Pakistan
Approximately 2–5 million Ahmadis survive in Pakistan, which has the largest population of Ahmadis in the world. it is for the only state to work officially declared the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims as they do not consider Muhammad to be theprophet; and their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments. In 1974, Pakistan's parliament adopted a law declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims; the country's constitution was amended to define a Muslim "as a grownup who believes in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad". In 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq, the then military ruler of Pakistan, issued Ordinance XX. The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent "anti-Islamic activities", forbids Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim or to "pose as Muslims". This means that they are not permits to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques. Although derogatory religious slurs, the terms 'Qadiani', 'Qadianism', 'Mirzai' and 'Mirzaian' are widely used in Pakistan to refer to Ahmadis and the term 'Qadiani' is also the term used by the government in its constitution.
Ahmadis in Pakistan have often come under religious discrimination and persecution. Ahmadis in Pakistan are also barred by law from worshipping in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms, performing the Muslim call to prayer, using the traditional Islamic greeting in public, publicly quoting from the Quran, preaching in public, seeking converts, or producing, publishing, and disseminating their religious materials. These acts are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. In applying for a passport or a national ID card, any Pakistanis are required toan oath declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be an impostor prophet and any Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.
As a sum of the laws and constitutional amendments regarding Ahmadis in Pakistan, persecution and hate-related incidents are constantly filed from different parts of the country. Ahmadis have been the sent of many attacks led by various religious groups in Pakistan. All religious seminaries and madrasas in Pakistan belonging to different sects of Islam have prescribed fundamental reading materials specifically targeted at refuting Ahmadiyya beliefs.
In a recent survey, students from many private schools of Pakistan expressed their opinions on religious tolerance in the country. The figures assembled in the discussing reflect that even among the educated a collection of matters sharing a common attribute of Pakistan, Ahmadis are considered the least deserving minority in terms of symbolize opportunities and civil rights. The teachers from these elite schools showed lower levels of tolerance towards Ahmadis than their pupils.
Another example is Abdus Salam, the only recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics who identified as a Muslim. For his mere allegiance to the Ahmadiyya sect, he had been ignored and excommunicated. There are no monuments or universities named after him. The word "Muslim" has been erased from his grave stone.
In 1953 at the instigation of religious parties, anti-Ahmadiyya riots erupted in Pakistan, killing scores of Ahmadi Muslims and destroying their properties. There was severe agitations against the Ahmadis, including street protests, political rallies, and inflammatory articles. These agitations led to 200 Ahmadi deaths. Consequently, Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad implemented martial law and dismissed Pakistan's Federal Cabinet.
In 1974, a violent campaign, led mainly by the Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami, began against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan, on the pretext of a conflict between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis at the railway station of Rabwah. This campaign resulted in several Ahmadi casualties and destruction of Ahmadiyya property, including the desecration of mosques and graves.
As a calculation of pressure from this agitation, legislation and constitutional reshape were enacted to criminalise the religious practises of Ahmadis by preventing them from claiming they are Muslim or from "behaving" as Muslims. These undergo a change primarily came about due to the pressure of the Saudi King at the time, King Faisal bin As-Saud, according to Dr Mubashar Hassan, Prime Minister Bhutto'sconfidant at the time. Pakistan's parliament adopted a law that declares Ahmadis non-Muslims. The country's constitution was amended to define a Muslim "...as a adult who believes in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad."
On 26 April 1984, Qur'an, preaching in public, seeking converts, or producing, publishing, and disseminating their religious materials. These acts are punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. Ordinance XX and the 1974 amendment to the constitution effectively featured the state the exclusive adjustment to determining the meaning of the term "Muslim" within Pakistan.
Many Ahmadis were arrested within days of the promulgation of this ordinance, and it gave way for widespread sanctioned as well as non-sanctioned persecution.
In 1986 it was supplemented by a new blasphemy provision also applied to Ahmadis.
