A Report on the Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the Year 2012 (Summary) If your teacher is a Qadiani, refuse learning from him A Report on the Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the Year 2012 Contents Chapter Page Nr. 1. Foreword 1 2. Executive summary 2 3. Four special reports 7 I. Spate of murderous attacks in Karachi 7 II. Police torture to death Mr. Abdul Qaddoos, an innocent prominent Ahamdi, in Rabwah 11 III. Freedom of worship severely curtailed in Rawalpindi 17 IV. Banning of the monthly Misbah and the daily Al-Fazl 23 4. Religiously motivated murders, assaults and attempts 27 5. Prosecution on religious grounds 35 6. The worsening situation in Lahore, capital of the Punjab 49 7. Mosques under attack, and worship denied 66 8. Burial problems, graveyards 77 9. Problems in education 85 10. Open-air rallies and hate campaign 94 11. Denial of political rights ± Elections 2013 119 12. Miscellaneous, and reports from all over 128 a. Reports from cities 128 b. Reports from towns and villages 132 c. Media 138 d. Kidnapping of Ahmadis 151 e. Disturbing threats 153 f. Plight of Rabwah 159 g. Diverse 163 13. From the media 171 Annexes: I. Particulars of police cases registered in 2012 195 II. Updated statistics of police cases and other outrages since 1984 196 III. Laws specific to Ahmadis, and the so-called blasphemy laws 198 IV. Photo of a banner in Sargodha bazaar vetoing sacrificial animals to Ahmadis 199 V. A warning from a big mosque in Lahore 200 VI. Design of minarets 201 VII. Stickers issued free to school children 202 VIII. Anti-Ahmadi Ramadan calendar 203 IX. Ahmadi-killing ± by Usman Ahmad 204 X. Fresh discriminatory orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan 205 XI. A summary of the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan ± 2012 206 1. Foreword 2\HZKREHOLHYH%HVWHDGIDVWLQWKHFDXVHRI$OODKEHDULQJZLWQHVVLQHTXLW\DQGOHWQRWDSHRSOH·V HQPLW\LQFLWH\RXWRDFWRWKHUZLVHWKDQZLWKMXVWLFH« Al-4XU·DQ All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1 The year 2012 has been a tough year ± very tough for Ahmadis in Pakistan. More Ahmadis were murdered for their faith this year than ever before, except for 2010 when terrorists carried out a massacre of Ahmadi worshipers in two mosques in Lahore. The religious bigots and their powerful supporters hit Ahmadis hard and persistently. Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher was proved right once again in his statement: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it for religious conviction. As the number of anti-Ahmadi incidents has shot up, the size of this report is bigger WKDQ LQ DQ\ SUHYLRXV \HDU 7KHUH ZHUH PDQ\ LQFLGHQWV WKDW GHVHUYHG D µVSHFLDO UHSRUW¶ IRU inclusion in Chapter 3, but these had to be arbitrarily restricted to four only. As before, most of the incidents in this Report have been entered with the text used initially in reports when the incident happened. This preserves the original facts, context and impact of the incident. Up-dating has been done wherever possible. Laws specific to Ahmadis and the so-called Blasphemy law have been produced for ready reference in Annex III. The situation of Ahmadis in the context of the forthcoming national elections is described in Chapter 11. As most of the persecution and violations of µIUHHGRPRIIDLWK¶KDSSHQHGLQWKH3XQMDE JRYHUQHGE\6KDULIVRI30/-N), and Lahore, its provincial capital became the show-case of anti-Ahmadi hate and intolerance, so Chapter 6 is exclusively allocated to this city, the second largest in Pakistan. Here, a group of bigots attacked an Ahmadi graveyard in a posh locality in the middle of the night, beat up the staff and demolished 120 headstones. ³$IWHUWKHOLYLQJWKH\FDPHIRUWKHGHDG´ was the title of a report on this incident in The Friday Times of Lahore. To cater for the needs of readers who do not have time to read the entire report, an µ([HFXWLYHVXPPDU\¶LVDYDLODEOHLQWKHQH[WFKDSWHU$FRPSHQGLXPRIRYHUWIDFWVDQG figures for this year is handy in the last annex. ------------------------------------------------ 1 2. Executive summary ...fundamental rights, including equality of status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and association, subject to the law and public morality, (shall be guaranteed). Constitution of Pakistan Preamble In the exercise of his right and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 29 THIS YEAR anti-Ahmadi elements enjoyed almost a free hand from the state to strike hard and often at Ahmadis all over Pakistan. In Karachi more Ahmadis were killed for their faith than the total in all the preceding 17 years. This was unlike other killings in previous years; it was a sustained campaign planned and implimented meticulously. The