Radical Islamist party intensifies its action against Ahmadi community in Pakistan

    Lahore, Mar 17 (PTI) A radical Islamist party in Pakistan has intensified its action against the minority Ahmadi community, forcibly stopping its members from offering special Friday prayers in several cities of Punjab and also torturing them, a community organisation said on Monday.
    Last Friday, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) members surrounded the worship places of Ahmadis in Faisalabad, Sargodha, Layyah, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Bahawalpur and Okara districts of Punjab and threatened the Ahmadi worshippers to stop offering Friday prayers, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) said.
    They chanted slogans against Ahmadis, calling them infidels and also called for the sealing of their worship places. They said Ahmadis cannot offer Friday prayers as it is a "Muslim ritual".
    Pakistan's Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were banned from calling themselves Muslims. They are banned from preaching and from travelling to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage.
    In Faisalabad, the TLP activists stormed into the Ahmadi worship place and allegedly tortured those present there to offer Friday prayers, the JAP said.
    As police reached all these places, the TLP members said they would not return till police promised to seal Ahmadi places of worship and registration of cases against them for offering Friday prayers.
    The police, however, managed to control the situation and assured the TLP protesters that they would seal the worship places. On police assurance, the protesters dispersed.
    Earlier, police booked over 60 Ahmadis and arrested 45 for offering Friday prayers in Karachi and Daska cities.
    JAP spokesperson Aamir Mahmood said the extremist religious groups in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab, have been besieging Ahmadi places of worship and inciting violence to prevent Ahmadis from offering Friday prayers.
    He strongly condemned the TLP action aimed at sealing Ahmadi places of worship and preventing Ahmadis from practising their faith.
    "According to Article 20 of Pakistan’s Constitution, every citizen has the right to practice and follow their faith freely. Preventing peaceful Ahmadis from worshipping not only violates fundamental human rights but also tarnishes Pakistan’s global reputation," he said.
    He warned that the growing aggression of extremist groups and their demands for baseless legal action against Ahmadis are putting their lives in danger.
    The spokesperson called on the authorities concerned to reject the extremist ideology of the extremist groups of agitators and to uphold the fundamental human rights of Pakistani Ahmadis.
    In Pakistan, religious extremists are ramping up their hateful campaigns against Ahmadis, leading to increasing harassment at workplaces, job dismissals, and public calls for boycotting Ahmadi shopkeepers.
    Around 10 million out of the 220 million population are non-Muslims in Pakistan.
    According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics in 2021, there are 96.47 per cent Muslims, followed by 2.14 per cent Hindus, 1.27 per cent Christians, 0.09 per cent Ahmadi Muslims and 0.02 per cent others.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)