On Thursday (June 29), while Muslims across the world are celebrating Eid-Al-Adha or Bakrid or Bakri Eid, the people of the minority Islamic sect of Ahmadis in Pakistan’s Punjab district have been denied permission for the same. According to reports, the Punjab police have issued a directive to stop minority Ahmadi Muslims from organising Qurbani (sacrifice) and offering Namaz, even from within their houses, during the Islamic festival of Bakrid.
Local media reports suggest that the notice had been sent to all local police stations asking police personnel to stop Ahmadis from performing Qurbani, as it is “offensive to other Muslims”.
The police as per the reports, have warned that if any Ahmadiyya persons violate these directives, they could face jail or financial penalty under 298-B and 298-C (Ahmadi blasphemy laws) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
In a video journalist Naila Inayat posted on Twitter, a local Ahmadi is heard confirming that the police have strictly directed them not to organise Qurbanis or offer Namaz outside or even inside their homes. He further says that the police in the Punjab province of Pakistan police have made it clear that any Ahmadia who is seen offering Namaz or performing Qurbani even within the premises of their respective homes will face charges under the strict blasphemy laws, along with the females of the home.
Freedom to practice religion, not for Ahmadis in Pakistan. Now, Ahmadi families offering Eid prayers, sacrificing animals even within their homes are threatened to be booked for blasphemy under 298-C. pic.twitter.com/HPxBkX7cly
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) June 28, 2023
A report by local media Dawn read that the police received several complaints wherein the complainants cited Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, contending that Ahmadis can neither call themselves Muslims nor adopt Shaair-i-Islam (Islamic rites).
The complaint further claimed that Ahmadis had been classified as non-Muslims in accordance with Articles 106(3) and 260(3) of the Constitution, the latter of which contains definitions of what constitutes a Muslim and what does not.
Ahmadis are “also non-Muslims according to various orders of high courts and the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), particularly a 1993 order of the Supreme Court,” the complaint continued.
According to the complainant, Ahmadis “cannot adopt Islamic rites or preach their religion” because of these reasons.
Another complaint sent to the Jaranwala police stated the same grounds for prohibiting Ahmadis from doing animal sacrifices on Eid-ul-Adha, stating that the practice was an Islamic tradition.
Another complaint submitted to Jaranwala police provided the same grounds for restraining Ahmadis from sacrificing animals on Eid-ul-Adha, stating that the ritual was an Islamic rite.
The complainant asked police to seek a list of Ahmadis residing in Jaranwala, summon them and inform them that “they cannot sacrifice animals” on Eid-ul-Adha.
And “if they sacrifice animals, a case should be registered against them,” the complaint added.
A similar complaint, as per Dawn.com, was submitted to the police in Kotli. In it, the complainant stated that if directives prohibiting Ahmadis from sacrificing animals were not issued before Eid-ul-Adha, the situation would worsen. “It would lead to “anarchy, clash[es] and destroy peace,” read the complaint.
Additionally, the Lahore High Court Bar Association also wrote to Pakistan’s Punjab Home Department. The letter stated that on Eid-ul-Adha, the adoption of Islamic rites of Eid prayers and sacrifice of animals was “exclusively only for Muslims”.
In the letter dated June 22, it demanded that the Home Department send instructions to SHOs directing them to take “all necessary and requisite preemptive and preventive measures to bound and restrain illegal use of Shaair-i-Islami (gathering for Eid prayer and Qurbani)” on all three days of Eid-ul-Adha.
Who are the Ahmadis or Ahmadiyyas
Ahmadis in Pakistan represent a persecuted minority and the exclusion of Ahmadis is even enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a prominent Muslim scholar and reformer, formed this Community in Qadian, India, in 1889. The movement he founded condemned any kind of terrorism and the use of aggressive violence to preach religion, i.e. the current concept of ‘Jihad’. The extremist ulemas are vehemently opposed to this benign interpretation of Islam. For years, they have exploited it as a pretext to exclude this community from the folds of Islam. In many Islamic nations, especially Pakistan, the Mullahs (the mediaeval orthodox clergy), politicians, and the military in power have collaborated to oppress and persecute this reformist Community.
In 1974, ZA Bhutto, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, saw it as a political benefit to impose “non-Muslim” status on Muslim Ahmadis by a constitutional amendment. The “mullahs” backed this amendment wholeheartedly. This amendment paved the way for the Community’s persecution. Since then, the state and the Mullahs have worked together to persecute Ahmadis.
Ten years after the Amendment, in 1984, dictator President Zia-ul-Haq introduced Ordinance XX, which further increased the quandary of the Ahmadis in Pakistan. This legislation made it a crime for Ahmadis to practise or simply announce their beliefs in Islam, punishable by three years in jail and an unlimited fine.
As a result, since the year 1984, hundreds of Ahmadis have been severely abused and persecuted for their faith and the institutional apathy towards them has only increased the difficulties of these persecuted minorities.
Notably, the plight of Ahmadis in the Islamic state of Pakistan is so pathetic that have been excluded from the Pakistani government’s minority commission aimed at safeguarding the rights of the country’s minorities. According to the Pakistani constitution, Ahmadis can’t call themselves Muslims, and they can’t call their place of worship as mosques. Moreover, their places of worship can’t look like a Masjid or Mosque, and they can’t have a structure like minarets. Moreover, Ahmadis also can’t write the Kalima-e-Tayyiba on their walls.
