by A. Abdul Aziz

U.K. based International Human Rights Committee (IHRC) has reported that, in the latest in a string of attacks on religious freedom in Pakistan, the police in Lahore have sided with a wild mob to arrest 6 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at their place of business on the basis of religion. 

Two Ahmadis (Father and son) of Badami Bagh, Lahore, were targeted and arrested on the 18th of August on charges of preaching the message of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community within his shoe factory. Two and a half weeks prior, on the 1st of August, the charges were registered against father and son, who acquired bail before any arrest and were scheduled to appear at a hearing on the 22nd of August. However, on the 18th of August, a wild mob gathered outside the factory while the father and son were inside. Instead of protecting father and son from the wild mob, the police arrested them, along with 4 others who were there simply to gather some things and documents and took them into custody at the Badami Bagh Police Station.

Ahmadi Muslims continue to live under fear of persecution and death in their daily lives. Already barred from preaching, praying, and even using common Islamic greetings at homes and their places of worship, they have seen their mosques destroyed and graveyards desecrated. Now even their commerce and places of business are being targeted and taken away from them. And most concerning is that the persecution is being implemented at the hands of not only the extreme clerics but also the police themselves. 

Indeed, every aspect of normal life has become hell for Ahmadi Muslims, and the IHRC is very concerned that no actions are being taken to protect the basic human rights of these Pakistani citizens. The government of Pakistan must grant protection from all forms of intimidation and violence against any of its citizens. The IHRC calls upon the government of Pakistan to show its defence of these innocent Ahmadis and finally grant them peace and the pursuit of happiness.  

It is urged the law enforcement agencies stop the arrest and imprisonment of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan. 

This is another blatant violation of Human Rights for Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan in a long series of state sanctioned persecution going back many decades. 

In Pakistan, there has been a sharp increase in attacks against people of the Ahmadiyya community and also incidents of damage to their property, especially Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosques and graveyards. 

Human rights groups have repeatedly expressed their deep concern over the lack of attention to the serious human rights violations perpetrated against the Ahmadiyya community and called on the international community to step up efforts in bringing an end to the ongoing persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan.

IHRC has reported several times that a wave of bigotry against Ahmadiyya Muslims has intensified since the start of 2023. In another worrying sign of growing crisis in Pakistan, two dozen Ahmadiyya Mosque has been desecrated. 

On 29 August 2023, under the pressure from religious extremists, police and local authorities defaced Ahmadi mosques in the towns of Shadiwal and Chooknawali, in Gujrat District. 

On the following day 30 August 2023, Minarets on another Ahmadi Mosque, in Sheikhupura, were desecrated. Police officials returned Chooknawali and obliterated sacred writings on the Ahmadi Mosque they had attacked the previous day.

It has become impossible for Ahmadis to practice their faith while ruthlessly hunted by fundamentalist gangs. The latest desecration act of the Mosques desecration carried out by the locals and Police is open proof of the fact there is no sign of improvement in the law-and-order situation for the Ahmadis in Pakistan. 

Human rights groups have repeatedly expressed their deep concern over the lack of attention to the serious human rights violations perpetrated against the Ahmadiyya community around the world and called on the international community to step up efforts in bringing an end to the ongoing persecution of Ahmadis. 

It is repeatedly urged the international community to pressure the Government of Pakistan to honor its responsibility to provide protection to all its citizens, ensure freedom of religious practice to Ahmadis, and bring perpetrators of such vicious attacks to justice.