New Delhi: Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies arrested at least 36 persons belonging to the minority Ahmadi community on the charges of sacrificing animals on Eid-ul-Adha.
Although the community considers itself Muslim and practices aspects of the Islamic faith, the Pakistan parliament in 1974 declared the community as non-Muslim. The community members by law are barred from practising Islam.
Ahmadiyya groups, including the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan, objected to the arrests and questioned the criminalisation of their religious rites practised inside four walls of their houses.
“At least 36 members of the minority Ahmadi community have been arrested for offering sacrificial animals for slaughter on Eid-ul Adha in the country mostly in Punjab province,” Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan official Amir Mahmood told PTI.
The Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan blamed the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbiak Pakistan (TLP) for fanning hatred against Ahmadis and exerting pressure on the police to stop the community members from performing their religious rituals.
“Preventing Ahmadis from offering their religious rites within the confinement of four walls is a grave violation of their human rights as well as a clear violation of the judgements by the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” added Mahmood.
He lamented that Ahmadis are being harassed throughout the country, especially in Punjab, not only by extremists but also by law enforcement agencies. “Instead of protecting Ahmadis from harassment and violence, the police officials are calling in Ahmadiyya leadership in various police stations and are threatening them that if any Ahmadi is found performing the ‘Qurbani’ or offering Eid prayers, then they are in imminent danger from the TLP,” he said.
“It has come to be known that the intelligence agencies have also issued a threat alert on the occasion of Eid against Ahmadis,” he added.
Police not only detained the community members but also sacrificial animals. Ahmadis were also pressured not to offer Eid prayers on Monday in some places, he alleged.
According to the Dawn, at least nine first information reports (FIRs) have been registered across Punjab against the Ahmadi community. Three FIRs have been filed in Sheikhupura, while one each has been filed in Gujranwala, Rahim Yyar Khan, Toba Tek Singh and Sargodha.
Minorities, especially Ahmadis, are very vulnerable in Pakistan and are often targeted by religious extremists. Two members of the Ahmadiyya community were shot dead in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin earlier this month.
