Human Rights groups urge Pakistan govt to probe surge in violence against minorities

Denouncing the attack on Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community, international human rights groups - Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)- on Thursday urged the Imran Khan-led government to 'urgently and impartially investigate a surge in violent attacks on members of the Ahmadiyya religious community'. Urging the Pakistan authorities to take an 'appropriate legal action' against those responsible, the human rights groups pointed out that since July 2020, there have been 5 targeted killings of members of the religious minority group. This joint appeal from the Human Rights groups came just days after a 16-year-old Muslim youth attacked a group of Ahmadis who were gathering to worship at home, and open fired killing one and injuring three people. 

According to the press release, head of South Asia at Amnesty International Omar Waraich said, "There are few communities in Pakistan who have suffered as much as the Ahmadis. The recent wave of killings tragically underscores not just the seriousness of the threats they face, but also the callous indifference of the authorities, who have failed to protect the community or punish the perpetrators."

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"Pakistan Govt. failed to protect human rights"

Listing the five separate attacks on the members of Ahmadiyya religious community, the human rights groups said that the Pakistan government has repeatedly failed at protecting the human rights and security of the religious minority, in their joint appeal. The groups further pointed out discrimination against the Ahmadis in Pakistan which prevents them from declaring or propagating their faith publicly, building mosques, making the Muslim call for prayer and also highlighted that under the penal code, the members are prohibited from 'indirectly or directly posing as a Muslim'. The Human Rights groups also pointed out that the Ahmadis were arbitrarily arrested, detain, harassed and charged for blasphemy among several other offences as well as several fabricated charges by the concerned authorities, while adding that the Imran Khan-led government did not intervene to stop the 'anti-Ahmadi' violence. 

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Speaking further about the issue, legal and policy director at the International Commission of Jurists Ian Seiderman said, "Pakistan was part of the consensus at the UN General Assembly that required that states take active measures to ensure that persons belonging to religious minorities may exercise fully and effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination and in full equality before the law. The Pakistani government has completely failed to do so in the case of the Ahmadis."

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"Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments should take immediate legal and policy measures to eliminate widespread and rampant discrimination and social exclusion faced by the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. The government should repeal the blasphemy law and all anti-Ahmadiyya provisions," said associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch Patricia Gossman. 

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