principals of the majority sect.

On 7 October 2005, masked gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles stormed a mosque belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in a village called Mong in Mandi Bahauddin, shooting dead eight people and wounding 14.

2008

Two prominent members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were murdered on 8 and 9 September 2008 after a program by Aamir Liaquat Hussain provoking people to kill Ahmadis was aired on a prominent Pakistani television channel Geo TV a day earlier on 7 September.

2009

During the year 2009, eleven Ahmadis were killed, while numerous others became victims of attempted killings, according to a report titled "Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the year 2009" published by Nazarat Umoor-e-Aama Sadr Anjuman Ahmadia Pakistan. The report claimed that the actions of "Ahmadi opponents" had been encouraged largely by the prejudiced attitude of the authorities, and alleged that the federal government had been in denial of the human rights and religious freedom of the Ahmadis, especially the governments of Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

2010

28 May 2010 saw the worst single incident of violence against Ahmadis to date (see May 2010 attacks on Ahmadi mosques in Lahore), when several members of an extremist religious group (allegedly Tehrik-i-Taliban Punjab) entered two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore and opened fire; three of them later detonated themselves. In total, the attacks claimed the lives of 86 people and injured well over 100. The members were gathered in the mosques attending Friday services. In response to the attacks, Pakistan minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti visited the Ahmadi community.

;April

Around 10 pm on 1 April 2010, three Ahmadis were returning home in their vehicle from their jewellery and cloth shops situated in Rail Bazaar in Faisalabad. As their car approached the Canal Road near Faisal Hospital, four or five unidentified militants in a white car ambushed them. The three Ahmadis were seriously injured when the men opened fire at them. The attackers managed to flee from the scene. The three men died before they reached the hospital.

;May Lahore attacks

On 28 May 2010, two mosques in Lahore belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Punjab Wing (Punjabi Taliban). The attacks were carried out nearly simultaneously at Mosque Darul Al Zikr, Garhi Shahu and Mosque Bait Al Noor Lahore Model Town, 15 km apart. More than 90 people were killed and 108 were injured in the incident. One attacker was killed; another was captured by worshipers. Three days later militants attacked the Intensive Care Unit of Lahore's Jinnah Hospital, where victims and one of the alleged attackers were under treatment. Twelve people, mostly police officers and hospital staff, were killed in the shootout. The assailants escaped. The Pakistani government did nothing to prevent this; as of yet they have not set up protection for Ahmadis. As of 28 May 2013 the two attackers captured had not been prosecuted, but early in 2015 courts took up the case and proceeded with sentencing.

On 31 May 2010, an Ahmadi was stabbed to death and his son seriously injured when an assailant climbed the wall of their house with a dagger and attacked them. The son later died in hospital from serious wounds. The attacker escaped. Residents say that the assailant threatened to not leave any Ahmadi alive after having found motivation to kill them through a sermon given by a local Sunni cleric.

;September

On 3 September 2010, an Ahmadiyya Mosque in Mardan was attacked during Friday Prayers by a terrorist when he opened fire at the Ahmadi guards there on duty. The guards fired back, injuring him. He threw grenades inside the mosque and later detonated his suicidal vest. The attack left one Ahmadi dead and three injured.

2011

On 7 September 2011, the mainstream Urdu

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