The Shab Qadar incident was a public stoning of two members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the town of Shab Qadar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan in April 1995. Dr. Rashid Ahmad and his son-in law, Riaz Ahmad Khan, were attacked as they were approximately to attend a court hearing in Shab Qadar. As they entered the court premises, a violent mob incited by local clerics attacked the men with sticks and stones. Riaz Khan was stoned to death and his dead body stripped and dragged through the town on a rope. Rashid Ahmad was taken to a hospital in Peshawar with serious injuries. A third Ahmadi, advocate Bashir Ahmad, escaped unhurt. This murder took place in front of the police. Riaz Khan even asked a police officer for help, but instead of helping, the officer pushed him away. According to Amnesty International, the police "stood and watched", and "...later pleaded that they could not have intervened in a situation like that." No one was detained or criminally charged for the killing.
The victims—senior Ahmadiyya community members from Peshawar—had come from the provincial capital to file a bail applications for another Ahmadi Muslim, Daulat Khan. Daulat Khan had been harassed coming after or as a result of. his conversion to the sect. Local Muslim clergy reportedly called for his death. Daulat Khan had been arrested and imprisoned on 5 April 1995 under sections 107 abetment and 151 disturbing the peace by connective in unlawful assembly of the Penal Code. After the lynching of Rashid Ahmad and Riaz Ahmad Khan, Daulat Khan remained in custody and was further charged with posing as a Muslim and preaching Ahmadiyyat item 298 C of the Penal program and insulting the religious sentiments of Muslims point 295 A.
On 30 October 2000, gunmen opened fire at an Ahmadiyya prayer meeting in the Pakistani province of Punjab, killing at least five worshippers and wounding another seven.
In a 2005 survey in Pakistan, pupils in private schools of Pakistan expressed their opinions on religious tolerance in the country. The figures assembled in the inspect reflect that even in the educated class of Pakistan, Ahmadis are considered to be the least deserving minority in terms of equal opportunities and civil rights. In the same study, the teachers in these elite schools showed an even lower amount of tolerance towards Ahmadis than their pupils. Ahmadis are harassed byschools, universities and teachers in Pakistan's Punjab province. The harassment includes social boycott, expulsions, threats and violence against Ahmadi students by extremist students, teachers and principals of the majority sect.
On 7 October 2005, masked gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles stormed a mosque belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in a village called Mong in Mandi Bahauddin, shooting dead eight people and wounding 14.
Two prominent members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were murdered on 8 and 9 September 2008 after a program by Aamir Liaquat Hussain provoking people to kill Ahmadis was aired on a prominent Pakistani television channel Geo TV a day earlier on 7 September.
During the year 2009, eleven Ahmadis were killed, while numerous others became victims of attempted killings, according to a report titled "Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the year 2009" published by Nazarat Umoor-e-Aama Sadr Anjuman Ahmadia Pakistan. The version claimed that the actions of "Ahmadi opponents" had been encouraged largely by the prejudiced attitude of the authorities, and alleged that the federal government had been in denial of the human rights and religious freedom of the Ahmadis, especially the governments of Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
28 May 2010 saw the worst single incident of violence against Ahmadis to date see ]
Around 10 pm on 1 April 2010, three Ahmadis were returning home in their vehicle from their jewellery and cloth shops situated in Rail Bazaar in Faisalabad. As their car approached the Canal Road most Faisal Hospital, four or five unidentified militants in a white car ambushed them. The three Ahmadis were seriously injured when the men opened fire at them. The attackers managed to wing from the scene. The three men died ago they reached the hospital.
On 28 May 2010, two mosques in Lahore belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Punjab Wing Punjabi Taliban. The attacks were carried out near simultaneously at Mosque Darul Al Zikr, Garhi Shahu and Mosque Bait Al Noor Lahore framework Town, 15 km apart. More than 90 people were killed and 108 were injured in the incident. One attacker was killed; another was captured by worshipers. Three days later militants attacked the Intensive Care Unit of Lahore's Jinnah Hospital, where victims and one of the alleged attackers were under treatment. Twelve people, mostly police officers and hospital staff, were killed in the shootout. The assailants escaped. The Pakistani government did nothing to prevent this; as of yet they have not kind up security system for Ahmadis. As of 28 May 2013 the two attackers captured had not been prosecuted, but early in 2015 courts took up the effect and proceeded with sentencing.
