September 12, 2024 – The Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan is facing a disturbing escalation of persecution, with the recent demolition of a mosque’s minarets and incendiary hate speech calling for their murder.
On September 10th, police officials in Okara, Punjab province, demolished the minarets and covered the Islamic inscriptions of an Ahmadi mosque. This mosque was constructed before the introduction of anti-Ahmadi laws in 1984, which a Lahore High Court judge had recently ruled do not permit the demolition or alteration of religious buildings predating the legislation.
This attack on the Ahmadi place of worship is part of a concerning trend, with over 40 Ahmadi mosques targeted since 2023, often with the complicity of the state. “The targeting of Ahmadi Muslim mosques by religious extremists, particularly in Punjab, is a continuing and serious concern,” the article states.
Just days earlier, on September 7th, a large rally was held in Lahore by the far-right Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) party to commemorate 50 years since Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims in Pakistan’s constitution. During the event, firebrand cleric Manzoor Mengal delivered a hate-filled speech, declaring Ahmadis to be “apostates” who “must be killed” – either by the state or by the public.
Mengal’s inflammatory rhetoric, which also called on women to join the hunt for Ahmadis, comes on the heels of a 10 million rupee bounty placed on Pakistan’s Chief Justice by a deputy leader of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, after the judge initially acquitted an Ahmadi man falsely accused of blasphemy.
“Pakistan is witnessing an alarming rise in violent hate speech, with disturbing consequences for the Ahmadi community and other religious minorities,” the article states.
Human rights groups are now calling on the international community to pressure the Pakistani government to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, end the illegal desecration of Ahmadi mosques, and uphold its obligations to protect the rights and safety of all its citizens, regardless of their faith.
The persecution of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan is a grave human rights violation that demands urgent global attention and action. As the attacks and hate speech continue to escalate, the lives and livelihoods of innocent Pakistanis hang in the balance.
