Genocide of Minorities in Pakistan

3/30/2014 Calls To Put Pakistan On Genocide Watch Amid Mounting Persecution Of Its Religious Minorities

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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 AmidMounting Persecution Of Its Religious

MinoritiesBy: Tufail Ahmad*

Table of Contents

IntroductionPersecution Of ChristiansPersecution Of Hindus And SikhsPersecution Of Ahmadi MuslimsPersecution Of Shi'ite MuslimsConclusion

Introduction

Close observers of Pakistan have voiced concern that the country is witnessing a gradualgenocide of its minorities, the extent of which remains unrecognized by internationalhuman rights organizations. In April 2012, Nitin Pai, founder of the New Delhi-based thinktank Takshashila Institution, expressed concern over the "systematic" killing of Pakistan'sminorities, saying: "[The attacks] are called sectarian violence, gang warfare, ethniccleansing, kill-and-dump or counter-insurgency. It is perhaps because there are individualnames for these crimes that we are missing the possibility that they might amount to abigger one – genocide."[1] Similar concerns have been raised by others in Pakistan andabroad, particularly by the Shi'ite Hazara community.[2] It should be noted that there havebeen previous cases of under-reported mass-killings in Pakistan which have been describedas 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 whichprominent 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 signapologizing 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 recentyears, anyone who is not a Muslim in Pakistani society – or groups of Muslims who are notconsidered to be Muslim socially and religiously or under Pakistan's law – have been facinga sustained campaign of hate and religious persecution by Islamic groups and individuals,including government officials, legislators, judges, lawyers, police officers and clerics, whointerpret law on their own terms and enforce it with the objective of making Pakistan apurer-than-ever Islamic nation. The persecution is manifested in the imprisonment ofChristians and Ahmadi Muslims on charges of blasphemy; abduction of Hindu and Christiangirls and their forced conversion to Islam; demolition and desecration of houses ofworship; 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 andwealthy philanthropists; denigration of and attacks on Shi'ite Muslims – and the deliberateand systematic killing of members of all these communities. Although not included indiscussion here, it should be borne in mind that another significant group of the Pakistanipopulation, the inhabitants of insurgency-affected Baluchistan, is facing persecution fromPakistani state and concern has been expressed (including by Pakistan's Chief JusticeIftikhar 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 isreflected, for example, in the following revealing incident, which took place in the town ofPattoki. A group of Christians who drank tea at a Muslim-owned café were later required topay 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 incidentsreflect the long-standing religious and cultural hatred suffered by Pakistan's Christians,Hindus and other minorities, manifested in threats, intimidation and violence, and often inthe 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 1974declares the Ahmadis non-Muslim, and, along with some later laws, forbids them to useMuslim names and symbols, though they identify themselves as Muslims and follow theteachings of the Koran. This 1974 law does not apply to Shi'ite Muslims, but militantIslamist 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 tosurvive. Such conversions are celebrated (prominent Pakistani journalist Maya Khan, thehost of a show on Pakistan's ARY News channel, this year took personal pride inconverting 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. Pakistaniofficials incite against minorities with impunity. For example, former minister for religiousaffairs and TV host Dr. Aamir Liaquat Hussain sanctioned the killing of Ahmadi Muslims ontelevision, yet remains employed by Pakistan's influential GEO television channel.[8]

Obviously, not all Pakistanis are involved in the hate campaign and discrimination againstthe religious minorities, and many would probably oppose these phenomena. But the socialclimate is such that it is difficult for a large majority to speak out. There is a small group ofliberal commentators who, at considerable risk to themselves, constantly articulate a visionof a society based on tolerance, secularism and pluralism. However, their views are mainlyconfined to three English-language newspapers that play a commendable role in exposingthe persecution of religious minorities, namely Daily Times, Dawn and The ExpressTribune. Hence, these commentators' influence in shaping public opinion is inconsequential.

Citing statements of government officials, parliamentary leaders, community members andhuman rights activists, and other information culled mostly from the Pakistani media, thisreport analyzes the persisting patterns of persecution against religious minorities inPakistan in the recent years. Cataloguing different types of attack, it examines how thecultural space for the existence of these minorities is rapidly shrinking in the Islamic nationof Pakistan – a country carved out of India in 1947 on the ground that Muslims and Hinduscould not coexist. This concept, known as the Two Nation Theory, has been translatedinto 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 ofnon-Muslim Pakistani citizens in the country.

