AHMADIYYA MUSLIM FOREIGN MISSIONS OFFICE UK
The Human Rights Section is working under the auspices of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Foreign Mission Office, (Wakalat Tabshir). The office is responsible to highlight the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in different countries, especially in Pakistan. The news mentioned on the website and in our reports is factually accurate, verified by multiple sources, and is the least sensationalized. The Human Rights section aims to raise awareness and promote the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms for members of the Ahmadi Muslim community, as guaranteed by the constitution and international human rights norms.
The persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan is a clear example of state-sponsored religious discrimination where the state has declared Ahmadis ‘non-Muslim’ against their will and contrary to their core beliefs. This state-sponsored persecution is evident through various laws and regulations that restrict their basic rights. The government has failed to protect Ahmadi Muslims and instead, has created a hostile environment for them through its policies and actions.
Ahmadis truly believe that ‘the love of one’s country is part of faith’ (Saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad pbuh.) Ahmadi Muslims were at the forefront in the creation of Pakistan, they sacrificed for its stability and will continue to work towards making it a great nation. The goal is not to criticize or lobby against any state, but rather to collaborate with relevant authorities and stakeholders in creating a just and inclusive society where every individual can exercise their rights without discrimination.
We ardently desire Pakistan to flourish and emerge from the entanglement of religious intolerance, hatred towards each other, and the culture of declaring each other Kafir. Together, let us work towards breaking the bonds of division and discrimination to make Pakistan a great nation as envisaged by the founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
PERSECUTION OF AHMADIS IN PAKISTAN
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama‘at is established in 214 countries of the world. This community was founded in Qadian, India in 1889 by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who was a great Muslim divine and reformer. The movement he started is an embodiment of the benevolent message of Islam – peace, universal brotherhood, universal justice, and submission to the will of God. It rejects all forms of terrorism and is opposed to the concept of aggressive violence to promote religion i.e. the present-day concept of violent Jihad. Extremist ulama are vehemently opposed to this peaceful interpretation of Islam. They have used it as an excuse to excommunicate this Jama‘at from the fold of Islam. In Pakistan and some other Muslim countries, mullas, politicians, and generals in power have cooperated to suppress and persecute this reformist community.
In 1974, Mr. Z.A. Bhutto, the then prime minister of Pakistan, found it politically advantageous to impose Non-Muslim status on Ahmadis through a constitutional amendment. In this vile innovation, mullas supported him to the hilt. This change opened new doors for the persecution of the community. Since then, the state and the Mulla have acted as a team to severely persecute Ahmadis.
In 1984, ten years after the Amendment, dictator-president General Zia-ul-Haq promulgated Ordinance XX which adversely affected the everyday lives of Ahmadis. This legislation made it a criminal offence punishable by three years imprisonment and an unlimited fine if they practised, propagated, or even proclaimed their faith in Islam.
Yohanan Friedmann, a research scholar, and Max Schloessinger Professor Emeritus has written in his book ‘Prophecy Continuous’: “The Ordinance promulgated by the President on April 26, 1984 goes a long way in accepting the most extreme anti-Ahmadi demands and transforms much of the daily life of the Community into a criminal offence.” (University of California Press, 1989; p 46)
This law breaks the guarantee provided by the Constitution in Article 20 on freedom of religion. It blatantly violates Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, goes against the spirit of the United Nations Charter, and is an obvious outrage against the UN General Assembly’s Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion or Belief. The UN Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities expressed its ‘grave concern’ at the promulgation of this Ordinance and requested the UN Commission on Human Rights to call on the Government of Pakistan to repeal it (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/L.42 of 27 August 1985). It is nevertheless relentlessly applied.
As a result, since 1984, hundreds of Ahmadis have been murdered for their faith, and the authorities have not prosecuted even 5% of the assailants. In 2010, 86 Ahmadi worshipers were slain in two mosques in Lahore in a simultaneous attack. The authorities decided to delay counteraction during the massacre; there is highly reliable evidence available that, if not collusion, their acceptance of the terrorist onslaught was surely there. PML (N) was in power. In October 2005, eight Ahmadis were killed and 20 wounded when religious zealots sprayed bullets at worshippers in Mong, District Mandi Bahauddin. Later, the killers were arrested but a trial court dismissed their charges. In March 2012, the police tortured an Ahmadi president of a local community to death in Rabwah. In July 2014, an Ahmadi woman and her two granddaughters including a seven-month-old baby died of asphyxiation in an arson attack in police presence in Gujranwala. On August 12, 2022, an Ahmadi was stabbed to death at the bus stand in broad daylight, only for his faith. The assailant and the victim had not known each other before the assault. In June this year, a madrassah student shot dead two Ahmadis within 20 minutes in District Mandi Bahauddin.
