GENERAL APPEAL (Pakistan): Recent suppression of Ahmadi sect of Islam in Punjab 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed about two separate incidents against the religious minority called Ahmadi sect in Punjab province, Pakistan. In one case, the Daily Al-Fazal run by Ahmadi sect was banned by the Punjab government for the reason of disseminating “hate-literature”. In another case, about 100 Ahmadis of Jhando Sahi village in Daska fled their homes due to a mob attack. The police were allegedly present but did not take any action against the attackers. The Ahmadi sector has been persecuted after being declared as a non-Muslim group through a constitutional amendment 30 years ago.

In the first incident, the government of Punjab Province banned a century-old newspaper Daily Al-Fazal, which was published by Ahmadi sect and raided its office in Chenabnagar, Chiniot District, Punjab, Pakistan on 10 September 2006. Chenab Nagar (Rabwah) police raided the newspaper office, arrested the printer Mr. Sultan Dogar and a journalist Mr. Abdul Sattar Khan and lodged cases under 298B and 298C of the Pakistan Penal Code, 16 Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and 9 the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) against them. The police also confiscated all the publications and sealed the offices. Mr. Khan was later released but Mr. Dogar is still in detention.

The Daily Al- Fazal was founded in 1911, and is one of the oldest newspapers in Pakistan.  No previous ban had been imposed until this incident. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Saeed Tatla, the raid was a part of the government’s campaign to confiscate religious “hate-literature”.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), the police accused the newspaper of preaching Qadiyani beliefs and describing Ahamdis as Muslims, which is against the law.  According to the local newspaper report, Inspector Muhammad Yasir, Station House Officer (SHO) of Chenab Nagar police, said that the Punjab additional Inspector General (Operations) had ordered them to confiscate four issues of Alfazal and take action against the editor, printer and publisher of the newspaper. The police reportedly conducted several raids on different houses to arrest the editor and the publisher but failed to arrest them. During the raids, the police allegedly took some of the editor’s relatives illegally in exchange of his arrest.

Prior to this incident, a mob attacked Ahmadi residents in Jhando Sahi village in Daska near Sialkot district, Punjab province on 24 June 2006, after allegations of the desecration of the Holy Quran. The report was typical propaganda that Ahmadi men were seen allegedly burning pages of the Quran in public. The report was repeated in Punjab province three times in one week. The police arrested the accused Ahmedis but the mob got together and started burning houses, shops and vehicles of Ahmadis in Jhando Sahi village. It is alleged that prior to the incident, the Muslim clerics had declared Ahmadis non Muslims and encouraged a mob attack announcing through the mosques that non Muslims should not be allowed to live among the Muslims.

Two Ahmadis were reportedly injured and about 100 Ahmadi villagers fled their homes where they had lived for the last 60 years. The police were present during this attack but reportedly did not take any action against the attackers. It is also alleged that the police also refused to record the complaint of Ahmadi villagers regarding the incident and subsequently no proper investigation have been launched into the case.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

According to the government’s sources, among the whole population, 77% are Sunni Muslim, 20% are Shi’a Muslim, 1.5% are Christian and 1.5% are Ahmadis, Hindus, Zikris or others.

The Ahmadi sector is a religious minority that considers itself the purest form of Islam, but which has been persecuted as a non-Muslim group by Pakistan’s Islamic government, which declared the sect beyond the faith by a constitutional amendment 30 years ago. One: A Pakistani political party, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), has filed a motion demanding a debate on the government’s deletion of religious information from electronic passports, claiming that the removal was an Ahmadi conspiracy to circumvent a ban on non-Muslims entering Mecca. Two: A Pakistani man, and recent convert to the Ahmedi sect, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for “being disrespectful to the Prophet Muhammad” under the country’s draconian blasphemy laws which Amnesty International has described as “‘so vaguely formulated that they encourage, and in fact invite, the persecution of religious minorities or non-conforming members of Muslim majority.'” (Information source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/aboutus.htm)

In 1984 came the 295-C clause, usually referred to as the blasphemy law. It rather sweepingly stipulates that “derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet . . . either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly . . . shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.” Six years later, the stakes were raised when the Federal Sharia Court, where cases having to do with Islamic issues tend to be heard, ruled, “The penalty for contempt of the Holy Prophet . . . is death and nothing else.” So far, none of the convicted has been executed, in part because scheduling an execution can take years. But lynch mobs have killed several of the accused. (Information source: Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law: Words Fail Me by AKBAR S. AHMED, The Washington Post, May 19, 2002. Page B01)

SUGGESTIED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the relevant Pakistan authorities listed below and demand their urgent intervention into these two incidents. Please also urge the Pakistan government to protect the media freedom and the right of religion of its citizens.

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