Pakistan: Massacre Of Innocent Worshippers
By Aftab Alexander Mughal
04 June, 2010
Countercurrents.org
It was indeed shocking news for every Pakistani when the whole nation saw a terrorist attacks on Ahmadi worshipper in Lahore on May 28. Though the attacks were not unexpected, no serious security measures were taken by the government.
Taliban extremist killed at least 97 Ahmadiyya community members and injured over 100 others in twin attacks on their worship places, called Dar-ul-Zakir, during Friday prayer services in the second biggest city of the country. According to local police sources, more than 10 terrorists took part in those assaults. After a police operation two teenager attackers were arrested alive while others committed suicide by blowing themselves up. Four militants again stroked at Jinnah Hospital emergency ward on May 31 in a futile bid to rescue or kill an under-treatment terrorist, who was injured during earlier bloody attack. However, they failed in their mission but they killed al least twelve persons including three policemen.
Reports appear to show that the terrorist group was well-trained and armed with panoply of AK-47 rifles, pistols, grenades and were explosive vests. They opened fire indiscriminately at the crowd at one mosque in Lahore and occupied it for several hours while taking the congregation hostage.
Ahmadis has been under attack since the 1950s. While they and their worship places have been attacked by fanatic and militant individuals and groups on an almost regular basis in Pakistan, this is the bloodiest incident in recent memory. Qamar Suleman, an office-bearer of Jammat-i-Ahamdiya Pakistan said that the religious hardliners want them to leave the country. Many liberal Pakistanis believe that the negative propaganda against Ahmadis by the extremist religious organisations paved the way for such attacks. Another Ahmediyya Community leader Mirza Ghulam Ahmed has alleged that all violent acts against the community members enjoy ‘legal sanction.’ Just after two days of Lahore incident, the leaders of All Punjab Khatme Nabwat demanded that all Ahmadis should be removed form important government positions. And cases should be filed under Section 298 C against those Ahmadis who are involved in propagating their faith. Section 298-C of Pakistan Penal Code, which was promulgated by late president Genarl Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s, says, “An Ahmadi, calling himself a Muslim, or preaching or propagating his faith, or outraging the religious feelings of Muslims, or posing himself as a Muslim.”
There is fear that more attacks can be turned out. After the Friday assault, in some more places Ahmadis were again targeted. In one such attack, an Ahmadi man Naimatullah, 55, and his son Mansoor Ahmed were stabbed to death on May 31 by an enraged man in Narowal.
Despite their claim to Islam, Ahmadis have been subjected to perennial persecution, especially since the passing of a Pakistani constitutional amendment that passed in 1974. Moreover, the late President General Zia-ul-Haq introduced many anti-Ahmadi laws in 1980’s which make two million Ahmadis’ lives more miserable. Along with religious hardliners, ironically, it is a common practice of a group of media (especially some Urdu newspapers and TV channels) to instigate against Ahmadis and other religious and national minorities which make their lives and properties more insecure. Last year, a well-known TV anchors Amir Liaqat, whose own doctorate degree is disputed, of a popular private Pakistani TV channel incited hatred against Ahmadis through his TV program. In result of that, within a week few Ahmadis were killed by fanatics in different parts of the country. Despite protests by civil society organizations, his program is still broadcast. Furthermore, just days ago another TV anchor Hamid Mir, from the same TV channel, is reportedly used derogatory remarks against Ahmadis while talking to Taliban. Many are of the view that there are several in Pakistani media who are sympathetic to Taliban and other terrorist outfits and unsympathetic to religious minorities. Executive Director of South Asian Partnership (a development organisation based in Lahore) Muhammad Tehseen said that the reporting of the incident by a certain section of the media reinforced the unfair claims that Ahmedis were not a part of the nation. Surprisingly, some Urdu newspapers were quick to say that RAW (Indian intelligence agency) was involved in the bloody attacks. Clearly it is a state of denial and an indirect approach to support militants. However, Punjab chapter of Taliban claimed the responsibility of those assaults. It is a well-known fact that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and other banned terrorist groups are composed the Punjab branch of Taliban. Some civil society members have been demanding that the people who blamed RAW should provide evidence. Furthermore, Interior Minister Rehman Malik disclosed that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Lashkar-e-Taiba were involved in killing Ahmadi worshippers on Friday.