In June of 2008, the authorities in Azad Kashmir blew up an Ahmadiyya mosque that was under construction in District Kotli. On January 14, 2010, the authorities in Punjab handed over an Ahmadiyya mosque in Ahmad Nagar to non-Ahmadis, although it was built by Ahmadis on land owned by an Ahmadi, and was under Ahmadiyya management for twenty years. In 2016, a threatening mob attacked an Ahmadiyya mosque in Dulmial on December 12, 2016. After the clash, the authorities locked the only mosque there, for this is what the criminal gang demanded. The Ahmadi worshippers have had no place to congregate for worship for the last eight years. In May 2018, a mob almost destroyed a historic Ahmadiyya mosque in Sialkot, in police presence. Later, the riot leaders thanked the district administration for substantial support.
Both the State and the Mulla have targeted Ahmadiyya mosques. To date, 77 mosques have been demolished, 48 sealed by the authorities, 52 set on fire or damaged, and 18 have been forcibly occupied by the opponents. Surely, no other state in recent history can compete with this outrage.
The anti-Ahmadiyya laws have been interpreted and applied maliciously all over Pakistan, often out of all contexts. For instance, grieving the survivors of the deceased further, more than thirty bodies of Ahmadi dead have been disinterred from public graveyards, even though there is no provision in law for this atrocious act. Only in the year 2023, at the behest of miscreants, the police and the administration destroyed or damaged 100 gravestones in Pakistan.
Under current law, Ahmadis cannot vote unless they do so as ‘non-Muslims’. Those who believe in Islam have to sign an affidavit of faith in the ‘end of Prophethood’ and deny being an Ahmadi to qualify as a voter. Despite joint electorates, Ahmadis are placed on a separate list of voters, as Non-Muslims. The latest Election Act 2017 was amended to include all the discriminatory and prohibitive provisions to prevent Ahmadis from voting. As such, Ahmadis have not been able to vote for the past 36 years.
In the town of Rabwah, which serves as the centre for the community in Pakistan and where 95% of the residents are Ahmadi, the local councils do not have even a single Ahmadi representative. Ahmadis have practically no say in the affairs of the local town councils. Therefore, essential civic services such as water, streets, sewage, etc. are in a deplorable state in this town of approximately 75,000 population.
Ahmadis’ right to peaceful religious assembly has been severely curtailed. The annual convention of the community in Rabwah has not been allowed since 1984 while non-Ahmadi mullas, with the assistance of the government, can hold several highly slanderous open-air conferences every year in Rabwah causing disquiet and discomfort to its residents and flagrantly injuring their feelings. The government changed the name of Rabwah to Chenab Nagar in 1999 against the wishes of its residents.
In May 2008, Ahmadis planned to celebrate the centenary of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat but the police prohibited them from doing that. Some years ago, they booked the entire population of Rabwah. The authorities have prohibited the community’s annual sports, rallies, celebrations, etc.
In the field of education, Ahmadi students encounter unabashed prejudice in public institutions of higher learning and professional education. The events that occurred in the Punjab Medical College Faisalabad during June and July 2008 are public knowledge. The principal rusticated all 23 male and female Ahmadi students. In November 2020, the principal of Naseer Millat School in Syedwala, District Nankana, Punjab, told Ahmadi children that they were not welcome in his school, so all nine of them had to migrate elsewhere. In 2022, 22 Ahmadi students were expelled from schools in Pakistan. This year six Ahmadi female school teachers were transferred amidst a severe hate campaign in District Kotli, AJK. On a larger scale, it is on record that in 1972, the state nationalized all eight of the Ahmadiyya-owned schools and two colleges, like other private institutions. However, in 1996 the government reversed its policy and declared that such institutions would be returned to their original owners. This was done for all those who complied with the conditions set forth — except for Ahmadis, who had also complied meticulously with all the conditions set forth.
This deplorable anti-Ahmadiyya law (Ordinance XX) continues to be applied extensively and heedlessly. Violations of Ahmadis’ religious freedom are systematic, ongoing, and egregious. To date, criminal cases have been registered against more than three and a half thousand Ahmadis throughout Pakistan under the provisions of the anti-Ahmadiyya and other religious laws such as the blasphemy laws. The entire population of Rabwah has been booked twice in criminal FIRs, and the cases remain open. Since the promulgation of Ordinance XX, hardly a day passed when an Ahmadi was not in prison for an offence or incident rooted in his faith. Last year the police booked 133 Ahmadis in cases based on religion. In 2022 on the occasion of the Eid ul Azha festival, the police booked 13 Ahmadis.
For half a century now, the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan has experienced prolific and persistent hate propaganda from the vernacular print media. The electronic media has joined this ugly race. News, op-eds, and comments against Ahmadis are often grossly false, provocative, and orchestrated. The law does not allow Ahmadis to explain their position in public (proselytizing!) while the authorities, in the name of freedom of the press and media, do not urge the hate-mongers to stop their hate and rancour. Referring to the Ahmadiyya situation in Pakistan, the International Humanist and Ethical Union conveyed to the UNHRC in 2010, “Need we remind the Council and the government of Pakistan that it was government and media support for expressions of hatred that led to the Nazi Holocaust and the genocide in Rwanda.”
