The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community launched its report last month on the the denial of freedom of religion and the human rights violations of Ahmadi Muslims and other religious communities in Pakistan.

The report stresses that the anti-Ahmadi laws enshrined in the Pakistani constitution and its Penal Code are hard evidence of state-sponsored persecution against Ahmadi Muslims. Ahmadi Muslims are relentlessly harassed, denied civil rights and murdered on grounds of faith.

Such persecution is a far cry from the vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan. Jinnah’s Pakistan was to be one where every citizen enjoyed equal treatment and was accorded full human rights.

Pakistan’s constitution forcibly denies Ahmadi Muslims the right to self identify as Muslims.

Specific anti-Ahmadi laws create an atmosphere of apartheid where Ahmadis are treated as second-class citizens with imprisonment for ‘crimes’ such as reading the Holy Quran.

The APPG report notesthat Ahmadi Muslims are prevented from exercising their human rights due to article 260 of the Constitution introduced in the 1974 Second Constitutional Amendment which legally defines Ahmadis as non-Muslims. This was compounded in 1984 with Ordinance XX amending the criminal laws to target Ahmadi Muslims, preventing them from practicing their Islamic faith.

A disproportionate number of blasphemy cases are filed against Ahmadi Muslims, the report finds. For example, in 2017, three Ahmadi Muslim men, Mubasher Ahmad, Ghulam Ahmed and Ehsan Ahmed were sentenced to death for blasphemy on the grounds that they tore down posters in Bhoiwal, a village near Lahore, which promoted hatred against Ahmadi Muslims. Khalil Ahmed, a fourth accused, was shot and killed in police custody just days after the incident took place.

The report also highlights that anyone self-identifying as a Muslim is legally required to take an oath declaring Ahmadis as Non-Muslim and denouncing the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as an impostor. As a result, the Pakistani passport states the religion of Ahmadi Muslims as ‘Ahmadi’ rather than Muslim – thereby also denying Ahmadis the right to perform their religious pilgrimage (Hajj) in Makkah (Saudi Arabia).

Such appalling treatment extends to all spheres of an Ahmadi Muslim’s life.

Siobhain McDonagh MP, Chair of the APPG said:

“There is a shocking pattern of sustained persecution of Ahmadi Muslims and other religious communities in Pakistan. Worryingly the report also notes the intolerant attitudes of the youth in Pakistan against Ahmadis, no doubt perpetuated by anti-Ahmadi laws. Ahmadi Muslims face religious apartheid without a shadow of doubt, as they are the only religious community in Pakistan explicitly targeted by the state through its constitution and laws and this must be put to an end immediately.”

The National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, Rafiq Hayat, welcomed the APPG’s report, saying it was critical and needed in the current climate of extremism. He added:

“Ahmadi Muslims made immense sacrifices for Pakistan and remain dedicated to work for the peace and prosperity of that country. However, despite this the Ahmadiyya Muslim community has faced state-sponsored persecution for decades in Pakistan. Life has become intolerable for Ahmadi Muslims there and many face the harsh reality of constant threat from violence and intimidation and this must not be allowed to continue. We want Pakistan to thrive and it can only do so when the human rights of all its citizens are respected and upheld.”