Genocide of Minorities in Pakistan

3/30/2014 Calls To Put Pakistan On Genocide Watch Amid Mounting Persecution Of Its Religious Minorities
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/840/6704.htm 1/21
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Tufail Ahmad, Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project

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September 25, 2012 Inquiry & Analysis Series Report No.884
Calls To Put Pakistan On Genocide Watch Amid
Mounting Persecution Of Its Religious
Minorities
By: Tufail Ahmad*
Table of Contents
Introduction
Persecution Of Christians
Persecution Of Hindus And Sikhs
Persecution Of Ahmadi Muslims
Persecution Of Shi'ite Muslims
Conclusion
Introduction
Close observers of Pakistan have voiced concern that the country is witnessing a gradual
genocide of its minorities, the extent of which remains unrecognized by international
human rights organizations. In April 2012, Nitin Pai, founder of the New Delhi-based think
tank Takshashila Institution, expressed concern over the "systematic" killing of Pakistan's
minorities, saying: "[The attacks] are called sectarian violence, gang warfare, ethnic
cleansing, kill-and-dump or counter-insurgency. It is perhaps because there are individual
names for these crimes that we are missing the possibility that they might amount to a
bigger one genocide."[1] Similar concerns have been raised by others in Pakistan and
abroad, particularly by the Shi'ite Hazara community.[2] It should be noted that there have
been previous cases of under-reported mass-killings in Pakistan which have been described
as genocide, notably the massacre of some three million Bangla-speaking Muslims in 1971
(see image below of a 2007 protest by Pakistani lawyers and journalists, in which
prominent journalist Hamid Mir holds a sign apologizing for the 1971 "genocide" of
Bangladeshis).[3]
At a December 25, 2007 protest in Islamabad, prominent journalist Hamid Mir holds a sign
apologizing for the 1971 massacre of Bangladeshis (fhiredekha.com)
This paper will examine the growing persecution of Pakistan's religious minorities:
Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, as well as Ahmadi Muslims and Shi'ite Muslims.[4] In recent
years, anyone who is not a Muslim in Pakistani society or groups of Muslims who are not
considered to be Muslim socially and religiously or under Pakistan's law have been facing
a sustained campaign of hate and religious persecution by Islamic groups and individuals,
including government officials, legislators, judges, lawyers, police officers and clerics, who
interpret law on their own terms and enforce it with the objective of making Pakistan a
purer-than-ever Islamic nation. The persecution is manifested in the imprisonment of
Christians and Ahmadi Muslims on charges of blasphemy; abduction of Hindu and Christian
girls and their forced conversion to Islam; demolition and desecration of houses of
worship; denial of food relief to non-Muslim flood victims by both government officials and
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worship; denial of food relief to non-Muslim flood victims by both government officials and
wealthy philanthropists; denigration of and attacks on Shi'ite Muslims and the deliberate
and systematic killing of members of all these communities. Although not included in
discussion here, it should be borne in mind that another significant group of the Pakistani
population, the inhabitants of insurgency-affected Baluchistan, is facing persecution from
Pakistani state and concern has been expressed (including by Pakistan's Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry) over a large number of Baluchis who have disappeared
widely believed to have been abducted and killed by Pakistani intelligence agencies.[5]
The depth of religious and cultural persecution of religious minorities in Pakistani society is
reflected, for example, in the following revealing incident, which took place in the town of
Pattoki. A group of Christians who drank tea at a Muslim-owned caf were later required to
pay both for the tea and for the glasses from which they drank, because these glasses,
having been touched by Christians, were now deemed contaminated.[6] Such incidents
reflect the long-standing religious and cultural hatred suffered by Pakistan's Christians,
Hindus and other minorities, manifested in threats, intimidation and violence, and often in
the appropriation of their land and property by powerful local Muslims.
Discrimination against Christians and Hindus is anchored in the Pakistani constitution,
which bars them from holding senior posts such as President. In addition, a law from 1974
declares the Ahmadis non-Muslim, and, along with some later laws, forbids them to use
Muslim names and symbols, though they identify themselves as Muslims and follow the
teachings of the Koran. This 1974 law does not apply to Shi'ite Muslims, but militant
Islamist circles and many mainstream Sunnis consider them to be non-Muslims as well, and
have called on the authorities to enact legislation excluding them from the fold of Islam.
The pressure on the religious minorities has led many to convert to Islam in order to
survive. Such conversions are celebrated (prominent Pakistani journalist Maya Khan, the
host of a show on Pakistan's ARY News channel, this year took personal pride in
converting a Hindu boy on her live television show during the holy month of Ramadan[7]),
and even forced conversions are socially sanctioned rather than denounced. Pakistani
officials incite against minorities with impunity. For example, former minister for religious
affairs and TV host Dr. Aamir Liaquat Hussain sanctioned the killing of Ahmadi Muslims on
television, yet remains employed by Pakistan's influential GEO television channel.[8]
Obviously, not all Pakistanis are involved in the hate campaign and discrimination against
the religious minorities, and many would probably oppose these phenomena. But the social
climate is such that it is difficult for a large majority to speak out. There is a small group of
liberal commentators who, at considerable risk to themselves, constantly articulate a vision
of a society based on tolerance, secularism and pluralism. However, their views are mainly
confined to three English-language newspapers that play a commendable role in exposing
the persecution of religious minorities, namely Daily Times, Dawn and The Express
Tribune. Hence, these commentators' influence in shaping public opinion is inconsequential.
Citing statements of government officials, parliamentary leaders, community members and
human rights activists, and other information culled mostly from the Pakistani media, this
report analyzes the persisting patterns of persecution against religious minorities in
Pakistan in the recent years. Cataloguing different types of attack, it examines how the
cultural space for the existence of these minorities is rapidly shrinking in the Islamic nation
of Pakistan a country carved out of India in 1947 on the ground that Muslims and Hindus
could not coexist. This concept, known as the Two Nation Theory, has been translated
into a Pakistani policy framework known as Nazaria-e-Pakistan (the Ideology of Pakistan),
which, over the years, has been responsible for gradually degrading the social status of
non-Muslim Pakistani citizens in the country.
The instances of persecution described below are by no means exhaustive, for the
dominant Urdu-language Pakistani media often ignores such incidents, especially those
occurring in villages and small towns. The under-reporting is due to the social climate in
Pakistan, which regards such incidents as understandable or even positive. Another reason
is the country's preoccupation with the war on terror.
Persecution Of Christians
In 2012, Pakistan's population was estimated at 190 million, of which Christians and
Hindus together constitute roughly five percent.[9] Of this five percent, the number of
Hindus may be a little more than that of Christians in Pakistan, though some Christian
writers have sought to put the percentage of Christians at nearly 15 percent of the total
population.[10]
As examined below, Pakistani Christians have endured an unending process of religious
and social discrimination over the years, with their girls being forced to convert to Islam
and married off to Muslim youth without their consent, their lands and properties being
occupied by powerful local Muslims, and Christian youth being implicated in alleged cases of
blasphemy and shot dead. In recent years, the biggest attack on Pakistani Christians came
in July 2009, when seven members of the community were burned alive and dozens of
their houses were set afire by an angry mob in the Pakistani town of Gojra over alleged
desecration of the Koran.[11]
Pakistani Daily Report: Christian Nurses Poisoned "Because Of Their Faith";
Christian Leader Michael Javed: "[Pakistani] Society Has Become Extremely
Intolerant And... [Is] Not Allowing The Minorities To Live In Peace"
In July 2012, nine Christian trainee nurses at the Civil Hospital in Karachi fell ill after
drinking tea allegedly poisoned by their Muslim colleagues at their hostel. "They were
claimed to have been deliberately poisoned because of their faith," a Pakistani newspaper
reported.[12]
Christian leader Michael Javed expressed concern that "the [Pakistani] society has become
extremely intolerant and... [is] not allowing the minorities to live in peace."[13] Michael
Javed, who is a former legislator, said: "The government has turned a blind eye to the
persecution of minorities; our girls are being [forcibly] converted and our churches are
being attacked.... A large number of nurses are Christians and are (already) subjected to
ill-treatment and prejudice."[14]
Inquiry & Analysis Series Report - No. 1078 - March
26, 2014
ill-treatment and prejudice."[14]
William Sadiq, the coordinator of a welfare organization working for minority women,
commented on the poisoning of the girls, "It could even be religious targeting."[15] "The
Christian leaders also shouted slogans outside the Karachi Press Club against the
hospital's administration and the rising religious intolerance [in Pakistani society]," said a
media report, quoting one of the affected nurses as saying that a colleague had made the
tea after 10 pm and immediately after drinking the tea they fell ill.[16]
The targeting of Christians takes various forms. In July 2012, Pastor Victor Samuel Maseeh
of Toba Tek Singh town in Punjab province was kidnapped by men who were wearing police
uniform and arrived in a police car, leading to fear and panic among Christians.[17] Maseeh
was a pastor at the church of a Christian school and belonged to the Christian Colony,
which has a population of 300 Christians. The kidnappers showed a false search warrant
allegedly issued by a Lahore judicial magistrate. Similar attacks on Christians are reported
by the Pakistani media regularly.
11-Year-Old Christian Girl Arrested Over Blasphemy Charges; Christian Youth
Tortured To Death In Prison; Catholic Church Attacked In Sambrial District Of
Punjab
A common tactic used by Muslim clerics and the Pakistani land mafia is to accuse members
of minority communities of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad and the Koran, with the
objective of seizing their land and property, especially churches. Victims have been known
to be tortured and even killed in Pakistani prisons.