The instances of persecution described below are by no means exhaustive, for thedominant Urdu-language Pakistani media often ignores such incidents, especially thoseoccurring in villages and small towns. The under-reporting is due to the social climate inPakistan, which regards such incidents as understandable or even positive. Another reasonis 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 andHindus together constitute roughly five percent.[9] Of this five percent, the number ofHindus may be a little more than that of Christians in Pakistan, though some Christianwriters have sought to put the percentage of Christians at nearly 15 percent of the totalpopulation.[10]

As examined below, Pakistani Christians have endured an unending process of religiousand social discrimination over the years, with their girls being forced to convert to Islamand married off to Muslim youth without their consent, their lands and properties beingoccupied by powerful local Muslims, and Christian youth being implicated in alleged cases ofblasphemy and shot dead. In recent years, the biggest attack on Pakistani Christians camein July 2009, when seven members of the community were burned alive and dozens oftheir houses were set afire by an angry mob in the Pakistani town of Gojra over allegeddesecration of the Koran.[11]

Pakistani Daily Report: Christian Nurses Poisoned "Because Of Their Faith";Christian Leader Michael Javed: "[Pakistani] Society Has Become ExtremelyIntolerant 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 afterdrinking tea allegedly poisoned by their Muslim colleagues at their hostel. "They wereclaimed to have been deliberately poisoned because of their faith," a Pakistani newspaperreported.[12]

Christian leader Michael Javed expressed concern that "the [Pakistani] society has becomeextremely intolerant and... [is] not allowing the minorities to live in peace."[13] MichaelJaved, who is a former legislator, said: "The government has turned a blind eye to thepersecution of minorities; our girls are being [forcibly] converted and our churches arebeing attacked.... A large number of nurses are Christians and are (already) subjected toill-treatment and prejudice."[14]

Inquiry & Analysis Series Report - No. 1078 - March26, 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] "TheChristian leaders also shouted slogans outside the Karachi Press Club against thehospital's administration and the rising religious intolerance [in Pakistani society]," said amedia report, quoting one of the affected nurses as saying that a colleague had made thetea 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 Maseehof Toba Tek Singh town in Punjab province was kidnapped by men who were wearing policeuniform and arrived in a police car, leading to fear and panic among Christians.[17] Maseehwas 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 warrantallegedly issued by a Lahore judicial magistrate. Similar attacks on Christians are reportedby the Pakistani media regularly.

11-Year-Old Christian Girl Arrested Over Blasphemy Charges; Christian YouthTortured To Death In Prison; Catholic Church Attacked In Sambrial District OfPunjab

A common tactic used by Muslim clerics and the Pakistani land mafia is to accuse membersof minority communities of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad and the Koran, with theobjective of seizing their land and property, especially churches. Victims have been knownto be tortured and even killed in Pakistani prisons.

In September 2009, 25-year-old Fanish Masih was arrested for desecrating the Koran andlater died in prison. District Jail Superintendent Farooq Lodhi said he had hanged himself,but numerous other sources, including senior Pakistani officials, admitted he had beentortured to death. Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Kamran Michael said: "I have seenthe body and there were torture marks on it." Asma Jahangir, then chair of the HumanRights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), held the police authorities responsible. PakistaniChristian leaders Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha and Peter Jacob expressed concernthat Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which allow the death sentence in these cases, were beingabused. Following Masih's arrest, some 100 Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church inthe Sambrial district of the Punjab province.[18]

Blasphemy cases are regularly brought against Pakistani Christians. In May 2004, SamuelMasih, who was serving a jail sentence under blasphemy charges, was attacked by a policeconstable inside the prison and later died.[19] In September 2005, a case was filed againstYounus aka Jonah in a court outside Lahore for committing blasphemy against a religiouscongregation of Muslims.[20] In April 2007, a blasphemy case was filed against fiveChristian brothers in a court in the town of Toba Tek Singh.[21] In Karachi, Qamar Davidwas accused of committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad in March 2008 allegedlyby sending blasphemous SMS messages to a Muslim.[22] In March 2011, he died in aPakistani prison.[23] In July 2010, Rashid Emanuel, a 32-year-old pastor, and his brotherwere arrested on charges of committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad and wereshot 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 ManzoorMasih 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. Theincident 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 isdeplorable that the country's political leadership refrains from speaking out againstextremism and the injustices towards non-Muslims."[29] In 1990-2010, at least 16 courtcases of blasphemy against Pakistani Christians were reported by the media.[30]

In another incident in early 2012, blasphemy charges were brought against a PakistaniChristian 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 EveryMonth In Sindh And Punjab; Christian Woman Kidnapped Along With Her FourChildren, Converted To Islam Within Hours

According to a media report, eight to 10 Christians are being forced to convert to Islamevery month in the Sindh and Punjab provinces.[32] For example, in early 2012, SeemaBibi, a Punjabi Christian woman, was kidnapped along with her four children after herhusband couldn't repay a loan to a landlord. According to a Pakistani daily, within hoursthe 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, humanrights 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 leavePakistan... 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 Commissionfor Justice and Peace (NCJP), said his organization was helping Seema Bibi and a number ofother Christians who were forced to leave their homes, adding: "Christian and Hindu girlsare targeted more and more... Some of the [Christians protected by the NCJP]... are girlswho were forcibly converted, and others... were falsely accused of acting against Islam orabusing the holy Koran."[35]

Forced conversion of Christians is continuing. Some recent incidents of forced conversionsof Christian girls include: 28-year-old Tina Barkat was abducted, converted and forciblymarried off to a Muslim youth; 17-year-old Samina Ayub was kidnapped, forced to convertand renamed Fatima Bibi in a town near Lahore; 15-year-old Uzma Bibi and 20-year-oldSaira Bibi were kidnapped from Lahore and converted to Islam; 14-year-old Sidra Bibi waskidnapped 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-oldShazia 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 committingblasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad (tribune.com.pk)

Liberal Pakistani Governor Shot Dead By Security Guard For Defending ChristianWoman Accused Of Blasphemy, Christian Minister Shahbaz Bhatti Shot Dead ForAdvocating 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 lawsand for supporting Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of four who was sentenced to death oncharges of blasphemy in 2010, and whose husband and children were forced to flee theirhome 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 ofIslam 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 wasbrought in a police van before a court in Islamabad.[40] The assassin's defense team wasled 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 thatfrightened every Christian and minority member in Pakistan.

