by A. Abdul Aziz

Reports reaching us indicate a mob beat to death a member of Pakistan’s persecuted Ahmadiyya minority on Friday after hundreds of radical Islamists surrounded their place of worship in the port city of Karachi, police said.

A mob, many from the anti-blasphemy political group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), stormed through narrow streets of Saddar neighbourhood chanting slogans, enraged that Ahmadis were allegedly offering Friday prayers.

“One member of the community was killed after the mob identified him as an Ahmadi. They attacked him with sticks and bricks.

The victim, identified as Laeeq Cheema, died before he could receive medical treatment at a hospital in the southern port city, said Amir Mahmood, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community. Government Civil Hospital spokesperson Summaiya Tariq confirmed the death of Cheema, saying he had multiple injuries.

The mob included members of several religious parties and police took around 25 Ahmadis into custody for their safety. In Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya community have been persecuted for decades, but threats and intimidation have intensified in recent years.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the World wide Head (Khalifa) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamáat also mentioned in brief about the incident in his last Friday Sermon.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was “appalled by the orchestrated attack by a far-right religious party on a colonial-era Ahmadi place of worship”.

“This failure of law and order is a stark reminder of the continued complicity of the state in the systematic persecution of a beleaguered community,” it said on X.

Pakistan’s constitution has branded Ahmadis non-Muslims since 1974, and a 1984 law forbids them from claiming their faith as Islamic.

Unlike in other countries, they cannot refer to their places of worship as mosques, make the call to prayer, or travel on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Hardline TLP (Tehreek-e-Lebbaik) supporters regularly monitor Ahmadi places of worship and file police complaints against them for identifying as Muslims and conducting prayers in a manner similar to Islamic practices — illegal in Pakistan.

Mob violence is common in Pakistan, where blasphemy is an incendiary issue that carries the death penalty.

Nonetheless, the Pakistani government authorities, who continue to bring frivolous cases against Ahmadi Muslims under anti-Ahmadiyya, blasphemy, and cybercrime laws, turn a blind eye towards systematic and country-wide efforts by Islamic extremists to fan hatred and ignite violence against Ahmadi Muslims. Instead of prosecuting the makers of these social media posts and videos under cybercrime laws and the National Action Plan, the governmental authorities continue to protect and support extremists and target innocent Ahmadis.

In July 2024, a group of top UN Human Rights experts including UN Special Rapporteurs urged an immediate end to discrimination and violence against Ahmadis in Pakistan, citing documented evidence of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, attacks on places of worship and curtailment of free expression, peaceful assembly and association.” Apparently, their pleas fell on deaf ears.

It is called upon the Pakistani authorities to honor their international human rights commitments to protect religious freedom and promote religious tolerance towards the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

It is requested all members of the international community to urge the government of Pakistan to take urgent steps to bring its laws and practices in conformity with international standards as ordained by UDHR and ICCPR.

Source:  www.france24.com