The issue of persecution of the Ahmadiyya community surfaced again in Pakistan’s Punjab province after Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Punjab Vice President Malik Ilyas Awan’s called to have them evicted from Khushab and their security withdrawn on the grounds that they should be restricted to Chenab Nagar.
Awan on July 30 wrote an application to the Deputy Commissioner of Khushab wherein he wrote that security to Qadianis/Ahmadiyyas is a mockery of the Pakistan Constitution, which must be stopped, local media reported.
“It is requested that Qadianis cannot worship freely in the Islamic state of Pakistan. During Bhutto Shaheed’s government, an area in Chenab Nagar had been allocated for a particular period under an agreement. They cannot do worship outside this area,” he wrote.
Pakistan is more phobic of the Ahmadiyya sect and its interpretation of Islam than most other nations where the community is present.
Ahmadis number about 4 million in Pakistan, but the community has been forbidden to call itself Muslim since 1974 by the Pakistani Constitution which considers them “infidels”.
Resultantly, Ahmadis are not even allowed to call their houses of prayer “mosques,” while basic religious practices associated with Islam are forbidden for them.
Awan in a letter to DC Khushab further stated that Pakistan is an Islamic state, while Namaz prayers are offered and preaching is carried out every Friday at the house of Tariq Wirk, located in Joharabad New Satellite Town which is totally against the constitution of the Islamic state.
He also said that the presence of Ahmadiyyas in the area is adversely impacting the environment of the children.
“It is requested that their (Ahmadiyyas) security must be lifted immediately and enquiry be held in this regard. Those who don’t have faith in the finality of prophethood must be ousted from the district,” wrote Awan.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Monday strongly condemned PML-Q Punjab Vice President Malik Ilyas Awan’s call to have the local Ahmadiyya community evicted from Khushab and their security withdrawn.
“The ghettoisation of this long-persecuted community must cease. No authority has the right to dictate where any citizen chooses to live,” said HRCP.
The HRCP further stressed that no authority has the right to dictate where any citizen chooses to live.
“The state is under a constitutional responsibility to protect the Ahmadiyya community’s right to life, to live where they choose and to profess their faith safely,” added HRCP.
It also raised concern over the incitement to violence implicit in the PML-Q leader’s demand.
The Ahmadi community faces persecution in Pakistan in the form of hate crimes and mob violence and their schools, mosques and public events like wedding parties are usual targets.
These incidents are further aided by institutional apathy which prevents any action against the attackers, reported JustEarth news.
They remain the most vulnerable prey of Pakistan’s violent blasphemy laws, with at least 13 Ahmadis killed and 40 wounded since 2017 owing to their identity.
The members of the Ahmadi community are not spared persecution even in their death as there are an increasing number of cases of their graves being dug up and desecrated.