number of Ahmadis killed in the country were more than in any previous year except for 2010 when terrorists massacred 86 worshipers in two mosques in Lahore. In Rabwah, the centre of Ahmadis in Pakistan, the police detained unlawfully a prominent Ahmadi, the president of his local community, and tortured him to death. This sent a shock wave to Ahmadis not only in Pakistan but all over the world. In 10 other assaults, the victims did not die but escaped, mostly with injuries. Arrests and booking of Ahmadis in religion-based criminal cases continued as before but on a larger scale. Fifty-six Ahmadis were booked by the police, twenty more than last year. The police are often instrumental in such cases and act in league with the mulla to persecute Ahmadis. Most of these cases are fabricated. The lead story from Phalia, the Punjab, in Chapter 5 is readable as it brings to light the modus operandi in such cases. Ahmadiyya worship and places of worship were targeted this year more brazenly than ever before ± mostly in the Punjab. It was done with full support of authorities ± often by the police itself. In Kharian, the police demolished the 2 minarets of the Ahmadiyya mosque. In Rawalpindi the authorities forbade Ahmadis their congregations for worship on Eid festival as well as Fridays in their main centre in the Satellite Town. This location is only 10 kilometers from the President House in Islamabad. In Lahore, the provincial capital, the police, on behest of mullas undertook defiling of the Kalima (Islamic creed) in Garhi Shahu, Sultanpura and Mughalpura mosques. The Punjab Police, in another first-ever YLRODWLRQ RI $KPDGLV¶ IUHHGRm of religion, barred them in Lahore and Sargodha from sacrificing animals at the occasion of the festival of Eid ul Adha. This violation of freedom to practice faith was entirely arbitrary. The law does not specify it. Elections to the National Assembly are due to be held in a few weeks. The Election Commission issued instructions last year that separate lists be prepared for Ahmadis (only) ± GHVSLWH WKH VWDWH¶V FRPPLWPHQW WR -RLQW (OHFWRUDWH Ahmadis, on account of this loaded and blatant discrimination are unable again to participate in elections. It is noteworthy that no political party has raised voice against this discrimination. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, KRZHYHUXUJHGWKHJRYHUQPHQWWRIDFLOLWDWH$KPDGLV¶SDUWLFLSDWLRQLQHOHFWLRQV NoPLQDO UROOVSXEOLVKHG E\ WKH (OHFWLRQ &RPPLVVLRQ FRQWDLQ$KPDGLV¶ ODWHVW addresses; this exposes them to great risk at the hand of murderous lunatics to whom these rolls become readily available. $QRWKHUDVSHFWRI$KPDGLV¶UHOLJLRXVOLIHWKDWZDVKDUGKLW this year, was the burial of their dead and the sanctity of their graveyards. Again these violations were either undertaken by the police or with their support. For example, the police demolished 23 gravestones and took away the pieces with them on September 4 in Jaranwala, Faisalabad. On August 17, the Punjab Police removed Quranic verses and religious texts on tombstones in Mangat Uncha, District Hafizabad. On December 2, ten to fifteen armed men entered the Ahmadiyya graveyard in posh area of Model Town, Lahore and vandalized 120 tombstones. The police were reluctant even to register an FIR. They did that eventually, 24 hours after the incident. The English press took due notice of this grave sacrilege and published news and op-eds with such titles: No peace, even in grave; Ahmadi graves desecration: The death of conscience; Unsafe even in death; After the living, they came for the dead; etc. The mighty hand of the Punjab Government hit hard the Ahmadiyya press in February, again on behest of the mullas. The authorities issued orders to ban 3 $KPDGL\\DZRPHQ¶VPRQWKO\0LVEDKDQGWRRNVWHSVIRUVLPLODUDFWLRQDJDLQVW the daily Al-fazl. They accused these periodicals of publishing objectionable material, however, as ever before, they did not point out any specific piece of writing or text, in proof. Ahmadis had to rush to the High Court to seek relief. The judge was considerate; he issued a Stay Order. The authorities, however, should be given full (dis)credit for their discriminatory action, as otherwise Pakistani press enjoys great freedom these days, including the Jihadi periodicals that promote the agenda of organizations banned for terrorism. A mulla in Karachi approached a court in September that the staff of the Ahmadiyya fortnightly Al-Musleh, Karachi should be booked under Ahmadi- specific laws. The judge ordered the police to do that. Education remains one of the favourite turfs with anti-Ahmadi policy-makers and fanatics. Many Ahmadi students suffered great harassment and discrimination in schools, both from students as well as teachers.