On Thursday, experts from the United Nations expressed great concern about reports of an increase in violence and discrimination against the Ahmadiyya minority community in Pakistan, including attacks on houses of worship and extrajudicial killings.
Although the Ahmadiyya community has been persecuted in Pakistan for decades, in recent years there has been an increase in threats and intimidation.
Including the special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions, freedom of expression, and religion, the eight independent experts declared, “We are alarmed by ongoing reports of violence and discrimination against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan.”
They released a statement saying, “Urgent measures are necessary to respond to these violent attacks and the broader atmosphere of hatred and discrimination which feeds it.”
The experts, who are not UN representatives but are selected by the UN Human Rights Council, cited many particular instances from the past few months.
These included the arbitrary murder of two Ahmadis in Saad Ullah Pur on July 8 and the assassination of the Ahmadiyya community’s president in the region of Bahawalpur on March 4.
They also took note of reports that, since the year’s commencement, there have been an unsettling number of attacks on Ahmadi graves and houses of worship, some of which have resulted in worshippers suffering severe injuries.
A number of claimed arbitrary arrests of Ahmadi worshippers during religious holidays were also brought up in the statement, “to obstruct their participation in their religious practices.”
The Ahmadi community leadership in Pakistan estimates that the number of Ahmadis is approximately 500,000.
Since 1974, the Constitution has designated them as non-Muslims, and a regulation passed in 1984 prohibits them from openly identifying as Muslims or engaging in Islamic customs.
“Judicial harassment serves to normalize violence against Ahmadis by non-state actors,” the experts warned, emphasizing that “Ahmadis’ right to peacefully manifest their beliefs must be respected.”
They applauded the resolution passed by the National Assembly last month requesting that the federal and local governments guarantee the safety and security of all Pakistani citizens, including members of religious minorities.
However, they issued a warning, saying that “such sincere attempts to combat discriminatory discourse will be ineffective unless they address its structural drivers, (including) discriminatory legal provisions and blasphemy laws.”