In September 2009, 25-year-old Fanish Masih was arrested for desecrating the Koran and
later died in prison. District Jail Superintendent Farooq Lodhi said he had hanged himself,
but numerous other sources, including senior Pakistani officials, admitted he had been
tortured to death. Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Kamran Michael said: "I have seen
the body and there were torture marks on it." Asma Jahangir, then chair of the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), held the police authorities responsible. Pakistani
Christian leaders Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha and Peter Jacob expressed concern
that Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which allow the death sentence in these cases, were being
abused. Following Masih's arrest, some 100 Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church in
the Sambrial district of the Punjab province.[18]
Blasphemy cases are regularly brought against Pakistani Christians. In May 2004, Samuel
Masih, who was serving a jail sentence under blasphemy charges, was attacked by a police
constable inside the prison and later died.[19] In September 2005, a case was filed against
Younus aka Jonah in a court outside Lahore for committing blasphemy against a religious
congregation of Muslims.[20] In April 2007, a blasphemy case was filed against five
Christian brothers in a court in the town of Toba Tek Singh.[21] In Karachi, Qamar David
was accused of committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad in March 2008 allegedly
by sending blasphemous SMS messages to a Muslim.[22] In March 2011, he died in a
Pakistani prison.[23] In July 2010, Rashid Emanuel, a 32-year-old pastor, and his brother
were arrested on charges of committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad and were
shot dead inside the court premises in Faisalabad.[24] In July 2011, Christian youth Noel
Gulzar was accused of blaspheming the Koran.[25] In one case, Christian youth Manzoor
Masih was granted bail in a blasphemy case but was shot dead soon thereafter.[26]
In August 2012, Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old Christian girl with Down's Syndrome,[27]
was arrested for allegedly burning the pages of a booklet used to teach the Koran. The
incident happened outside Islamabad, after protesters beat up the girl and her mother.
[28] The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a non-governmental organization,
condemned the minor's arrest, adding: "The spread of extremism and the authorities'
preference for appeasing charged mobs, rather than taking the correct and lawful course,
should make those in power as well as other political forces take serious note. It is
deplorable that the country's political leadership refrains from speaking out against
extremism and the injustices towards non-Muslims."[29] In 1990-2010, at least 16 court
cases of blasphemy against Pakistani Christians were reported by the media.[30]
In another incident in early 2012, blasphemy charges were brought against a Pakistani
Christian who gave his name as "Jew Jurian" on an application for a national identity card,
with the motive being that anything associated with the word "Jew" is blasphemous.[31]
Media Report: Eight To 10 Christians Being Forced To Convert To Islam Every
Month In Sindh And Punjab; Christian Woman Kidnapped Along With Her Four
Children, Converted To Islam Within Hours
According to a media report, eight to 10 Christians are being forced to convert to Islam
every month in the Sindh and Punjab provinces.[32] For example, in early 2012, Seema
Bibi, a Punjabi Christian woman, was kidnapped along with her four children after her
husband couldn't repay a loan to a landlord. According to a Pakistani daily, within hours
the husband was told that his wife had converted to Islam and wouldn't be coming home.
[33] Later, Seema Bibi escaped from her captors.
Commenting on Seema Bibi's case and similar incidents of forced conversions, human
rights lawyer Amar Lal spoke of the growing discrimination faced by minorities in Pakistan:
"It is a conspiracy [aimed at forcing] Hindus and Christians and other minorities to leave
Pakistan... As a minority, we feel more and more insecure. It is getting worse day by day."
[34] Father Emmanuel Yousaf, head of the Christian interest group National Commission
for Justice and Peace (NCJP), said his organization was helping Seema Bibi and a number of
other Christians who were forced to leave their homes, adding: "Christian and Hindu girls
are targeted more and more... Some of the [Christians protected by the NCJP]... are girls
who were forcibly converted, and others... were falsely accused of acting against Islam or
abusing the holy Koran."[35]
Forced conversion of Christians is continuing. Some recent incidents of forced conversions
of Christian girls include: 28-year-old Tina Barkat was abducted, converted and forcibly
married off to a Muslim youth; 17-year-old Samina Ayub was kidnapped, forced to convert
and renamed Fatima Bibi in a town near Lahore; 15-year-old Uzma Bibi and 20-year-old
Saira Bibi were kidnapped from Lahore and converted to Islam; 14-year-old Sidra Bibi was
kidnapped from her home in Sheikhupura district and converted to Islam; 19-year-old
kidnapped from her home in Sheikhupura district and converted to Islam; 19-year-old
Shazia Bibi was forced to convert and marry a Muslim youth in Gujranwala town.[36]
Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of four, was sentenced to death for allegedly committing
blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad (tribune.com.pk)
Liberal Pakistani Governor Shot Dead By Security Guard For Defending Christian
Woman Accused Of Blasphemy, Christian Minister Shahbaz Bhatti Shot Dead For
Advocating Reforms In Blasphemy laws
On January 4, 2011, Punjab Province Governor Salman Taseer, known for his liberal views,
was shot dead by his own bodyguard for advocating reform in Pakistan's blasphemy laws
and for supporting Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of four who was sentenced to death on
charges of blasphemy in 2010, and whose husband and children were forced to flee their
home in Sheikhupura district.[37] The assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, belonged to Dawat-e-
Islami, an organization of Barelvi clerics who espouse an extremely strict interpretation of
Islam and advocate killing anyone who blasphemes against the Prophet.[38]
In a statement, 500 Pakistani clerics and religious scholars justified the governors'
assassination,[39] and Pakistani lawyers praised Qadri and garlanded him when he was
brought in a police van before a court in Islamabad.[40] The assassin's defense team was
led by former chief justice of Lahore High Court, retired judge Khwaja Muhammad Sharif.
[41] The latter's decision to defend the assassin was seen as an ideological move that
frightened every Christian and minority member in Pakistan.
After Salman Taseer's assassination, a court in the town of Multan filed blasphemy charges
against Pakistani lawmaker Sherry Rehman for advocating reforms in the blasphemy laws
on a television program.[42] Rehman later withdrew her bill calling for reform in these laws.
In order to protect her life, the authorities appointed her Pakistan's ambassador to the
U.S. Clearly, Pakistan's clerics and other influential figures are creating and nurturing a
culture of intolerance that not only leads to violence against minorities but discourages
liberal Pakistanis like Salman Taseer and Sherry Rehman from protecting minority rights.
On March 2, 2011, about two months after Salman Taseer's assassination, Pakistan's
Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian in the federal cabinet, was
likewise shot dead for advocating reforms in Pakistan's blasphemy laws. According to a
Pakistani daily, the "Punjabi Taliban," a collective name given to Punjab-based Sunni jihadi
organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), claimed
responsibility for the assassination.[43] It was reported that the assailants left leaflets at
the crime scene warning that all others opposing the blasphemy laws would meet a similar
fate.
Some suspected that Bhatti was actually assassinated by the Pakistani intelligence, and
unidentified Pakistani officials sought to blame India's intelligence agency Research &
Analysis Wing (RAW) and the American Blackwater company, now known as XE Services.
[44] However, it is widely believed that Bhatti was shot dead for advocating reforms in the
blasphemy laws of Pakistan. In an editorial, the Dawn newspaper observed: "Bhatti's killers
may have escaped the scene of the crime, but the real culprit is known to all: an extremist
mindset that has, with the sponsorship of some institutions of the state [a reference to
the Pakistani intelligence], spread far and wide in Pakistani society. The tragic irony of a
country created to protect the rights of a minority Muslims in unified India turning into
a killing field for those standing up for the rights of minorities evokes a deep sense of
pathos and helplessness."[45]
Cartoonist: Sabir Nazar, viewpointonline.net
College Chapel Occupied By Land Mafia In Rawalpindi; Pakistani Lawmaker Malik
Abrar Ahmed Accused Of Occupying Church Land; Churches Attacked In Various
Pakistani Towns
All minorities are seen as vulnerable, and their properties and places of worship are being
seized illegally. The city of Rawalpindi has seen several cases of Christian churches and land
seized by Muslims. On October 23, 2010, a large number of Christians in Rawalpindi
protested the seizing of Gordon College chapel by a land-grabbing mafia that sensed an
opportunity in the Christians' vulnerability. At the protest rally, Mubashar Robinson
Asghar, chairman of the All Pakistan Christian Action Committee (APCAC), asked the
government to expel the illegal occupants immediately. Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry, who has been very active in taking up cases that threaten the
elected democratic government in the country, was less enthusiastic in addressing the
Rawalpindi case. According to a Pakistani media report, APCAC members filed a number of
appeals to the Supreme Court in this matter, but no action was taken.[46]
In July 2012, Pakistani lawmaker Malik Abrar Ahmed and revenue officials were allegedly
involved in taking over land meant for a church and a Christian hospital. This sparked a
demonstration by over 200 Christians in the town, and Akram Waqar Gill of the Joint
Christian Action Committee (JCAC) even threatened to commit self-immolation.[47] In
2010, Malik Iftikhar, a legislator of the Punjab provincial assembly, was accused of taking
over a church in the city.[48] Generally, the culprits deny their role in such cases.
In August 2012, the Christian community in Peshawar appealed to the provincial
government for help "in preventing the illegal takeover of the historic Mission Hospital."
The community members led a protest against the construction of a shopping complex on
the premises of the hospital. Josemeen Qudus, a member of the Church of Pakistan, who
led the protest, noted that, according to the law, the hospital grounds cannot be used for
commercial purposes.[49]
There have also been numerous cases of attacks on churches. For example, in January
2004 Islamic extremists exploded a bomb at the Bible Society Trinity Church in Karachi.
[50] In early 2006, a church in the town of Sargodha was torched in response to the
publication of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.[51] In Daska area of Sialkot
district, a church was attacked as a result of Muslim-Christian land dispute in early 2006.
[52] In May 2007, Christians in Charsadda district received letters warning them they must
shut down their churches and convert to Islam, or else leave the district within 10 days.
[53] In September 2009, an angry mob torched a church in Sialkot after a Christian boy
was accused of desecrating the Koran.[54] In September 2010, Islamic extremists set fire
to a church in Shah Latif Town area of Karachi.[55] In March 2011, a mob attempted to
demolish the Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) church near Lahore after Christians were accused
of desecrating the Koran,[56] and a similar case occurred in April 2011 in the town of
Gujranwala.[57] Attacks on churches have continued this year, notably the September 21
torching of a Lutheran church in the town of Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.[58]
Persecution Of Hindus And Sikhs
Cover of Indian Outlook magazine, January 23, 2006.
A few centuries ago, what is now Pakistan was inhabited by Hindus. However, after
Pakistan's establishment in 1947, most of the Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India.
