Amnesty International asked the government to release and eliminate all the charges against all the Ahmadis detained in recent weeks and guarantee adequate protection to the places of cult.
On March 1, Daskot Police (Sialkot) arrested 22 members of the Ahmadiyya community for offering prayers in their religious place.
Then, on March 7, more than two dozen members of the Ahmadi community, including children, were taken to “protective custody” by law personnel as a Moba gathered outside their place of worship in the city of Armjani, Karachi.
Later that day, the Police recorded a criminal case against more than two dozen members of the Ahmadiyya community and arrested six of them for the complaint of a Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan activist (TLP) in the city of Armjani.
A day ago, Dahranwala police reserved nine people, including seven men who claimed that they were members of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and two members of the Ahmadiyya community, in charge of torturing a TLP activist until death during a fight in Chak 166 Murad in Bahawalnagar.
“The disturbing pattern of arbitrary arrests, harassment and violence against the Ahmadiyya community violate their right to freedom of religion and belief,” said the organization of global rights in a position in X.
In the last two weeks, more than 60 Ahmadis, including children, have been illegally arrested in Daska, Sargodha and Karachi in Punjab and Sindh, while the places of Adoration Ahmadiyya have been desecrated in Bahawalnagar and Gujranwala, said Amnesty.
“The authorities have submitted cases under section 298-C of the Pakistan Criminal Code (person from the Quadiani group, etc., calling each other Muslim or preaching or spreading their faith) that prohibits the Ahmadiyya community from calling themselves Muslims or preaching their faith.
“Amnesty International asks the Pakistani authorities to release and abandon the positions immediately against all the Ahmadis detained only by exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief,” said Amnesty.
He added: “Local authorities in Pakistan must provide adequate protection to the places of Ahmadíes worship and any official dedicated to harassment or destruction of the Ahmadiyya property must be taken before justice.
“Denying the Ahmadis their right to freedom of religion and belief is to violate article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan and international human rights obligations of the country.”
The Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) said last week that it had observed a growing trend of attacks led by the mafia against the homes of families that belong to religious minorities, as well as their places of worship.
The HRCP also talked about the “arbitrary” arrest of Ahmadis, alleged desecration of their graves and the vulnerability of Hindu women and Christians to forced conversion.
The report, entitled under Siege: freedom of religion or belief in 2023-24, said that more than 750 people were in prison due to blasphemy from October last year. He documented at least four faith -based murders, three of which went to the Ahmadi community.
HRCP observed a “growing weapons of blasphemy laws against the Ahmadis”, with cases often initiated by the officials themselves responsible for enforcing the law.
According to the report, “police officers presented four cases against Ahmadis in Punjab, reflecting an institutional bias against the community.”
