January 11, 2023: Terrorists brutally executed nine worshipers at Ahmadiyya mosque in the village of Mehdi Abad, near the town of Dori in Burkina Faso (BF). Thereafter they threatened others not to return to the mosque.
Map locating Burkina Faso
Early reports mention that the terrorists first attended a nearby Wahabi mosque before raiding the Ahmadiyya mosque at the next congregational prayer, Isha (night). After detaining the worshippers, they indulged in a brief religious discourse with the Ahmadi Imam and elders, only to declare them Kafir and Wajib ul qatl. They asked their victims to renounce Ahmadiyyat, but they opted not to do so. The gang picked out senior members in the congregation and shot them dead.
The Spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya Community said:
“Our community, all around the world, is a family and we are heartbroken at the brutal murder of our brothers and grieve with their local ones. We pray that God envelops the martyrs in His mercy.
“We also pray for the security of Burkina Faso and that the Government fulfils its duty to protect all Burkinoke people, including Ahmadi Muslims, and that the perpetrators of this heinous and evil crime be brought to justice.”
According to a press report in the defensepost.com
“Thousands of people have died and more than two million people have fled their homes since jihadists began launching attacks on Burkina Faso from neighboring Mali in 2015.
“More than a third of the country’s territory lies outside of government control.”
A local parallel. Pakistani press gave little importance to this news. Most locals who came to know of the incident, assessed it as a happening in world’s backyard — remote uncivilized Africa. But they forget that in somewhat similar attacks in Pakistan, violent extremists killed 86 Ahmadi worshippers in Lahore in 2010 – 10 times more victims. Earlier in Mong, Punjab, in year 2005, two terrorist, fired from the back of worshipers in line, killed 8 of them and injured 20. This latter incident is more comparable to the attack in BF, so we mention below its few relevant facts:
- Religion apparently was the motivating factor in both cases. Initial report indicate that the terrorists in BF were Islamists, Jihadists and of Wahabi orientation.
- While the BF gang was choosy about their victims, the Pakistanis fired their bursts without discrimination.
- In BF the terrorists undertook the massacre at leisure, while the Pakistanis fired and fled. They did not tell the rest ‘Don’t come to worship again’. This was better – but that was 17 years ago.
- One of the Mong killers was arrested, some months later. He had committed other murders too. The police were sure that he was the team-leader at Mong firing. In the subsequent trial, the judge acquitted him and set him free. Sometimes later, someone killed him.
- No wonder, Lahore massacre occurred five years later.
- The above mentioned report in the defencepost.com on the BF incident that a third of the country’s territory lies outside of government control should be an eye-opener for Pakistan. After all, the TTP is Islamist, Jihadist, Deobandist (if not Wahabist). Other groups, practicing violent extremism to terrorism, like TLP etc. could opt to upgrade overnight their activism to terrorism.
- In the 21st century, Burkina Faso is not all that far and remote from Pakistan. There is little time left for the Pakistani state to fall into the same ditch as BF. Terrorists are knocking at the door.
P.S. News report
“Burkina Faso: Supposed Jihadis abduct 50 womenThe daily Dunya, Faisalabad, January 15, 2023