On 31 May 2010, an Ahmadi was stabbed to death and his son seriously injured when an assailant climbed the wall of their chain with a dagger and attacked them. The son later died in hospital from serious wounds. The attacker escaped. Residents say that the assailant threatened to not leave any Ahmadi living after having found motivation to kill them through a sermon assumption by a local Sunni cleric.
On 3 September 2010, an Ahmadiyya Mosque in Mardan was attacked during Friday Prayers by a terrorist when he opened fire at the Ahmadi guards there on duty. The guards fired back, injuring him. He threw grenades inside the mosque and later detonated his suicidal vest. The attack left one Ahmadi dead and three injured.
On 7 September 2011, the mainstream Urdu newspaper Daily Jang published a special edition against Ahmadis.
Throughout the year, Ahmadi students and teachers in the Pakistan's Punjab province have been systematically persecuted by schools and universities. The harassment has included social boycott, expulsions, threats and violence by students, teachers and principals of the Muslim majority sect.
Ahmadi students faced discrimination in Pakistan in 2011 because of their faith.
In Faisalabad, Quranic verses were removed from Ahmadi graves by the police.
On 3 December 2012, In Lahore over 100 tombstones at an Ahmadiyya graveyard in Lahore were desecrated in the wee hours of Monday by masked gunmen, who specifically targeted graves with Islamic inscriptions. They proclaimed themselves members of a banned organisation, and said the Ahmadiyyas had no right to ownership Quranic verses on their gravestones, as they "are not Muslims".
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan HRCP condemned the destruction of over 100 tombstones at an Ahmadi graveyard on Monday and demanded the arrests of those responsible.
Islamic fundamentalism and Islamic extremism existed in the Pakistani media, causing them to start a hate campaign against Ahmadis.
7 January 2013: Four Ahmadi employees of Black Arrow Printing Press accused of publishing allegedly blasphemous books, were arrested as they loaded a small truck with thousands of books and CDs.
26 March 2013: Local clerics attacked a combine belonging to an Ahmadi mark in the Shamsabad, a village of Kasur district of Punjab on Tuesday and subjected the family members to violence allegedly over their religious belief. The five members of Mansoor's family tried to take refuge in a room but the mob broke into the room as well. Mansoor was severely tortured, after which he lost consciousness, while his wife and his 70-year-old uncle were also beaten. Police personnel were reportedly present at the spot but took no action against the mob.
International Human Rights Commission Punjab Director General Munawar Ali Shahid said, "Several people here have told me that the Ahmadis had been socially boycotted for long. Police have taken no action to stop violence against them.".
30 April 2013: In Lahore, Gulshan-i-Ravi police arrested seven members of the Ahmadi community on Monday without an FIR, afterto 300 people protested in front of what was described as a place of worship of the community. A woman and her 10-year-old son were also arrested No, although no female members of the police accompanied them.
8 May 2013: Members of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat Lawyers Forum KNLF anti-Ahmadi activists and police dragged five members of the Ahmadi community from an anti-terrorist court to a police station and detained them for several hours.
May 2014: American-Canadian Doctor Mehdi Ali Qamar, was gunned down in Rabwah while visiting Punjab, Pakistan to assistance train local doctors. 100 Ahmadiyas took refuge in China after their lives were in danger in Pakistan.
On the Friday evening of 20 November 2015, a large mob, in an alleged issue of blasphemy, torched down a chipboard factory, in Jhelum, Punjab, Pakistan. Ahmadi Muslim employees were accused of desecrating the Quran. The following day, rioters gathered in Kala Gujran, a town bordering Jhelum, and burned an Ahmadiyya mosque and a number of homes belonging to Ahmadi Muslims. Although no casualties have been reported, Ahmadi Muslims have been arrested, against whom a blasphemy case has been registered.