According to estimates, Hindus now constitute about 2%-2.5% of Pakistan's population
and, due to the persecution, many are immigrating to India.[59] Members of the tiny Sikh
minority have also faced attacks from Muslims and Islamist extremists. In May 2009, Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was born in present-day Pakistan and whose family
migrated to India after the Partition in 1947, expressed concern over the growing number
of atrocities against Pakistani Sikhs, stating: "Recently, you have heard the atrocities being
unleashed on the handful of Sikhs left in Pakistan. The Indian government has requested
Pakistan to initiate strong measures to stop such atrocities."[60] Like in the case of
Christians, persecution of Hindus and Sikhs takes various forms, with the driving reason
being that they are not Muslims.
160-Year-Old Hindu Temple Vandalized In Peshawar; 150-Year-Old Sikh Temple
Demolished Overnight In Mardan District
In May 2012, the 160-year-old Guru Gorakhnath temple in Peshawar was desecrated in a
targeted attack. Ramesh Lal, a priest at the temple, said: "Vandals smashed a statuette of
Lord Shiva to pieces and burned the holy Gita [the sacred Hindu book] as well as several
images of our deities." The attack came after the Peshawar High Court ordered to reopen
the historical temple, which had been abandoned since Pakistan's establishment. Haroon
Sarblal, a Hindu community leader, said that these acts of vandalism and desecration were
a deliberate attempt to spark religious tension in Peshawar.[61] In March 2012, a historical
Sikh temple 150-year-old gurdwara of Baba Karam Singh was destroyed by the land
mafia in the town of Mardan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The Sikh community
expressed concern over the targeting of their holy sites.[62]
In September 2009, Islamist extremists set fire to Sikh holy books in a joint Hindu-Sikh
temple in the Kashmore district of Sindh province.[63] In July 2011, the Pakistani
authorities barred the Sikhs of Lahore from worshipping at a local gurdwara after Muslims
claimed it was built on the site of a Muslim saint's tomb.[64] The Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan condemned the decision, stating: "The Sikhs... were told by
members of... [an] extremist group that the gurdwara was now a mosque and they would
no longer be allowed to bring in their musical instruments to observe their religious
ceremony."[65]
Hindus Evicted From Their Homes For Drinking Water From Mosque In Karachi
In July 2010, 60 Hindu men, women and children were forced to abandon their homes in
Karachi's Memon Goth area and had to take refuge in a cattle pen after a boy from their
community drank water from a cooler outside a mosque. According to a Pakistani
newspaper, the local Muslims were so enraged by this that they beat up the boy and other
members of the Hindu community, and drove them from their homes. [66]
Meerumal, whose son drank the water from the mosque, described the incident: "All
hell broke loose when my son, Dinesh, who looked after chickens in a farm, drank water
from a cooler outside a mosque. Upon seeing him do that, the people of the area started
beating him up.... Later, around 150 tribesmen attacked us, injuring seven of our people
Samo, Mohan, ... Chanu, Sadu, Heera, and Guddi."[67] One of the injured, Heera, said
that another 400 families from the area, located in the vicinity of Malir town, were also
being pressured to leave their homes. "Our people are even scared of going out of their
houses. We are also putting up with living in the filthy pen because we cannot go home for
fear of being killed," Heera said.[68]
Islamic Militants Demand Jizya (Islamic Poll Tax) From Hindus And Sikhs
Islamist militants in the Pakistani tribal region have forced Hindus and Sikhs to pay jizya,
the Islamic poll tax imposed on non-Muslims, and have punished those who refused. In
2009, a Taliban representative phoned Dr. Parkas, the leader of the Hindu community in
the Batagram district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (now called Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa), and ordered him to collect six million rupees from his community and
deliver them to the Taliban.[69] Senior police official Sohail Khalid told a local journalist that
threats of this kind have also been received by various non-governmental organizations.
According to a report in the Urdu-language daily Roznama Express, in June 2009 Hindus
and Sikhs in the Khyber Agency agreed to pay jizya to Islamist militants led by Mangal
Bagh, in return for protection.[70] Also in 2009, Taliban militants in the Orakzai
Agency banished 50 Sikh families from the area for failing to pay jizya. The militants took
over their houses and shops and auctioned their valuables.[71] It should be noted here
that Taliban and other Islamist militants are merely reinforcing the discrimination that is
already prevalent against the minorities in Pakistan. In January 2010, militants abducted
two Sikhs in Khyber and Orakzai tribal districts, and beheaded them after their families
failed to pay a large ransom.[72]
Pakistani Religious Scholar Says Objectives Of The 19th Century Jihad Against
Sikhs Yet To Be Accomplished, Serving Chief Justice Accuses Hindus Of Funding
Terrorism And Later Denies
In February 2011, prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Samiul Haq, emir of the Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) party, called for jihad against the Sikh community in Pakistan,
arguing that the objectives of the jihad launched by Islamic cleric Syed Ahmed Shaheed
against the British rule and the Sikhs in the 19th century have yet to be achieved.[73]
In March 2010, Lahore High Court chief justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, known for his
Islamist views, accused Pakistan's Hindus of "involvement in funding terrorism" in the
country.[74] Hindus in Pakistan
'
s lower house of parliament responded by staging a
walkout, and were joined by members of the Awami National Party, a secular Pashtun
nationalist party. Following this, the Lahore High Court issued a statement saying that
Sharif's remarks had been maliciously misreported in the media.[75] Notwithstanding the
denial, Justice Sharif's remark is symptomatic of the prejudice against Hindus and other
minorities in the Pakistani judiciary.
Hindu Children Denied Food Relief During 2010 Floods By Pakistani Philanthropists
And Government Officials; Pakistani NGO: Hindus "Not Allowed" To Drink Water
From Fountains At Relief Camps
Members of the Hindu community were among the victims of the 2010 floods in Pakistan.
After the floods, some Pakistani officials denied aid to the Hindus, including to children. A
Pakistani daily reported that government officials at the Mir Imdad flood relief camp outside
Jhirk in the Sindh province refused to provide aid to the children because they were low-
caste Hindus. Gulab, a Hindu boy, told a journalist: "Despite the fact that all of our
belongings were washed away by the flood, we are not receiving food or any other stuff."
[76]
According to media reports, the Hindu flood victims also faced discrimination by local
citizens who came to hand out food during the month of Ramadan. [77] A media report
noted: "Local philanthropists come to distribute food and other items among people at the
camps, except the Dalits [Hindus].... Especially at the time of Iftari [breaking of the day's
fast during Ramadan], crowds of local people could be seen giving food, fruit and sweets
to the children, but Gulab's kids can only become spectators, not beneficiaries. If the
children of the Dalits stand in a queue to get some food, other children identify them and
elbow them out."[78]
Govindo, another Hindu at a makeshift shelter, said that the children of the urban Pakistani
elite visited the flood relief camps and distributed toys and sweets among the flood-hit
children, adding: "But this solidarity is expressed with those who are not [Hindu] Dalits."
[79] Gopaldas Bagri, a Dalit from the Kashmore district, said that he approached different
organizations engaged in rescue and relief work to ask them to give attention to the Dalit
community, adding: "I cannot understand that why, even at this moment, we are being
refused and deprived of food."[80]
Some 1,000 Hindu families sheltering at the Sabzi Mandi relief camp in Hyderabad
encountered similar discrimination, and some were reportedly expelled from the camp. In a
protest march against this discrimination, they condemned the authorities for depriving
Hindus of aid and relief facilities, and said that local officials did nothing when Hindus at the
camp were threatened by extremist religious groups. [81] According to a media report, the
Hindu leaders blamed this discrimination in food distribution on the fact that the
government was not willing to accept them as "citizens" of Pakistan.[82]
The non-governmental organization Upgrade Minorities for Integrated Development (UMID
or Hope) reported on persecution of low-caste Hindu flood victims in the Badin district.
According to its report, Hindu communities such as Kohlis, Bhaggrris, Menghwars, Bheels
and Oads were barred from entering relief camps in the district, and even from drinking
water from fountains set up outside the camps."[83] In September 2011, an organization
sent two truckloads of relief goods intended for 200 Hindu families in the town of Badin in
the district. The trucks were looted near the camp. When workers from the local
organization informed the police, they were asked to leave."[84]
Hindu Girls Abducted, Drugged And Converted To Islam; Policemen And Islamic
Clerics Involved In Abducting And Converting Hindu Girls
An increasing number of Hindu girls in Pakistan are abducted and forced to convert to
Islam. Many of them later speak of having converted of their own free will as they are
subjected to threats. This pattern of forced conversion and subsequent intimidation is
illustrated in the examples below.
In May 2010, cleric Abdul Jabbar, the head of an Islamic seminary in the town of Khanpur,
was accused of abducting Radha, a 13-year-old Hindu girl, and converting her to Islam.
According to a media report, Jabbar prevented the girl's parents from seeing her, claiming
that she had converted to Islam and no longer wanted to see her non-Muslim relatives."
[85] Human rights activist Ramesh J. Pal said: "I personally met Abdul Jabbar, but he never
met any of our requests. This is a clear case of forced conversion."[86]Radha's brother
said: "We only curse ourselves for being so poor and sometimes even for being non-
Muslims in a country where religion matters. We are not expecting justice from anyone..."
[87]
In September 2009, a Karachi-based engineer kidnapped a Hindu girl named Bano, forcibly
converted her to Islam, and arranged her marriage to a Muslim man, Jaffer Abbas. Gulzar,
the engineer, was later indicted in a court after the girl's father lodged a police complaint.
[88]
All sections of Pakistani society are involved in such acts. In December 2011, a police
constable in Karachi was accused of kidnapping Bharati, a 15-year-old Hindu girl, who was
later converted and married off to a Muslim youth. Bharati, now Ayesha, told a court in
Karachi that she had converted to Islam and married the Muslim man of her free will.[89]
In February 2012, 17-year-old Rinkle Kumari was kidnapped and converted in the town of
Mirpur Mathello in Sindh province. A press report stated: "This is not the first case of this
nature, as the community has been silently witnessing forcible conversion of their young
girls for many months. Though the Pakistan Hindu Council [PHC] does not have the latest
figures, they believe that incidents of conversion are higher than reported in the media."
