PAKISTAN: The federal government must intervene to stop the killings of Ahmadis

News / AHRC News

PAKISTAN: The federal government must intervene to stop the killings of Ahmadis

September 5, 2011

Another Ahmadi killed in hate crime against religious minorities

The religious minority group of Ahmadis is under constant threat of religious hate crimes and no serious efforts have been initiated by the government to provide protection the community.

In the latest incident a member of the Ahmadiyya community was murdered after receiving death threats from an extremist group who is allegedly patronized by the Punjab provincial government. Mr. Naseem Ahmad Butt, 55, was shot dead by four men as he lay sleeping inside his house in Muzaffar Colony, Faisalabad, Punjab province. According to his brother Khalid Pervez Butt, at about 1am, the attackers entered by climbing over the walls. “The boys were between 20 and 25 years old. Three of them kept a watch on the door as one kicked my brother. When he was awake, the killer said “You are Ahmadi and liable to be killed”, Khalid told daily The Express Tribune.

The attacker then shot Naseem in the chest while another bullet ruptured his kidney. A car and a bicycle were used in the attack, Khalid said. Naseem, was a worker at a power loom factory and leaves behind his widow, four daughters and a son. His first cousin, Naseer Butt, was also killed last year when he was passing through a crowded market place in the same Faisalabad city. Police have made no effort to trace his killers and the case has been declared as a blind murder.

In a hate campaign a band religious group is openly issuing pamphlets calling on citizens to kill people from the Ahmadiyya community. This should be done in the open and crowded market places as a Jihad (holy war). Killing, beating and punishing them would be rewarded by God.

The Asian Human Rights Commission has informed the authorities about the plan to target Ahmadis but no action whatsoever has been taken and this religious minority group has been left to the mercy of militant religious groups. Please see: PAKISTAN: Extremists openly plan to kill hundreds of Ahmadis–government turns a blind eye. In this instance the pamphlets were published by the All Pakistan Student Khatm-e-Nabowat Federation and were issued by the information department of Aalmi Majlis-e-Khatm-eNabowat Shafaat-e- Muhammadi with their phone numbers and email address.

In the hate crimes against the Ahmadiyya community more than 111 Ahmadis have been killed in target killings since 1984 when an ordinance against Ahmadis were issued by a military dictator. In May last year, more than 88 people were killed in the provincial capital Lahore when gunmen opened fire at two separate places of worship and, one year on, no progress has been made by investigators.

The government of President Asif Zadari must take immediate action to protect the Ahmadiyya community and bring to a halt the hate crimes being committed openly against them. There is no question as to the identities of the religious extremists who are calling for a Jihad against the Ahmadiyya community as they openly express their hate speeches from the public address systems of their mosques. The provincial government of the Punjab has been implicit in assisting the Jihad and makes no effort to conceal the fact that they openly support the extremist. Once again the government of President Zadari knowing that one of their provincial governments is openly supporting the Jihad against the Ahmadiyya community has done nothing.

The federal government must intervene with all haste to rein in the extremists and seriously question a provincial government that encourages violence against the people of Pakistan regardless of their religious faith or ethnicity.

Document ID: AHRC-STM-115-2011
URL: www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-115-2011

PAKISTAN: Extremists openly plan to kill hundreds of Ahmadis—government turns a blind eye

News / AHRC News

PAKISTAN: Extremists openly plan to kill hundreds of Ahmadis—government turns a blind eye

June 11, 2011

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from Faisalabad city of Punjab province, the second largest industrial and commercial city of the country that a plan has been chalked out to kill the owners and their family members of 36 commercial and industrial establishments belonging to Ahmadiyya community. The plan includes the people working in those establishments which means more than 150 persons are targeted. Doctors and other professionals are not exempt from this threat. For two weeks now pamphlets and advertisements have been distributed calling the citizens to kill people from the Ahmadis community. This should be done in the open and crowded market places as a Jihad (holy war). Killing, beating and punishing them would be rewarded by God. The pamphlets were published by the All Pakistan Student Khatm-e-Nabowat Federation and were issued by the information department of Aalmi Majlis-e-Khatm-eNabowat Shafaat-e- Muhammadi with their phone numbers and email address.

