Islamabad: Ahmadi Islamic community face more persecution

They are not recognised as Muslims in a country where Islam is the state religion and are persecuted by extremists in the complacent silence of the government with the support of large portions of the police force. Cases of arrests, persecution and harassment have increased, especially on the Feast of the Sacrifice.

Chenab Nagar (AsiaNews) - Incidents of forcibly stopping the Ahmadi cult have increased considerably this year. Throughout Pakistan extremist 'vigilantes' have been marking the homes of community members with the approval and sometimes the participation of the police.

There are 100 million of them in the world, scattered on every continent, but most are far from their places of origin: the border area between Punjab and Pakistan, where they continue to be severely persecuted. Imprisoned for blasphemy, abused, killed because they are considered a heresy of Islam.

The Ahmadi religious community is more than 100 years old and was founded in 1889 in Qadian, in present-day Punjab in India, by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a Muslim mystic.

But while the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at is known for its motto 'Love for all, hate for none', this community is hated - and persecuted - in Pakistan to such an extent that they cannot profess their faith even within the walls of their homes.

Most of the Ahmadis remaining in Pakistan have also been deprived by these 'executioners' of the opportunity to pray during the sacred feast of Eid ul Adha (feast commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham).

These are real violations of fundamental rights under Article 20 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the 2021 ruling by the country's Supreme Court that Ahmadis can practise their faith freely.

Despite this, there were 23 complaints filed at various police stations to prevent Ahmadis from ritual animal slaughter for Eid ul Adha, against 89 vigilantes simply reported for intimidating and harassing Ahmadis and preventing the ritual of animal sacrifice.

There were also four occasions when Ahmadis were prevented from praying for the Eid and 28 people were fined. A police inspector in Gujrat also announced through a loudspeaker at a mosque that the Ahmadis are not 'real' Muslims and that it is essential to be so before slaughtering an animal in a sacred ritual.

It did not end there: 13 Ahmadis were arrested, 10 animals were taken into custody and houses of Ahmadi worshippers were illegally searched by the police.

The Ahmadiyya community spokesman said: 'These are serious violations of the Ahmadis' religious rights by extremist vigilantes, with the support of state officials, including the police. While the government in Islamabad is silent about these atrocities, the same government is concerned about similar incidents of persecution of Muslims in other countries. We demand that all these persecutory acts against the Ahmadis be stopped immediately and that all those in prison be released because they are innocent'.