[90] Despite being in judicial custody, Rinkle, whose case was widely reported in the media,
was not allowed to meet with her parents. Commenting on the case, Mangla Sharma of the
PHC said: "It is the same drill every time... A girl is kidnapped and converted at a madrassa
[Islamic seminary] and when the family creates an uproar, the kidnappers produce a
certificate that shows she has accepted Islam and 'wants' to be a Muslim."[91] In April
2012, the case of Kumari and two other Hindu women was reviewed by Pakistan's
Supreme Court. The judge allowed them to decide their own future on the ground that
they were adults.[92] In August 2012, Rinkle's family, deeply hurt and in despair, migrated
to India.
In October 2011, 15-year-old Poonam Wasu was drugged by some Muslim friends, and
woke up a few hours later to find herself a married Muslim woman named Razia. Poonam
Wasu said that her two Muslim friends, Saiba and Shazia, gave her tea. "After drinking it, I
fell unconscious. I don't remember what happened after that. All I know is that, when I
woke up, I was a woman who had accepted Islam and performed a Nikkah [marriage] with
my friend's brother... I never thought these two girls would do something like this. Both
of them were so nice to me."[93] In August 2012, a teenage Hindu girl, identified by initials
MK, was kidnapped, converted to Islam, and married to a man named Ghulam Murtaza
Channo.[94] Her father, Riwatt Mal, aka Beebo, and uncle Sanjay Singh reported: "M
phoned us today and said that she had married, but we heard the voices of two men and
a woman, and doubt that she was being allowed to speak freely.... We'll migrate to India, if
M is not recovered. We can't live with this situation now."[95] The teenager appeared in a
court five days after her kidnapping along with her Muslim husband.
Early in 2012, Dr. Lata Kumari, a Hindu doctor at the Aga Khan University Hospital,
became the fifth woman of her family to be kidnapped and converted to Islam. When her
sister Jyoti met her in court, Dr. Lata Kumari whispered that she "needed help" "the only
thing she managed to whisper," according to a Pakistani daily, "before being roughly
pushed aside by some clerics who had come to witness the court proceedings."[96]
Human Rights Commission Of Pakistan (HRCP): Every Month, Between 20 and 25
Hindu Girls Are Abducted And Forcibly Converted To Islam; "Apart From Minors,
Married Women With Children Are Not Spared Either..."
Speaking at a March 10, 2012 press conference organized by the family members of Hindu
converts to Islam, Amarnath Motumel of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
estimated that 20 forced conversions took place every month, saying: "Apart from minors,
married women with children are not spared either... Whenever a Hindu girl is converted
and her family files a case in court, hundreds of religious zealots take to the streets and
use pressure tactics, creating an atmosphere of fear... Many lawyers do not take up the
girls' cases at all, and prefer to fight for the other party."[97]
At another press conference, two years earlier in 2010, Amarnath Motumel gave a similar
estimate, noting that as many as 20 to 25 Hindu girls are abducted every month and
converted forcibly to Islam.[98] He also voiced concern that the word "Hindu" has acquired
the meaning of an insult and kind of abuse for the Hindu community in Pakistan.[99] He
added: "According to estimates, in Karachi alone, a large number of Hindu girls are being
kidnapped on a routine basis... The families of the victims are scared to register cases
against the influential perpetrators as death threats are issued to them in case they raise
their voice. So, the victims choose to remain silent to save their lives."[100]
At a March 2012 conference of Hindu leaders from the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces,
Kalpana Devi, vice president of the Larkana Bar Association, said: "Why is that only Hindu
girls fall in love with Muslim men and convert to Islam with full conviction? Why don't we
ever hear of a Muslim boy or girl doing the same for the sake of love and perhaps
rectitude?... If you have the mettle to take our girls and make them your daughters-in-
law, then you should have the nerve to give us the same opportunity... But no, if this
happens, the little [Muslim] girl or boy becomes Wajib-ul-Qatl [condemned to be killed
under Islamic law], so it is always one-way traffic."[101] The conference participants
warned of mass migration from the country if immediate steps were not taken to stop
forced conversions.[102] Speaking at the conference, Hindu community leader Hotchand
Karmani said that forced conversions were not the only issue, and extortion and
kidnappings for ransom, along with cases of forced conversions, constitute the top three
crimes committed against Hindus.
There is fear that the kidnapped Hindu girls are also being sold into prostitution. According
to a media report, Bherulal Balani, a former legislator, said: "Once the girls are converted,
they are then sold to other people or are forced to do illegal and immoral activities."[103]
Pakistani Daily Report: Hindus Converting In Order To "Survive In The [Islamic]
Society" Of Pakistan
With the space for coexistence with Muslims shrinking, Hindus are converting to Islam in
order to survive in Pakistani society. In May 2010, more than 50 members of the Hindu
community converted to Islam in the city of Sialkot. According to a Pakistani daily report,
they embraced Islam in order to "survive in the [Islamic] society" of Pakistan.[104]
Mangut Ram, a relative of some of the converts, said that they had converted under
pressure from their employers."[105] Ram, who used to work in a shop in Karachi, said he
faced similar pressure: "The owner of the shop where I worked said that, after a few
months of his employing me, the sales dropped drastically, because people were avoiding
purchasing and eating edibles prepared by Hindus... Many people opposed the large
presence of Hindu employees at his shop, and my boss felt pressured to change the
situation..."[106] Ram said further that some of his relatives had converted to save their
land, and because their Muslim neighbors had been mistreating them.[107]
In 2008, more than 270 individuals from 40 Hindu families embraced Islam under the
influence of Islamic clerics in Mirpur Khas in the Sindh province. There were no reports of
forced conversion, but, according to the media, the Hindus were pressured by their
landlords and employers and were promised free dwellings.[108]
Speaking at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Minority Affairs in 2010, Senator Dr.
Khatu Mal Jeewan said that the courts in Sindh province were not helping the families of
forced conversion victims. He demanded that the Pakistani government protect the
minorities and legislate against forced conversion of religious minorities to Islam.[109]
In Karachi, Pakistani Hindus protest against kidnapping of their girls
(hinduexistence.wordpress.com)
Pakistani Media Reports: Persecution Forces Pakistani Hindus To Emigrate To
India; Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC): "Every Week, At Least 20-25 Families Are
Leaving Pakistan... For India"
As a result of growing persecution, many Pakistani Hindus have emigrated to India in
recent years. In March 2005, a media report noted that 8,000 Pakistani Hindus had
acquired Indian citizenship. "[T]hese Hindus came to India on valid travel papers from
Pakistan and refused to [go] back, saying they were subjected to ill treatment on religious
grounds."[110] Persecution seems to be particularly serious in Sindh province, especially in
the Ghotki, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Larkana districts. In December 2010, 27 Hindu
families from Pakistan's Baluchistan province applied for asylum in India due to fear of
kidnappings and killings. According to a report in the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper
Roznama Jasarat, these families said that they had been living in Baluchistan for centuries,
but that persecution was forcing them to flee.[111] Similar reports on the migration of
Hindus have appeared regularly in Indian newspapers in recent years.
In September 2011, over 300 Hindus in the Jacobabad district took a collective decision to
migrate to India due to the continuing attacks against the Hindus in Pakistan. "With tears
in their eyes... [they told local Pakistani journalists] that they had taken the decision with a
heavy heart due to insecurity and a permanent threat of being kidnapped [for ransom or
for the purposed of forced conversion to Islam]."[112] In a report titled "Persecution
for the purposed of forced conversion to Islam]."[112] In a report titled "Persecution
forces 60 Hindu families to migrate to India," a Pakistani daily reported in August 2012 that
60 Hindu families from Baluchistan and Sindh provinces left for India due to persecution.
[113] Some of these families were from Jacobabad. Commenting on this issue, human
rights activist Farzana Bari noted that it was very serious and that the religious minorities
in Pakistan do not get enough security. "It is not easy to leave your settled life and move
somewhere else. They are really afraid and this is a continuous phenomenon," she said.
[114]
In November 2011, Journalist Sandhya Jain of The Pioneer reported that 114 Hindus of the
Bagri clan were sheltering in Delhi and refusing to return to their homes in Sindh owing to
the growing persecution in recent years. The report noted: "Amidst heightened sectarian
strife in Pakistan... a small [group] of landless Hindu laborers has reached Delhi in quest of
asylum and eventual citizenship. Growing incidents of abduction and forced conversion,
especially of minor girls who disappear behind the veil, have instilled deep insecurity in
[this] minority community over the years... Marauding tablighi [preaching] groups are
fuelling an incandescent intolerance of non-Muslims in society, and hatred for kafirs
[infidels] has acquired a chilling vibrancy. Tensions are particularly high in Sindh,
Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province [now called the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province], where Hindus are increasingly being forced to embrace Islam in order to
survive.... T]he intensified activism of the Tablighi Jamaat is making life increasingly hellish
for Hindus. There is no sunwai (justice) when Hindu girls are kidnapped, converted, forced
into marriage and never seen again. Fear is a constant companion. The ... [Tablighi
Jamaat's] jihad ... is menacing and all-pervasive."[115]
In the second week of August 2012, more than 250 Hindus from Baluchistan and Sindh
crossed over into India to seek shelter. Speaking to the Indian media, Mukesh Kumar
Ahuja, who hails from Baluchistan, commented: "Hindus are in real trouble in Pakistan, and
especially in the areas of upper Sindh and Baluchistan. I cannot face all that, so I decided
to migrate to India... I had a shop there but closed it about [a] year back. Some people I
don't know looted money from my shop so I had to close it. I was always afraid because
life is in danger there. It was suffocating, so finally we decided to leave Pakistan forever
and move to India after selling our house."[116]
In August 2012, Pakistani daily The News carried a report titled "Is there a mass exodus of
Hindus from Sindh?" The report was actually aimed at refuting the claim of mass
immigration. However, it quoted Dr. Ramesh Kumar of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC),
who said: "Every week, at least 20-25 families are leaving Pakistan from interior Sindh for
India, as our lives are not protected in this country anymore."[117] He added that law-
enforcement agencies in the towns of Larkana, Sukkur, Tharparkar and Jacobabad were
cronies of the powerful Sardars and were unable to act against the extortionists and
kidnappers in the region, stating: "The ... [heads] of police stations in these areas are
more powerful than the IG [Inspector General of the province] because they are appointed
politically."[118]
Persecution Of Ahmadi Muslims
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded in 1889 by spiritual leader Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad (1835-1908) in the northern Indian town of Qadian. Today the movement has
followers in more than 200 countries, and its present-day headquarters is in the United
Kingdom.[119] Islamic clerics in Pakistan accuse the Ahmadi Muslims of not believing that
the Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet of God. The Ahmadi Muslims themselves
respond that they do believe this, but that they also believe that a certain kind of wahi
(revelation) from God continues even today, and that their spiritual leader was one of its
recipients.