Regrettably, the judiciary provided little relief to the persecuted community. Lower courts generally, and higher courts often, interpret the anti-Ahmadi laws very harshly. Even the Supreme Court has given the senseless inference in 1993 that an Ahmadi who displays any commitment to the Islamic creed commits blasphemy against the Holy Prophet [p.b.u.h.]. With such a loose definition of ‘blasphemy’ and the attitude of the apex court, hundreds of Ahmadis have been exposed to the mischief of the blasphemy law PPC 295-C that now prescribes nothing but death for its victims. Over three hundred Ahmadis have faced fabricated charges under the blasphemy laws to date. In 2018, Justice Siddiqui of IHC wrote a 172-page judgment against Ahmadis, without giving a minute’s hearing to an Ahmadi. His judgment is worded as if written by a mulla. In May 2021, Justice Farooq Haider of Lahore High Court issued an Order justifying the application of top blasphemy laws on Ahmadis who read the Holy Quran or have a book of their Founder. This criminalized the entire Ahmadi Community in the country. Just as well, an LHC bench overturned Haider’s ruling. The Chief Justice, this year, granted bail to an Ahmadi madrassah principal; an enraged mulla announced Rs 10m bounty on the CJP’s head.
Even after the death of General Zia in 1988 no government, democratic or military, has provided any relief to Ahmadis. Pakistan adopts a medieval approach in its treatment of Ahmadis. They continue to face severe discrimination and persecution during the present democratic regime as well, in every sphere of personal and public life. The severity of state-supported persecution has forced thousands of Ahmadis to flee the country and seek shelter abroad. In a first-ever, the official National Commission of Human Rights issued this year a fact-based report on Ahmadis’ plight and urged the government to protect the victims’ lives and properties. International human rights organizations like Amnesty International and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom have often reported on the plight of Ahmadis in Pakistan.
‘Blood, Jihad, and Duty to kill’ have been discussed in popular electronic media in the Ahmadiyya context, and target-killings of Ahmadi leaders have taken place. In 2011, mullas declared Ahmadis ‘worthy of death’ and published leaflets containing addresses of prominent Ahmadis and their businesses in Sargodha, Faisalabad, and Khushab. The authorities took no action against the instigators.
The provincial government in Punjab has adopted the policy of doing the Mulla’s bid. It has banned more than 90 books and publications of the Ahmadiyya community on recommendations of its Ulama Board. It forbade Ahmadis to publish their translations of the Holy Quran. In addition, the only private book depot in Rabwah was raided by authorities, and its octogenarian proprietor was arrested and was given 8 years imprisonment after a brief trial for selling Ahmadiyya publications. On December 5, 2016, the authorities mounted a Counter Terrorism raid on Ahmadiyya central offices. This was like adding insult to injury, in addition to being the first ever such action against Ahmadis. Most Ahmadis feel the persecution has worsened with time. They are at great risk due to the continuous flood of hateful propaganda.
Regrettably, the governments have adopted the policy of caring little for the human rights of Ahmadis. They have become proactive in violating these, presumably in their political interest. The plight of the Ahmadis has worsened progressively during this regime. For example, it has become routine in Punjab to desecrate Ahmadiyya mosques and graves severely — and unbelievably, the police and the administration undertake it. They do that simply by asking, and Tehrik Labbaik (TLP) is always there to demand that. At the turn of 2020/21, Peshawar became the centre of target killings of Ahmadis. It seemed that the killers had planned to clear the provincial capital of its Ahmadi population by making them flee for safety. The PTI leadership made no secret of its hate for Ahmadis. Mr Azam Sawati, a PTI senior, said in public, “I curse them (Ahmadis) and Imran Khan also curses Qadianiat”. Hafiz Ashrafi, a high-ranking mulla, callously observed, “I am not willing to accept these (Ahmadis) in the country.” A few weeks later, he was elevated to become PM’s Special Representative on Religious Harmony and the Middle East. On September 14, 2022, Mian Javed Latif, a PML-N federal minister, accused Imran Khan of pro-Ahmadiyya leaning, though falsely. On September 18, Saad Rafiq, another PML-N leader called ‘Qadianiat’ a ‘Great Mischief’ (Fitna Azeem).
The federal and provincial governments, if serious about the plight of minorities in the country, should prioritize the following concerning Ahmadis:
- Stop the Cyber Crime Wing’s vigilantism against Ahmadis, based on religion.
- Stop the desecration of Ahmadiyya mosques, on demand of the Mulla.
- Ensure that Ahmadis are not target-killed and assaulted for their faith.
- Denationalize Ahmadiyya schools and colleges — as per the government’s policy.
The authorities often brush off the accusation of anti-Ahmadi persecution as false reports. Let there be a litmus paper test. No long lists of actions — we propose two very simple ways for the present governments to prove their concern for Ahmadis’ freedom of religion and human rights:
- Lift the ban on Ahmadi founder’s works and allow publication of their daily paper and monthly periodicals for their children, women, youth, and elders.
- Forbid the police and administration desecration of Ahmadiyya mosques and graves.
October 11, 2024