The Asian Human Rights Commission cannot reproduced here the copy of the pamphlet for security reasons as it bears the names of commercial and industrial establishments and the names of targeted persons. However, we reproduce below the English translation of the pamphlet which was written in the local language, Urdu.

• The original leaflet and its translation in English are available for download here: Leaflet of Ahmadis killing announcement (Urdu, English). For security reasons, the names of the Ahmadiyya community members who were targeted in the leaflet have been removed. The English translation is on page two.

These pamphlets are being distributed on a mass scale, openly in the city from where more than four ministers are in the cabinets of Punjab and federal governments. These ministers have failed to take action on this plan of killing people from a religious minority group because they fear these extremists as they themselves would also be declared supporters of Ahmadis or infidels. In Faisalabad and its neighboring cities a good number of Ahmadis and Christians have been residing for at least a century but for some decades now these minority community people have been killed and abducted by the extreme Muslim organizations to purify the ‘Muslim areas’.

The Ahmadiyya community has informed all the members of national and provincial assemblies elected from Faisalabad and the local administration through the Commissioner of the district of this serious threat but no one is taking action. Indeed, nothing will happen until the killings start. It is astonishing that the provincial law minister, Mr. Rana Sanaullah, and leader of the opposition in Punjab assembly, Mr. Raja Riaz, are from the same city and they both know about the mass appeal to kill the Ahmadis but both of them are turning a blind eye to the situation and be doing so show their unwillingness to go against the Muslim extremists as they would lose their constituencies of Muslim voters.

It is alleged that Mr. Rana Sanaullah, who also belongs to Faisalabad, had previously supported the movement against Ahmedis by providing every official support to Majlis-e-Khatm-e-Nabowat (the movement directly aimed at Ahmadis) in holding public meetings from the government funds.

The killing list prepared by Muslim extremists mention also mentions one industrial group from which three partners were killed in a target killing during the month of April 2011 in a span of one week. But even then the administration and ministers did not take note of such threats.

In the recent years when the government of Shahbaz Sharif came to power in Punjab province the Ahmadis and Christians were targeted and many were killed, their houses were burnt and many were booked under the Blasphemy laws including their women and children. On May 28, 2010, over 88 Ahmadis were killed in two gun and bomb attacks at Ahmadi places of worship in the Garhi Shahu and Model Town areas in Lahore. Investigations were launched and arrests were made but little has come out of the investigations. During 2010, 99 members of the community were killed and 64 Ahmadis were charged with blasphemy.

After the distribution of the lists of the Ahmadis to be killed it is clear that in the coming days there would be target killings of Ahmadis at a large scale level. Now that the government has been made fully aware of the threats to the Ahmadis community the AHRC urges the government to take immediate action to prevent such killings and the destruction of their industrial and commercial establishments. Once the killings start it will be too late and the government will not be able to use the excuse that they had not time to prepare. The government will be answerable, not only to the Ahmadiyya community but also the citizens of Pakistan and the international community. Action must be taken against any person or group openly declaring their nefarious designs of mass killings.

In the past it was also observed that in the case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian lady booked in Blasphemy laws, the Muslim fundamentalists were openly announcing the killing of those persons who are providing support to those accused of blasphemy. Huge rewards were offered to persons who killed these people But the government in pursuit of its appeasement policies towards the extremists have ignored the announcements and the result were the murders of former governor of Punjab, Mr. Salman Taseer, and former federal minister of minorities, Mr. Shabaz Bhatti. Therefore the time is ripe for the government to maintain the rule of law and prosecute all those who want to kill the members of religious minority group of Ahmadiyya by provoking the ordinary Muslims of Pakistan.

Document ID: AHRC-STM-077-2011
URL: www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-077-2011