In 1974, under the influence of fundamentalist forces in Pakistan, the secular government
of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto passed a law designating Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslim. Under this
and subsequent legislation, Ahmadi Muslims are forbidden to call their places of worship
"mosques" or build them to look like mosques, and are forbidden to use Islamic symbols
and names in any manner; and Pakistani citizens or journalists who refer to Ahmadis as
"Muslims" can be taken to court.
Moreover, an array of Islamic organizations collectively known as Khatm-e-Nabuwwat
(End-of-Prophecy) groups have created a cultural atmosphere of intense prejudice
against Ahmadi Muslims, leading to numerous cases of discrimination against them and
even to a boycott of Ahmadi-owned businesses and companies. Ahmadis Muslims are
dismissed as Mirzais (followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad) or Qadianis, i.e. after the town of
Qadian where the Ahmadiyya movement began. The beliefs of Ahmadi Muslims are
pejoratively dismissed as Qadianiat (thinking of Qadian).
As in the case of Christians, Ahmadi Muslims face charges of blasphemy brought against
them by the police or by various powerful individuals; many of them are murdered or
robbed of their property; and their places of worship are subject to attack. Also, there are
demands in Pakistan to bar them from government positions. Perhaps the biggest attack
on Ahmadi Muslims in recent years was the May 2010 attack in Lahore, in which Taliban
suicide bombers targeted the city's two Ahmadi mosques during the Friday prayers,
leaving some 90 people dead and 200 wounded.[120]
Lahore Bar Association Bans Selling Of Juice And Other Goods From Ahmadi
Muslim-Owned Firms In Courthouses; Islamic Clerics Investigate And Certify The
Faith Of QMobile Owners
Certificate issued by clerics confirming the Muslim faith of QMobile owners (Roznama Ummat,
January 14, 2012)
Like other minorities, Ahmadi Muslims face discrimination from all sections of Pakistani
society, including the educated elite and government officials. In early 2012, the Lahore
Bar Association (LBA), a representative body of lawyers, initiated a ban against selling the
Shezan brand of juice, and other goods produced by companies owned by Ahmadi
Muslims, in Lahore courthouses. According to a report, the decision was taken on the
recommendation of Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, president of the Khatm-e-
Nabuwwat Lawyers Forum, one of the numerous "End-of-Prophecy" groups that have
sprung up in Pakistan over the years. LBA President Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said that a team
had been formed to enforce the decision, and vowed tough action against those found
buying or selling Ahmadi-owned products on court premises."[121]
In early 2012, a furor was sparked in Pakistan when it was discovered that mobile phones
manufactured by the local company QMobile do not enable users to write the word
"Muhammad" in Urdu or Arabic script. Islamic clerics immediately voiced a suspicion that
the company was owned by Ahmadis, that the "Q" in its name stood for "Qadian" (a town
associated with Ahmadis), and that it aimed to defame the Prophet. Islamic clerics called
for a verification of the faith of QMobile's owners to ensure that they were not Ahmadis.
An investigation later revealed that the problem was due to a software glitch and that the
company owners were mainstream Muslims. In order to clear its name, the company
published an announcement in the Urdu-language Roznama Ummat which said (see the
image above): "We apologize to our clients that they experienced difficulty due to a
problem in QMobile's software, due to which the name of 'Muhammad,' peace be upon him,
could not be written. This issue has been resolved completely... This software problem had
no connection to Qadianiat [beliefs of Ahmadi Muslims]. Praise Allah, we are Muslims and
have complete faith that Muhammad was the Seal of the Prophets... [We] consider any
[later] claimant to prophethood as a false, lying and accursed infidel..."[122]
The announcement was accompanied by a certificate verifying the faith of QMobile
owners from the Aalami Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (International Council
for the Defense of the Finality of the Prophethood), an organization of Islamic clerics which
has been leading an international campaign against Ahmadi Muslims. The certificate stated:
"This is to verify that we have met with the owners of the [the company] and have
investigated their beliefs. We have reached the conclusion that [they]... are Muslims and
firmly believe that Muhammad... is the last prophet of Allah..."[123]
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Blocks Ahmadi Website "Because
Ahmadis... [A]re Not Allowed To Propagate Their Religious Views Under The
Constitution Of Pakistan"
In July 2012, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked access to the official
website of the Ahmadiyya community, Alislam.org, operated from outside the country. A
PTA official explained that the website was blocked "because Ahmadis... [a]re not allowed
to propagate their religious views under the constitution of Pakistan."[124] The move
came after the Muttahida Ulema Board (United Board of Islamic Clerics) accused the
website of containing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. Husain Haqqani, the
former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, commented that the move "reflects
religious intolerance and violates constitutional guarantee of religious freedom."[125]
Pakistani Religious Organization's Pamphlet Justifies Killing Of Ahmadis As "Jihad"
The killing of Ahmadi Muslims is justified by many Islamic clerics. A pamphlet issued by All
Pakistan Students Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Federation, one of the many End-of Prophecy
organizations, the killing of Ahmadi Muslims is termed "jihad." The pamphlet (see the image
below) states: "The Qadianiat [beliefs of Ahmadi Muslims] are a deadly poison"; "Oh Muslim
brothers, we must recognize these people"; "It is jihad to shoot these people in the
market"; "Awaken... and achieve martyrdom by killing them."[126]
This pamphlet is not an isolated case. Similar sentiments are articulated every day in
religious gatherings organized by Islamic clerics across Pakistan.
A pamphlet issued by an "end-of- prophecy" organization calls to kill Ahmadis
Target-Killings Of Ahmadi Muslims Continuing; Ahmadi Muslim Leader: "Ahmadis
Target-Killings Of Ahmadi Muslims Continuing; Ahmadi Muslim Leader: "Ahmadis
Are Completely At The Mercy Of Assassins"
An ideological campaign to eliminate Ahmadi Muslims from Pakistan is underway through
acts of target killings. During 2001-2005, at least 79 deaths of Ahmadi Muslims were
recorded in acts of target killings.[127] In 2012, at least 11 cases were recorded. For
example, in May 2012, Tariq Ahmad, an Ahmadi Muslim, was shot dead in Layyah district of
Punjab.[128] In July, 2012, Mukarram Naeem Ahmed Gondal (52), leader of Ahmadi
community in the Orangi Town area of Karachi and an assistant director in the State Bank
of Pakistan, was shot dead.[129] Two other victims this year were Abdul Qudoos Ahmad
(43), a respected schoolteacher, who was "tortured to death while in police custody" in the
city of Rabwah, the headquarters of the Ahmadi movement in Pakistan,[130] and Aslam
Bhatti (34), also a schoolteacher, who was targeted in a drive-by shooting in Karachi.
[131] Several other Ahmadis were been attacked but escaped death."[132] These cases
are too many to narrate here.
These killings of Ahmadi Muslims illustrate a pattern continuing from previous years. For
example, in September 2008, two Ahmadi Muslims Yousuf in Nawabshah and Abdul
Mannan Siddiqi in Mirpur Khas were shot dead.[133] In Sheikhupura district of the
province, Dilawar Hussain, a 42-year-old teacher, was shot dead in October 2011 while
teaching a class at a primary school in the village of Dere Golianwala.[134] At Ferozewala in
Sheikhupura district, Chaudhry Basheer Ahmed was shot in September 2011.[135] In
Muzaffar Colony of Faisalabad city, 55-year-old Naseem Ahmad Butt was shot dead in bed
in September 2011 for being an Ahmadi Muslim.[136]
In addition, there have probably been deaths in small towns and villages that have not
been reported in the media. In April 2012, Abdul Quddus, an Ahmadi teacher, was taken
into police custody under false charge and tortured to death at Nusratabad in Chiniot
district of Punjab province.[137] The deaths in 2012 join numerous previous killings of
Ahmadis in recent years. In a letter to human rights organizations, Syed M. Mahmood, an
Ahmadi Muslim leader, expressed the community's concern: "Ahmadis are completely at
the mercy of assassins who are targeting and killing them with impunity and police and
other law-enforcement agencies... [are] doing nothing to thwart their actions."[138]
Teacher Fired, Students Expelled By Schools In Faisalabad District For Being
Ahmadi Muslims; College Principal Rusticates 23 Ahmadi Muslim Students
In October 2011, schools in Dharanwali area of the Hafizabad district of the Punjab
province expelled 10 students and fired a female teacher for being Ahmadis. Yasir Abbas,
the principal at one of the schools, explained: "This is not my decision... the entire village
unanimously pressed me to expel all Ahmadis from the school, or else they would forcibly
shut the school down."[139] Saleemuddin, a spokesman for the Ahmadi Muslims,
explained that the Punjab government had allowed people to register for schools online
and made it mandatory for students to disclose their religion.[140]
In June 2008, Professor Dr. Asghar Ali Randhawa, principal of the Punjab Medical College in
Faisalabad, suspended 23 Ahmadi students from the college. He did so after some
students from an Islamist organization led a campaign against Ahmadi Muslims and put up
posters criticizing their faith. [141]
Ahmadi Muslims Targeted For Using Muslim Symbols; Police Remove Koranic Texts
From Ahmadi Muslims' Graves; Police Demolish Ahmadi Mosque At Clerics' Urging
Since the law forbids Ahmadis to "act or look" like Muslims, they are targeted by the
authorities and by civilians for building houses of worship that look like mosques or for
publically displaying various Muslim texts or symbols on their shops and homes, or even
on their graves. In July 2012, police in the Pakistani town of Kharian in Punjab province
destroyed six minarets of a mosque belonging to Ahmadi Muslims, following a complaint
filed by the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Islam (Movement for the Defense of Islam), an
organization of Barelvi clerics who are known for their intolerance of other sects of Islam.
