New Delhi: Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan wanted a simple thing– to celebrate a festival. But members of the historically persecuted community were arrested and harassed as they watched the police take meat away from their homes. The Pakistani state made sure they didn’t get to celebrate Bakrid.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim community, declared non-Muslim under Pakistani law, has long faced systematic discrimination for celebrating religious festivals.
At least 36 Ahmadiyyas have been arrested and nine FIRs filed against them in the country. These people, mostly from Pakistan’s Punjab province, have been charged with performing the ritual of animal sacrifice or qurbani on Eid al-Adha – an act deemed illegal under Pakistani law for members of their community.
Police in various cities, including Faisalabad and Karachi went so far as to search Ahamdiyya vehicles and homes, confiscating meat from wherever it was discovered.
After videos of meat confiscation went viral, activist and professor Taimur Rahman tweeted: “If Ahmedis begin to eat meat, people will mistake them for being Muslims; hence, police has to stop them from eating meat. I was wrong to ask “where is the state”. I can finally see the state in action.”
In another horrific incident, a mob of approximately 150 people attacked an Ahmadiyya mosque in Kotli in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The mob opened fire at the worshippers and vandalised the mosque’s minarets and arches.
The press section of Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan posted on X about how a 13-year-old Ahmadiyya boy was arrested for simply keeping a lamb at his home in Gujranwala. An Ahmadiyya doctor is also reportedly missing after being arrested for keeping a three-month-old goat at his house in Gujranwala.
Earlier, in Punjab’s Chakwal, an Ahmadiyya delegation faced 30-day detention for refusing to sign a bond renouncing their right to perform qurbani on Bakrid.
The complicity of the state
Activists across Pakistan have condemned these incidents and called the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) complicit.
“From Christian’s to Hindus and to especially Ahmadis, all of these persecutions are happening under the watch of Maryam Nawaz, whose Husband is freely roaming around Punjab attending Khatam e Nabuwat conferences, saying only one thing – Terminate Ahmadis! PMLN is directly complicit in these crimes – be it lynching a Christian or shooting Ahmadis!” activist Ali Raza tweeted.
Another X user tweeted about how the Punjab Police is using voter lists to target Ahmadiyyas. They are being arrested and forced to sign affidavits prohibiting them from sacrificing animals on Eid, the user claimed.
“TLP [Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan] also using these lists to attack Ahmadi homes, inspecting fridges for meat,” they wrote.
After a picture of radical TLP members meeting with Punjab Police to stop Ahmadiyyas from performing Qurbani surfaced, journalist Arshad Yousafzai tweeted: “Thank you, PML-N, for introducing a Combo Force of TLP+Punjab Police that can also be named as TLP Extra to terrorize Ahmadis and Christians.”
Lawyer Yasser Latif Hamdani also criticised the PMLN for enabling TLP in an X post. He wrote: “There is no winning with ignorant fools. The Supreme Court says Ahmadis can worship as they please and carry out religious rites in their places of worship and houses. Despite that order stupid Punjab government is enabling idiots of TLP. How does one tackle such stupidity?”
The Ahmadiyya community, consisting of some 500,000 people in Pakistan, identifies itself as Muslim. However, they were branded heretics in 1974, when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto declared them non-Muslims. Later in 1984, Zia-ul-Haq amended the country’s penal code, making it a criminal offence for Ahmadiyyas to practise Islam.
In April this year, banners were displayed outside the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad, calling Ahmadiyyas a “cancer”.
Ahmadiyyas also continue to face severe restrictions in exercising their voting rights in local, provincial, and national elections. To participate as voters, they are compelled to either renounce their faith or agree to be categorised separately as “non-Muslims” on electoral lists.