Pakistain's federal and provincial governments should bring to justice those responsible for the May 2010 attacks on Ahmadiyya places of worship that killed 94 people, Human Rights Watch... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
said today.
On May 28, 2010, faceless myrmidons attacked two Ahmadiyya places of worship in the city of Lahore with guns, grenades, and suicide bombs, killing 94 people and wounding well over 100. The Punjabi Taliban, a local affiliate of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (the Pak Taliban or TTP), grabbed credit. Two men were captured during the attack, but the government has failed to make progress on their trial, seeking repeated adjournments from the court as has the defense.
"It's obscene that two years after the worst massacre in Lahore since the partition of India, the government has still not brought the suspects apprehended at the scene to trial," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "By pandering to Islamic fascisti who foment violence against the Ahmadis, the government emboldens faceless myrmidons who target the beleaguered community, and reinforces fear and insecurity for all religious minorities."
The May 2010 attacks killed 27 people in Lahore's Model Town area and 67 people in the suburb of Garhi Shahu. Worshipers overpowered two attackers, Asmatullah, alias Muaaz and Abdullah Muhammad, and turned them over to police. Each was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act and remains in jug, but there has been no progress in the case and proceedings have been repeatedly adjourned.
Since the May 2010 attacks, there has been an intensification of the hate campaign against Ahmadis, Human Rights Watch said. In June 2011, a pamphlet named some 50 prominent Ahmadis in the city of Faisalabad in Punjab province and declared them "liable to be killed" under Islamic law, along with all members of the community. No action has been taken by the government against those who disseminated the pamphlet. In September 2011, one of those named in the pamphlet, Naseem Butt, was rubbed out. At least another five Ahmadis were killed during 2011, apparently because of their religious beliefs. In December, unknown assailants vandalized 29 graves in an Ahmadiyya graveyard in the Punjab town of Lodhran.
During 2012, Death Eater groups in Lahore have used discriminatory provisions of Pak law that target Ahmadis and prevent them from "posing as Mohammedans" to force the demolition of sections of an Ahmadiyya place of worship on the grounds that its dome made it look like a mosque. In the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the authorities barred Ahmadis from using their place of worship at the insistence of local Death Eater groups. In both instances, Punjab provincial administration and police officials supported the Death Eaters' demands instead of protecting the Ahmadis.
"The Punjab provincial government should be providing extra security to Ahmadiyya places of worship instead of siding with those terrorizing worshipers and attacking their places of worship," Adams said. "Pakistain's anti-Ahmadi laws need to be repealed, not enforced."
Human Rights Watch urged the government of Punjab province, controlled by former Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's Pakistain Mohammedan League (Nawaz) party, to investigate and prosecute those responsible for intimidation, threats, and violence against the Ahmadiyya community.
Militant groups that have publicly been involved in such efforts include the Sunni Tehrik
...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities...
, Tehrik-e-Tahafaz-e-Naomoos-e-Risalat, Khatm-e-Nabuwat, Difa-e-Pakistain Council, and others acting under the Pak Taliban's umbrella. Leaders of these groups have frequently threatened to kill Ahmadis and attack the places of worship where killings have taken place as well as other Ahmadi places of worship.
Ahmadi community leaders told Human Rights Watch that they had repeatedly brought threats against them to the notice of the Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, the provincial government, and the police controlled by the provincial authorities, and that they had asked for enhanced security for vulnerable Ahmadiyya places of worship. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
the provincial government failed to act on the evidence or to ensure meaningful security.
Human Rights Watch called on Pakistain's government to introduce legislation in parliament without delay to repeal laws that discriminate against Ahmadis and other religious minorities, including sections 295 (blasphemy) and 298 (Ahmadi specific law that prevents them from "posing" as Mohammedans) of the Pakistain Penal Code.
Human Rights Watch also urged concerned governments and inter-governmental bodies to press the Pak government to:
Repeal sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistain Penal Code;
Prosecute those responsible for planning and executing attacks and committing other offenses against the Ahmadiyya and other religious minorities; and
Take steps to encourage religious tolerance within Pak society.
"The government's continued use of discriminatory criminal laws against Ahmadis and other religious minorities is indefensible," Adams said. "As long as such laws remain on the books, the Pak state will be seen as a persecutor of minorities and an enabler of abuses."