However, the demolition was carried out without a court order. Police officer Raja Zahid
described the demolition as a result of an "amicable and peaceful process," while a media
report noted: "This is the first time since 1984 that minarets of a place of worship of
Ahmadis have been destroyed by the police, though a number of places have been sealed
by authorities in the past."[142]
In August 2012, members of an Islamic organization called Aalami Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-
Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (International Council for the Defense of Finality of Prophethood) took
law in their own hands and removed Koranic text and religious words from the shop of an
Ahmadi family at Kot Abdul Malik in Sheikhupura district, and in doing so they were helped
by the local police.[143] According to a media report, other than Koranic texts, the word
"MashAllah" or Allah willing was also removed along with the shop owner's father's
name "Muhammad Ali" which was inscribed at the gate of their residence next to the shop.
[144] Zia, the shop owner, was reported as saying that threats had arriving long before
the clerics arrived at his door.
In August 2012, police in a village near Hafizabad in the Punjab province capitulated to the
demand of a fundamentalist group and removed Koranic verses and religious texts from
Ahmadi Muslims' graves.[145] About 650 Ahmadi Muslims have resided in the village from
the days when Pakistan was not even created, according to a media report, which noted
that despite opposition from Nasir Javaid, acting Emir of the Hafizabad Ahmadiyya Jamaat,
and other Ahmadi Muslim leaders, police officials, instead of the defending the community,
decided to remove the texts, thereby defiling the graves.[146] In the same month,
members of an Islamist organization removed a Koranic text from the shop of an Ahmadi
family in the Sheikhupura district, with the aid of local police,[147] and in Rawalpindi, the
police banned Ahmadis from offering the annual Eid-ul-Fitr prayer at their own Ewan-e-
Tawheed mosque after some clerics raised objections.[148]
Ahmadi Muslims Implicated In Blasphemy Cases; Ahmadi Mosque Leader Accused
Of Blasphemy For "Referring" To Quotes From The Koran And Hadith
The instances of Ahmadi Muslims being implicated in blasphemy cases are part of a
pattern. In the Sindh province, an Ahmadi imam and four employees of an Ahmadi
pattern. In the Sindh province, an Ahmadi imam and four employees of an Ahmadi
women's monthly were accused of blasphemy merely for quoting from the Koran and
hadith. In a complaint filed with the police, a preacher in the town of Tando Adam said that
any act of "naming and quoting" Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, or referring to the
Prophet as "beloved master" by Ahmadis were "blasphemous" and offended the religious
sentiment of Muslims.[149]
In November 2004 in Faisalabad, an Ahmadi was sentenced to life imprisonment after a
local mosque leader accused him of blasphemy. Blasphemy charges have even been
brought against Ahmadi children. In early 2009, several Ahmadi boys aged 12-16 were
arrested on charges of blasphemy,[150] and were jailed in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan.
[151] In Muzaffargarh district, Abdus Sattar was arrested on charges of committing
blasphemy against Allah and Prophet Muhammad in March 2006.[152] Most such
accusations are seen by local journalists as completely false, mainly originating from
varying reasons of religious prejudice and even from personal enmity.
Addressing Ahmadis, Pakistani Cleric Zahidur Rashidi Cites Prophet Muhammad-
Era Practice To Justify The Killing Of False Prophets, Offers Two Options: Repent
And Accept Islam, Or Be Killed
In a January 2, 2012 article titled "Qadianis Should Join the Mainstream of Muslims," noted
Islamic scholar Maulana Zahidur Rashidi, secretary-general of the Pakistan Shariat Council,
wrote of a conference he had attended marking the death of a Muslim youth in a clash with
Ahmadi Muslims at Goleki village in Gujarat district. According to the article, Maulana
Rashidi called upon Ahmadis to repent their "false" faith propagated by their spiritual leader
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and join the true Islam, stating:
"Addressing them [at that conference], I told them that at the time of Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him), four people had claimed to be prophets and had gathered a crowd of
their followers; two of them were killed, while the others expressed repentance and
accepted Islam. Those who were killed were Musailmah Kazzab and Aswad Unsa, while
those who entered into the fold of Islam were Taliha bin Khawilad Asadi (RA) and a woman
called Sajjah.
"The two came into the fold of Islam and spent their last days as good Muslims. I call upon
the Qadianis to follow the path of Taliha and Sajjah, leaving the path of Musailmah and
Aswad Unsa and repenting of their false faith, and come back into mainstream Islam; they
will be our Muslim brethren."[153]
Pakistan's Only Nobel Laureate, Abdus Salam, Disregarded Due To His Ahmadi
Origins, His Headstone Disfigured After Authorities Ordered To Remove The Word
"Muslim" From It
Physicist Abdus Salam (1926-1996), one of the scientists who paved the way to the
discovery of the Higgs boson, and Pakistan's only Nobel Prize laureate, is forgotten and
dishonored in Pakistan because he was a member of the Ahmadi community. As a Pakistani
journalist reported, "The two-room bungalow, the birthplace of Pakistan's only Nobel
laureate, today stands empty, testament to the indifference, bigotry and prejudice
surrounding the country's greatest scientist."[154]
Dr. Salam left Pakistan for England in 1974 after the passage of the law declaring Ahmadis
non-Muslim. After his death in Oxford, his body was brought to Pakistan and buried next
to his parents' graves in the town of Rabwah. The epitaph on his grave initially read "First
Muslim Nobel Laureate," but later a Pakistani court ordered that the word "Muslim" be
removed from the epitaph, leaving the nonsensical description "First Nobel Laureate."
In a 2010 article, Pakistani columnist Masood Hasan commented: "Fourteen years after his
death in Oxford, Dr. Salam rests in a modest graveyard near the Chenab River in Punjab,
his grave disfigured on the orders of a lowly magistrate who had the word 'Muslim' gouged
out of his tombstone. The royal orders were happily complied with. The town of Rabwah,
of course, is already 'christened' Chenab Nagar. Maybe they should extend the farce
further and call all those who inhabit this perpetually-threatened place 'Chenabis.' A
magistrate can 'do the needful,' as the Babus [i.e. bureaucrats] say...
"It has been 31 years since he became our first and only Nobel laureate, and nearly 14
years since his death. The doctrinal differences over faith seem to have far more
importance to this country than anything else. We will name no airport, or a road, or build
a monument, an institution, initiate a scholarship no, we will barely tolerate who he was.
We are blinded by our bigotry and hatred. Will we seek forgiveness for how we treated one
of the great, if not the greatest, sons of Pakistan? No, we won't. Many Pakistanis will
continue to deny this unique man, and therein lies our shame, except we have none. We
lost it many years ago."[155]
Persecution Of Shi'ite Muslims
Of the 190 million people in Pakistan, Shi'ite Muslims constitute about 20%.[156] The
Sunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr, Omar ibn Khattab, Usman ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abi
Talib are the four righteous caliphs who succeeded Prophet Muhammad in that order, with
Ali being the last of the four. However, Shi'ite Muslims cite a hadith of Prophet Muhammad
in which he reportedly said that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, would succeed
him, and therefore Shi'ite Muslims consider Ali as the first caliph, leading to an entirely
different set of successors.
Over the years, some doctrinal differences have become entrenched between the two sects
of Islam, with the consequence that a vast number of Sunni Muslims does not consider
Shi'ites as Muslims. In August 2012, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a
global survey of Muslim attitudes and opinion after interviewing 38,000 Muslims face to
face in 39 Muslim-dominated countries. The findings (see the graphics below) revealed that
only 50 percent of Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, and much more in many more Muslim
nations, consider Shi'ites as Muslims.[157]
Pew Global Survey: Only 50% Sunnis In Pakistan Consider Shi'ites Muslim
Pew survey: percentage of Sunnis in Muslim countries who regard Shi'ites as Muslim
(pewforum.org)
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other powerful extremist Islamic groups in Pakistan
call the Shi'ites infidels. The most venomous attacks on the Shi'ites of Pakistan come from
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the military wing of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP or Soldiers of
the Prophet's Companions). Both the LeJ and the SSP are banned in Pakistan, but they
work freely under the banner of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) headed by Maulana
Ahmad Ludhianvi.
Murders of Shi'ites have been common in Pakistan for decades, and have recently
increased throughout the country. In many cases, extremist militants stop buses at
random, order the passengers off, identify the Shi'ites among them by checking their
names in their identity cards, and then shoot them. Attacks have increased particularly in
the regions of Gilgit Baltistan, Hangu, Parachinar, Dera Ismail Khan, and Baluchistan. In the
latter province, it is especially Hazara Shi'ites who are being targeted.
Frequent Headlines In Pakistani Dailies: "At Least 20 Shi'ites Pulled Off Bus, Shot
Dead..."; "Kohistan Sectarian Attack: 18 Shot Dead After Being Pulled Out Of Four
Buses"; "Mastung: Pilgrims Pulled Out Of Bus And Killed, 26 Souls Dead, Three
People Going To Pick Up Bodies Also Killed"
Examples of such attacks on Shi'ite Muslims are numerous. In the morning of August 16,
2012 two days after Pakistan's Independence Day at least 20 Shi'ite Muslims were
pulled from buses, their identity cards were checked to ascertain that they were Shi'ites,
and then they were shot dead. The incident happened at Babusar Top in Mansehra district
in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 100 miles north of Islamabad.[158] The bus
was travelling between Rawalpindi and Gilgit, the capital of the northern Gilgit Baltistan
province. A media report, titled "At Least 20 Shi'ites Pulled Off Bus, Shot Dead in Northern
Pakistan," quoted police official Shafiq Gul as saying that the armed men "stopped three
vehicles, searched them and picked up people in three batches of five, six and nine and
shot them dead. They were all Shi'ites."[159]
This attack was not the first of its kind. Early this year on February 28, 2012 armed
men ambushed four Gilgit-bound buses in the Harban Nala area of Kohistan district in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, ordered the passengers off the buses, checked their
identity cards to verify that 18 of them were Shi'ite Muslims and shot them dead.