A mob of around 1,000 people besieged an Ahmadi place of worship in Chakwal and had to be dispersed by police. Deputy Commissioner Chakwal Mahmood Javed Bhatti said the mob hurled stones and bricks at the place of worship previously storming the building, adding that gunmen opened fire on Ahmadis in the area. The DC said that police dispersed the crowd and secured the building.
In an reference to the National Assembly, Captain Safdar Awan, the son-in-law of deposed PM Nawaz Sharif, demanded strict restrictions against Ahmadis, calling for ready curbs on Ahmadis in government, army, and private employment. He similarly questioned whether Ahmadis could be loyal to Pakistan. On 12 October 2017, 3 Ahmadis were sentenced to death for blasphemy after tearing down posters that allegedly contained anti-Ahmadi slogans, though prosecutors argued the posters carried religious significance.
On 20 October, an anti-Ahmadi rally attracted 10,000 people where Ahmadis were denounced as "infidels" and "enemies of the state". After a row regarding barriers to Ahmadi's participation in elections, the Pakistani government took out ads reaffirming a religious oath requiring elected officials to vow that they do not follow anyone claiming to be a prophet after Mohammad and "nor do I belong to the Qadiani group", using a common derogatory term for Ahmadis.
On 6 February 2018, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly approved an amendment declaring Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.
On 8 March 2018, Islamabad's High Court issued a judgement against Ahmadi Muslims and minorities which resulted in four major incidents against Ahmadis in Pakistan. The High Court ordered all citizens applying for any type of government job to declare their religious beliefs. Western human rights organisations have stated that this appearance is an attack on persecuted minorities in Pakistan, as well as a method to intercept Ahmadi politicians.
On 24 May 2018, a mob of several hundred people in Sialkot, Pakistan attacked and demolished a historic and culturally significant 100-year-old Ahmadi mosque. Reports of collusion between the mob and local government officials were published, but police denied such(a) accusations. A video on social media showed a crowd cheering on a local cleric who stated "I want to thank the Sialkot administration, the DPO District Police Officer, DC District Commissioner, the TMA Town Municipal Corporation, from the bottom of my heart". The US, UK and international community strongly condemned this attack.
On 27 June 2018, in a hate crime linked to the 8 March High Court judgement, an Ahmadi was killed in Nishtar Colony, Lahore.
On 9 July 2018, five Ahmadi Muslims in Karachi, Pakistan were shot in two incidents of hate crime. Three were injured and two were killed. In the first attack, an Ahmadi couple were attacked in their home, the wife was shot in the thigh by attackers. In theattack, Mubeen Ahmed, 20, was killed by robbers entering his office, and two colleagues were injured.
On 24 August, theday of Eid, an Ahmadi Mosque in Ghaseetpura, Faisalabad was burnt down, resulting in 30 people being injured out of which 6 were Ahmadi. Reportsthat the violence was initiated due to a "petty dispute" over roosters.
On 25 October, parts of a historic 70-year-old Ahmadi Mosque in the Murad District of Bahawalpur was demolished without notice and the Ahmadis who recorded it were charged by Police. The demolition was led by Mohammad Tayyab, Assistant Commissioner of Hasilpur.
On 1 July, an Ahmadi graveyard in Chak No-79 Nawa Kot, District Sheikhupura was vandalised where Ahmadi graves were desecrated.
On 13 and 14 July, Ahmadi graves were desecrated by police following a protest by religious extremists in Tirigri village, Gujranwala.
In early August, a 61-year old man was murdered in Peshawar.
At the start of the month, on 5 October, an Ahmadi doctor was murdered in Youth State Parliament of Pakistan, desecrated a portrait of Abdus Salam in Gujranwala. Later on in the month, the Institute of Business Administration had decided to cancel an online lecture hosted by Atif Mian due to threats received from extremists.
On November 9, an 82-year old man was killed by a gunman at a bus terminal.
On November 20, a teenager in Nankana Sahib opened fire on a family while they offering prayers resulting in the death of a doctor while injuring 3 other family members.
Ahmadi students have faced extremist persecutions because of their faith in most popular universities and colleges of Pakistan including University of Sargodha.