Religious extremists in Pakistan stop Ahmadis from offering Eid prayers

Lahore: Religious extremists in Pakistan allegedly stopped members of the Ahmadi minority community from offering Eid prayers in at least seven cities, a community organisation claimed on Tuesday.

Police in Punjab also arrested two Ahmadis and booked three others for attempting to offer the sacrifice of animals during Eid-ul-Azha days.

Radical Islamist party - Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) - also forced two Ahmadis to embrace Islam who out of fear of being lynched became Muslims, the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) claimed.

In recent months, a group of religious extremists, with the TLP at the forefront, has been actively preventing members of the Ahmadi community from performing Friday prayers at their worship places.

Ahead of Eid this month, Ahmadis were summoned to police stations where they were coerced into signing written statements declaring they would not offer Eid prayers or perform sacrificial rites according to their beliefs.

According to the JAP, Ahmadis were barred from offering Eid prayers in Khushab, Mirpur Khas, Lodhran, Bhakkar, Rajanpur, Umerkot, Larkana and Karachi.

They said the religious extremists, along with the local administrations, stopped Ahmadis from offering Eid prayers within the confines of their worship places.

Lahore's oldest Ahmadi worship place in Ghari Shahu was surrounded by the TLP activists on Eid day on Saturday, and they demanded that police seal it.

Police responded to their call and sealed the Ahmadi worship place. In Nazimabad, Karachi, the JAP said Irfan-ul-Haq and his son were taken to the police station along with their sacrificial animal by the TLP activists.

"Fearing for their safety, they recited the Islamic declaration of faith. The TLP activists celebrated by garlanding them and claiming their conversion to Islam," it said.

Punjab police said they arrested two Ahmadis and booked three others under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code for attempting to slaughter sacrificial animals. They said that under the law, Ahmadis cannot observe Islamic rituals.

The JAP said that this treatment is not only discriminatory but also unconstitutional and illegal. "Under Article 20 of Pakistan’s Constitution, every citizen is guaranteed freedom of religion. However, Ahmadis are routinely denied this right along with other fundamental rights," it said.

The JAP said these incidents reflect a growing pattern of institutionalised discrimination against the Ahmadi community in Pakistan.

The forced conversions are serious human rights violations and raise deep concerns regarding religious freedom in the country, it said.

The Ahmadi community is extremely vulnerable at the hands of extremist elements like the TLP, which openly targets them with impunity across Pakistan.

In early May, a senior Ahmadi doctor was allegedly shot dead in Punjab province. On May 15, around 100 graves belonging to the minority community were desecrated in the same province.

In Pakistan, most Ahmadi places of worship have come under attack by the TLP activists. In some cases, police – acting under the pressure of religious extremists — demolished minarets and arches, and removed sacred writings.