Last year, Ahamdis, Shias, Sikhs and Christians in various parts of the country received threatening letters from the militants. Through these threatening messages, Taliban asked them to embrace Islam, leave the country or ready for dire consequences. Since then, Ahmadis had been requesting the government to provide them security but the government turned a deaf ear to their several requests. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported that at least five members of the Ahmadi community were murdered in targeted killings in 2009, raising to 100 the number of murders since the introduction of anti-Ahmadi laws by the Zia-ul-Haq government. According to the a report, ‘Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan’ since the promulgation of an anti-Ahmadi law in 1984, not a year has passed when there have been less than ten Ahmadi causalities due to religious bias. “Ahmadis should be accepted as equal citizens and all discriminatory clauses must be stripped from the country’s constitution,” says the Pakistan Catholic bishops’ National Commission for Justice and Peace. The commission urged provincial and federal governments to ban hate speeches and abolish discriminatory laws for the protection of vulnerable groups in society.
Situation is quiet grime for the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. In many parts of the country, especially in Punjab, robbery, kidnapping and target killings of Ahmadis on rise. In one such case in Faisalabad on March 9, some robbers kidnapped two Ahmadi boys. They freed the boys, Bilal and Sheraz, after extorting Rs2.5 million from their family. A police official said Lashkar-i-Taiba men could be behind the kidnappings. Muhammad Shoab Adil says in one of his columns that a Molvi in Fiaslabad has given a fatwa that looting money and property from Ahnmadis are justified. A local militant organisation in the same city has been distributing pamphlets which say if Ahmadis will accept Islam they would be spared.
About 220 people were killed last year in nine different terrorist attacks in Lahore alone, the capital of Punjab province. The province run by the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’ Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), a right-wing political party, reportedly has soft corner for militant groups. Recently, the Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif (Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother) publically requested to Taliban not to attack in Punjab because they both have the same ideology. Just months ago, Punjab’s Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah participated in a public rally with the leaders of another banned terrorist organisation in Jang City; many terrorists came from that city to attack Christians in Gujra in 2009. The attackers burned six Christians alive in Gojra. Christians are disappointed because not even a single culprit has been brought to justice so far. Therefore, there is less hope for justice being delivered to the Ahmadiyya victims.
In some cases, the police have arrested terrorists who were involved in terrorist activities in the country but surprisingly they get released after a very short period of time. On May 5, an anti-terror court acquitted four suspected men who were allegedly involved in 2008 bombing of the five-star Marriott Hotel Islamabad in 2008 when at least 60 people were killed. Many feel disappointed by courts' decisions. “The Supreme Court on May 25 upheld the Lahore High Court’s decision to free Hafiz Saeed from house arrest by dismissing the appeals by the federal and Punjab governments. -- Saeed is the notorious chief of a banned terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), which is now working under the garb of a ‘charity organisation’ called the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD),” Daily Times, a Pakistani English-language newspaper, said.
A question still remains unanswered, why the Punjab government did not take security measures to protect Ahmadis while the federal interior ministry had warned the provincial government of possible terrorist attacks on minorities. Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer alleged that the attack on Ahmedis was due to links between PML-N’s provincial governments with Taliban.
After the recent attacks on the Ahmadiyya community, other religious minorities in the country are also worried for their safety and security. Situation on the ground is very aloof to non-Muslims because the constitution of Pakistan declares minorities as second class citizens, discriminatory laws, especially blasphemy laws, making minority communities more vulnerable, a section of media is free to propagate against them, school syllabus is biased, religious hardliners are free to preach hate, some among establishment are still maintaining their relationship with militants groups and the judiciary has been releasing militants on various grounds, especially lack of evidences.
Though minorities are losing hope in the government but still there are many who have been raising voice for their rights and security. It was an encouraging sign that people from all walks of life boldly condemned the attacks on Ahmadis, except some religious hardliners, but still, at the end, it’s the responsibility of the state to provide respect, equal rights and a sense of security to all its citizens without any discrimination.
According to the 2009 Ahmadi persecution report,
· 11 Ahmadis were murdered for their faith
· 37 were booked under blasphemy laws
· 57 were charged under Ahmadi specific-laws
· four were abducted
· seven suffered murder attempts
· two Ahmadi places of worship were attacked and one was desecrated, all in Punjab province.
Aftab Alexander Mughal Editor, Minorities Concern of Pakistan (a monthly e-newsletter)