According to a report titled "Kohistan Sectarian Attack: 18 Shot Dead After Being Pulled
Out Of Four Buses," Ahmad Marwat who identified himself as a spokesman of the Sunni
militant group Jundallah which is part of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) stable of militant
organizations claimed responsibility for the attack.[160]
On April 3, 2012, a mob of Sunni Muslims who were led by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and
LeJ members pulled out passengers from Gilgit-bound buses in the town of Chilas and
shot dead at least nine of them after identifying them as Shi'ite Muslims.[161] On the
same day, a rally was organized by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat in the town of Gilgit which
turned violent and led to 20 deaths.[162] On September 20, 2011, at least 26 Shi'ite
Muslims were pulled from a bus in the Mastung district of Baluchistan province, and were
shot dead after their religious identity was verified; afterwards, a Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
spokesman accepted responsibility for the attack, according to a report titled "Mastung:
Pilgrims Pulled Out Of Bus And Killed, 26 Souls Dead, Three People Going To Pick Up
Bodies Also Killed" in the Urdu-language daily Roznama Jang.[163] Numerous such attacks
against Shi'ite Muslims have taken place in recent decades in Pakistan and even in 2012
appear unstoppable.
In reporting on these attacks, the Pakistani media rarely states explicitly that the victims
were Shi'ite. Instead it describes the attacks as "sectarian," a more neutral and general
term the use of which removes culpability of the Sunni militant groups. These attacks on
Shi'ites are ongoing and systematic, and most of them are carried out by Sunni Muslim
organizations ideologically affiliated with Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, aka LeJ/SSP, which are
feeder organizations for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistani Daily Report: "Ethnic Cleansing of Hazaras [Shi'ite Muslims] Going On In
Systematic Manner"; Pakistani Daily Editorial: "The Targeting Of ... [Shi'ite
Muslims] Is Usually Accompanied By Some Form Of Official Collusion"
In Bamiyan, Hazara youths protest killing of their community members
(hazaranewspakistan.wordpress.com)
Many of the Shi'ites being targeted, especially in Baluchistan, belong to the Hazara ethnic
minority. Protests against the anti-Hazara violence have been held in Afghanistan,
Australia, the United Kingdom and many other parts of the world. In a June 2012 report
titled "Ethnic Cleansing of Hazaras Going On in Systematic Manner," a Pakistani paper
observed: "Every month around 50-60 members of the Hazara community are either
gunned down or killed in bomb blasts, mostly within the precincts of Quetta city [the
capital of Baluchistan province].... During the last five years, as many as 50,000 Hazaras
have left Baluchistan; a majority of them have managed to take shelter in other countries,
and nearly 300 lost their lives as their boats capsized. Meanwhile, some have fled to
Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
"Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) President Abdul Khaliq Hazara... claimed that a
systematic... ethnic cleansing of Hazaras... is [going] on, and has dramatically intensified
since 2008. 'We don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, as on the one hand we are
losing our dear ones while on the other, the state and its institutions have failed to fulfil
their constitutional obligations and have virtually turned their back on us."[164]
A sample of attacks on Shi'ite Muslims during recent months is given here to illustrate the
campaign of targeted attacks in Pakistani streets, as recorded by a Shi'ite interest website.
[165] On August 16, three Shi'ite Muslims were killed in a targeted firing in Quetta. On
August 9, a religious program at an imambargah (a Shi'ite religious place) was attacked in
Lasbela district of Baluchistan. On July 29, a Shi'ite Muslim was kidnapped by LeJ militants
from Hazarganji area of Quetta, and a day earlier another Shi'ite Muslim was killed in the
city. On July 28, a man named Qadir Bakhsh was shot dead in Jaffarabad district. On July
26, another Shi'ite Muslim was killed in a targeted firing in Quetta. On July 24, a school
official was shot dead because he was a Shi'ite. On July 12, a Shi'ite Muslim was shot dead
in Quetta. Not all killings are reported. One report put the number of Shi'ite Hazaras killed
during a 19-day period in May 2012 at 39.[166] These attacks show a pattern of targeted
killing of Shi'ite Muslims in various parts of Baluchistan, where the Pakistani military has
been able to crush the secular Baluchi insurgency for independence but is widely seen as
unable or unwilling to tackle the killings of Shi'ite Hazaras.
However, the targeted killing of Shi'ite Muslims is not limited to Baluchistan. These attacks
are occurring in every region of Pakistan. Some of recent attacks on Shi'ite Muslims are
given here, as recorded by a Shi'ite interest website.[167] In the town of Chakwal in
Punjab province, an imambargah was attacked by extremists on June 17. In the city of
Karachi in Sindh province, a Shi'ite youth was shot dead in the Kharadar area on June 24.
In Lahore in Punjab, a Shi'ite Muslim was shot dead at his doorstep on June 23. In
Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a Shi'ite girl died in an attack on an
imambargah in Gulbahar police station district on July 24. In Kurram Agency, Taliban
militants attacked the Shi'ite residential area of Bilash Khail on July 17. In Sargodha district
of Punjab, two brothers were beheaded for converting to Shi'ite faith on July 11. In
Abbottabad, a religious procession of Shi'ite Muslims was banned by Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan (SSP/LeJ) on June 15. In the town of Hangu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,
two Shi'ite Muslims were tortured to death on June 9. In the town of Dera Ismail Khan,
extremists fired on Shi'ite Muslims on June 28. In the town of Bhakkar in Punjab, shops
owned by Shi'ite Muslims were attacked by Sunni mobs who were shouting anti-Shi'ite
slogans on June 11. These attacks are motivated by a deep-seated ideological prejudice
against Shi'ite Muslims, which means that there are no geographical factors and they are
occurring in every part of Pakistan.
Following the August 16, 2012 killing of 20 Shi'ite Muslims in the Mansehra district, a liberal
Pakistani newspaper summed the situation in an editorial titled "Another Sectarian
Massacre," observing:[168] "The menace of sectarianism, with Shias [i.e. Shi'ites] usually
being targeted, is often delinked from the militancy that is plaguing the country. Treating
both as separate issues is unwise, as many of the attacks on Shias are carried out by the
same groups that are at war with the country and, even if the perpetrators are different,
they share the same hateful ideology. More so, the unending violence and the state's
inability to tackle it in a meaningful way only emboldens these terrorist outfits, who then
feel free to attack with even further impunity...
"The targeting of Shias is usually accompanied by some form of official collusion. Curfews
imposed in Gilgit tend to affect the Shia community the most and they are often even
stopped from offering Friday prayers at mosques. In Baluchistan, the Hazara Shias are
now so fearful of the systemic elimination of their community by groups like the Lashkar-e-
Taiba [LeT] that they are choosing to leave the province and even the country that they
have called home for generations...."
The Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) Video Series: "The Shi'ite is
a Nasl [Race/Offspring] of Jews; the Sipah-e-Sahaba Calls the Shi'ite a Bigger
Infidel Than the Jew"
The hatred against the Shi'ites is fanned by Sunni Muslim clerics who preach prejudice and
violence against them. In March 2012, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
published a research paper, authored by this writer, explaining how the Sunni Muslim
groups in Pakistan are using online social networking tools such as Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, and their own dedicated websites to foster a culture of ideological hatred against
Shi'ite Muslims. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) is the lead organization spearheading the violent
campaign against Shi'ite Muslims in Pakistan.
Excerpts from the MEMRI research paper are given below to explain how the leading Sunni
Excerpts from the MEMRI research paper are given below to explain how the leading Sunni
Muslim organizations, which are surviving with open support from the government of
Punjab province, are enforcing hatred against Shi'ite Muslims:[169]
"On its Internet discussion forum ahlesunnatforum.com, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has posted
a series of six videos, answering the question: Why was the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
(SSP) established? A collage of images, texts and audio-video statements of Islamic clerics
from various schools of Sunni Islam declares that the group draws its ideological roots
from all key Sunni sects, stating: 'The Deobandi, the Barelvi, [and] the Ahle Hadith are
united on the question of the honor of the Sahaba [the Companions of Prophet
Muhammad].' The images given below from the first video illustrate the ideological
declarations made by the SSP.
"The video declares that the Shi'ite Muslims are worse than the Jews, with the Urdu text as
excerpted in the above image reading: 'The Shi'ite is a nasl [race/offspring] of the Jews.
The Sipah-e-Sahaba calls the Shi'ite a bigger infidel than the Jew.'
"In the image above from the video, a cleric holds a Koran on his head and declares: 'The
Koran is on my head [i.e. I swear] that the Shi'ite is a kafir [infidel].' Another Urdu text on
the video declares: 'Muslims, keep the Shi'ite far from your offices and factories. To give
jobs to these infidels is enmity against Islam.'
"The above footage shows anti-Taliban Pakistani cleric Tahirul Qadri of the Barelvi school of
Sunni Islam, with the Urdu text stating: 'One who does not consider a Shi'ite is himself an
infidel.' Another text under the image of Tahirul Qadri, who dismisses the literature of
Shi'ite Muslims in the accompanying video statement as false and without authentic
sources, states: 'The Shi'ite and the Sunni can never be brothers. The Shi'ite is the
biggest infidel of all.'
"In an image on the video, an Urdu text accuses Shi'ite Muslims of killing Saddam Hussein
of Iraq, stating: 'Saddam being hanged under the watch of the Shi'ite.' The video
produces a series of statements of Shi'ite clerics, accusing them of allegedly uttering abuse
against the companions of Prophet Muhammad.
"The video also reproduces a clip of Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, the SSP founder, addressing a
crowd while the Urdu text (see above) clarifies his speech: 'There is a fatwa [Islamic
decree] by Maulana Ahmed Raza Barelvi [the founder of the Barelvi school of Sunni Islam]
stating that the Shi'ite is a kafir [infidel] and anyone who doubts this is also a kafir.'
"The second part of the video series contains a clip of Maulana Ziaur Rehman Farooqi, a
late Islamic cleric associated with the SSP, in which he delivers a fiery speech against Shi'ite
Muslims in order to defend the honor of the Companions. In the same video, Maulana Asif
Ashraf Jalali, a Barelvi cleric, equates the Shi'ites with Jews. It also cites Sheikh Abdul Qadir
Jilani, an 11th-12th century Persian Islamic scholar followed widely by Sunni Muslims,
quoting the Prophet Muhammad as saying: 'In the last days, there would be a nation
(Shi'ites) which will curse my companions and will find faults. You should not strike up
friendship with them. Do not eat alongside them. Do not marry them. If someone is sick
among them, do not ask about them. If someone dies from among them, do not offer the
funeral prayer.... May Allah's curses be on them.'
"A third video of the series teaches the LeJ followers that the Shi'ites can be identified by
the following surnames (see the Urdu text in image above): 'Jafri, Alvi, Zaidi, Hussein,
Naqvi, Raza, Abidi, Abbas, Shah, Hassan.' The video also clarifies at one point that 2,700
members of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan had been killed up to 2010, that is, in allegedly
revenge killings by Shi'ite militants.
"In the fourth, fifth and sixth videos of the series, which are published on YouTube, a
number of Islamic clerics associated with the SSP are shown delivering speeches on various
points of beliefs associated with Shi'ite Muslims. In the fifth video, an Urdu text again
dismisses the Shi'ites as Jews, stating: 'They are the nasl [race/offspring] of Jews and
merely use the name of Hazrat Ali [the Islamic caliph].
"The sixth and last video of the series shows clips of speeches by various militant clerics
associated with the SSP. Addressing a crowd, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi, a youth leader
of SSP, defends Saudi Arabia for its pro-Sunni leadership and castigates the Shi'ite Iran,
stating: 'Iran is behind all the conspiracies hatched against all Islamic countries and the
Companions [of the Prophet Muhammad].'
"One of the final images in the video reads (see the above Urdu text): 'Muslims of the
entire world, if you want to escape the evil of this Shi'ite infidel, then support the Sipah-e-
Sahaba. Deoband[i], Barelvi, Ahle Hadith, or anyone can be a leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba."
Conclusion
In all spheres of Pakistani society including the administrative, military, police and judicial
In all spheres of Pakistani society including the administrative, military, police and judicial
branches of government minorities are experiencing discrimination, social avoidance, and
hate crimes. This is a result of an interpretation of Islam that has been favored in Pakistan
since its creation in 1947, an interpretation aimed at making Pakistan a nation of "true"
Muslims only. This interpretation is reflected in the actions of local officials and in
government policies, for example in the 1974 law that declares Ahmadis non-Muslim.
Where this interpretation fails at the level of government policymaking, it is still reflected in
villages and city streets, leading to acts of discrimination, hate and violence. Almost all
influential Islamic organizations in Pakistan approve this interpretation of Islam, including
the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Difa-e-Pakistan Council
(DPC), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and its parent organization Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat
(ASWJ), Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Sunni Tehreek (ST),
and various Khatm-e-Nabuwwat groups.
Cartoonist: Sabir Nazar, viewpointonline.net.
Pakistani Columnist Dr. Mohammad Taqi: "The Sanitized Discourse And Muted
Response To... [The Killings] Is Similar To What Happened In Nazi Germany";
"Present-Day Nazis In Pakistan Have Succeeded In Coercing Or Co-opting A Vast
Majority Of Their Countrymen"
The growing attacks on all minorities in Pakistan are causing serious concern among liberal
Pakistani thinkers. In an August 2012 article, Raza Rumi, director of policy and programs
at the Islamabad-based think tank Jinnah Institute, spoke of the killing of Shi'ites in terms
of "a genocide [that is] unfolding before us."[170]
Leading Pakistani columnist Dr. Mohammad Taqi condemned the "muted response" to the
growing massacres of minorities, observing: "The sanitized discourse and muted response
to... [the killings of minorities] is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany. It seems that
the present-day Nazis in Pakistan have succeeded in coercing or co-opting a vast majority
of their countrymen into backing them. More vicious than the massacre at the Babusar
Top [where Shi'ite Muslims were plucked out of buses and shot dead] was the muffled
response of the Pakistani political leaders, rightwing intelligentsia and the military
leadership...."[171]
Pakistani Journalist Amir Matin: "20% Of Pakistanis The 15%... Deobandis Plus
5% Of Ahle Hadith [Who Represent The Dominant Version Of Sunni Islam In
Pakistan] Strictly Consider The Remaining 80% As Kafir, Even Willing To Subject
Them To Death And Destruction"
In a recent article titled "Who Gets To Be A Muslim In Pakistan?" Murtaza Haider, a liberal
academic and columnist, noted: "If Muhammad Ali Jinnah [the founder of Pakistan who
belonged to a sect of Shi'ite Islam] were alive today, only half of Pakistan would consider
him a Muslim. The ethnic, sectarian, and tribal fault lines have reached such depths that
the nation once founded to be the homeland of Muslims is now bickering over who gets to
be called a Muslim."[172]
This question as to who is a true Muslim in Pakistan also affected Muhammad Ali Jinnah
even after his death. When the founder of Pakistan died, Sunni clerics did not allow his
"official" funeral to be led by a Shi'ite cleric. A Pakistani website observes that when
Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his sister Fatimah Jinnah died, they "were given private Shi'ite
burial rituals initially before the State [of Pakistan] they created swung into motion and [by
ensuring a Sunni funeral] made a sectarian issue of their burials. Jinnah's state funeral was
not allowed to be led by a Shi'ite cleric. That was a formal declaration that Pakistan is a
Sunni State."[173]
In an article in July 2010, Pakistani journalist Amir Mir commented on how the search for a
true Muslim is dividing the country into various sects, observing: "In a way, a minority of
Pakistan's population has taken to declaring the rest as kafir [infidel].... Most agree on the
following composition of Pakistan's population: 60% Barelvis, 15% Deobandis, 15%
Shi'ites, 5% Ahle Hadith, and the remaining 5% constituting Ahmadis, Ismailis, Hindus,
Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, etc. This means that 20% of Pakistanis the 15%
who are Deobandis plus 5% of Ahle Hadith [who represent the dominant version of Sunni
Islam and enjoy the support of the Pakistani state] strictly consider the remaining 80%
as kafir, even willing to subject them to death and destruction."[174]
* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project (www.memri.org/sasp).

Endnotes:
[1] Business-standard.com (India), April 16, 2012. The original English of all media reports
quoted in this dispatch has been lightly edited for clarity and standardization.
[2] http://www.hazara.net/persecution/pak-persecution.html, accessed August 24, 2012.
[3] Thedailystar.net (Bangladesh), January 24, 2008. Renowned Pakistani journalist Hamid
Mir estimates the number of Bangla-speaking Muslims killed by the Pakistan Army at about
three million. Bangladeshi government too puts the number at three millions, but some
three million. Bangladeshi government too puts the number at three millions, but some
researchers put the figure at between 300,000 and 500,000, according to a BBC report.
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18049515, accessed September 15, 2012.
[4] In Pakistani society, the term "minority" carries a pejorative connotation.
[5] http://dawn.com/2012/07/26/balochistan-case-sc-resumes-hearing-5/, July 26, 2012.
A United Nations team is probing the Pakistani intelligence agencies' role in abductions and
killings in Baluchistan.
[6] Dawn.com (Pakistan), August 14, 2012.
[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VzDwy49pNU&t=8m38s, accessed August 14,
2012.
[8] http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-203-2008, accessed
August 23, 2012.
[9] CIA's World Factbook (cia.gov/library/index.html), accessed August 14, 2012.
[10] http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/vieweditorial.php?editorialid=18, accessed
August 14, 2012.
[11] The News (Pakistan), August 2, 2009.
[12] Tribune.com.pk (Pakistan), August 1, 2012.
[17] Tribune.com.pk (Pakistan), July 10, 2012.
[18] Daily Times (Pakistan), September 16, 2009.
[19] Bbcurud.com (UK), May 29, 2004.
[20] Bbcurdu.com (UK), September 11, 2005.
[21] Bbcurdu.com (UK), April 4, 2007.
[22] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), March 15, 2008.
[23] http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/35551.htm, March 16, 2011.
[24] Bbcurdu.com (UK), July 20, 2010.
[25] Daily Times (Pakistan), July 6, 2011.
[26] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1625976.stm, October 29, 2001.
[27] It should be noted that some sources claim she is older (14 or 16) and that she is
not mentally impaired. Bbc.co.uk, August 27, 2012.
[28] Tribune.com.pk (Pakistan), August 18, 2012. Rimsha Masih was released on bail and a
local cleric arrested for bringing the blasphemy allegations against her. This is perhaps the
first such case when mass sentiment turned against the clerics temporarily.
[30] http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/32651.htm, December 7, 2010.
[31] http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5991.htm, January 13, 2012.
[32] Rediff.com (India), April 28, 2012.
[33] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 28, 2012.
[36] Rediff.com (India), April 28, 2012.
[37] Dawn.com (Pakistan), November 24, 2010. Some media reports indicate that she has
five children.
[40] Tribune.com.pk (Pakistan), February 15, 2011.
[41] http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5741.htm, October 20, 2011.
[42] Roznama Express (Pakistan), February 17, 2011.
[43] The News (Pakistan), March 3, 2011.
[45] http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/846/5064.htm, March 4, 2011.
[46] The News (Pakistan), October 24, 2010.
[47] The Express Tribune (Pakistan), July 20, 2012.
[48] Daily Times (Pakistan), May 3, 2010.
[49] The Express Tribune (Pakistan), August 4, 2012.
[50] Daily Times (Pakistan), January 17, 2004.
[52] Daily Times (Pakistan), February 4, 2006.
[58] Dawn.com (Pakistan), September 21, 2012.
[59] The News (Pakistan), June 13, 2012.
[60] Roznama Munsif (Pakistan), May 4, 2009.
[61] The Express Tribune (Pakistan), May 21, 2012.
[62] Dawn.com (Pakistan), March 29, 2012.
[63] The News (Pakistan), September 14, 2009.
[64] Daily Times (Pakistan), July 20, 2011.
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Genocide of Minorities in Pakistan

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