After Salman Taseer's assassination, a court in the town of Multan filed blasphemy chargesagainst Pakistani lawmaker Sherry Rehman for advocating reforms in the blasphemy lawson 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 theU.S. Clearly, Pakistan's clerics and other influential figures are creating and nurturing aculture of intolerance that not only leads to violence against minorities but discouragesliberal Pakistanis like Salman Taseer and Sherry Rehman from protecting minority rights.

On March 2, 2011, about two months after Salman Taseer's assassination, Pakistan'sMinority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian in the federal cabinet, waslikewise shot dead for advocating reforms in Pakistan's blasphemy laws. According to aPakistani daily, the "Punjabi Taliban," a collective name given to Punjab-based Sunni jihadiorganizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), claimedresponsibility for the assassination.[43] It was reported that the assailants left leaflets atthe crime scene warning that all others opposing the blasphemy laws would meet a similarfate.

Some suspected that Bhatti was actually assassinated by the Pakistani intelligence, andunidentified 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 theblasphemy laws of Pakistan. In an editorial, the Dawn newspaper observed: "Bhatti's killersmay have escaped the scene of the crime, but the real culprit is known to all: an extremistmindset that has, with the sponsorship of some institutions of the state [a reference tothe Pakistani intelligence], spread far and wide in Pakistani society. The tragic irony of acountry created to protect the rights of a minority – Muslims in unified India – turning intoa killing field for those standing up for the rights of minorities evokes a deep sense ofpathos and helplessness."[45]

Cartoonist: Sabir Nazar, viewpointonline.net













College Chapel Occupied By Land Mafia In Rawalpindi; Pakistani Lawmaker MalikAbrar Ahmed Accused Of Occupying Church Land; Churches Attacked In VariousPakistani Towns

All minorities are seen as vulnerable, and their properties and places of worship are beingseized illegally. The city of Rawalpindi has seen several cases of Christian churches and landseized by Muslims. On October 23, 2010, a large number of Christians in Rawalpindiprotested the seizing of Gordon College chapel by a land-grabbing mafia that sensed anopportunity in the Christians' vulnerability. At the protest rally, Mubashar RobinsonAsghar, chairman of the All Pakistan Christian Action Committee (APCAC), asked thegovernment to expel the illegal occupants immediately. Pakistan's Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, who has been very active in taking up cases that threaten theelected democratic government in the country, was less enthusiastic in addressing theRawalpindi case. According to a Pakistani media report, APCAC members filed a number ofappeals 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 allegedlyinvolved in taking over land meant for a church and a Christian hospital. This sparked ademonstration by over 200 Christians in the town, and Akram Waqar Gill of the JointChristian Action Committee (JCAC) even threatened to commit self-immolation.[47] In2010, Malik Iftikhar, a legislator of the Punjab provincial assembly, was accused of takingover 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 provincialgovernment 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 onthe premises of the hospital. Josemeen Qudus, a member of the Church of Pakistan, wholed the protest, noted that, according to the law, the hospital grounds cannot be used forcommercial purposes.[49]

There have also been numerous cases of attacks on churches. For example, in January2004 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 thepublication of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.[51] In Daska area of Sialkotdistrict, 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 mustshut 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 boywas accused of desecrating the Koran.[54] In September 2010, Islamic extremists set fireto a church in Shah Latif Town area of Karachi.[55] In March 2011, a mob attempted todemolish the Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) church near Lahore after Christians were accusedof desecrating the Koran,[56] and a similar case occurred in April 2011 in the town ofGujranwala.[57] Attacks on churches have continued this year, notably the September 21torching 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, afterPakistan'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 populationand, due to the persecution, many are immigrating to India.[59] Members of the tiny Sikhminority have also faced attacks from Muslims and Islamist extremists. In May 2009, IndianPrime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was born in present-day Pakistan and whose familymigrated to India after the Partition in 1947, expressed concern over the growing numberof atrocities against Pakistani Sikhs, stating: "Recently, you have heard the atrocities beingunleashed on the handful of Sikhs left in Pakistan. The Indian government has requestedPakistan to initiate strong measures to stop such atrocities."[60] Like in the case ofChristians, persecution of Hindus and Sikhs takes various forms, with the driving reasonbeing that they are not Muslims.

160-Year-Old Hindu Temple Vandalized In Peshawar; 150-Year-Old Sikh TempleDemolished Overnight In Mardan District

In May 2012, the 160-year-old Guru Gorakhnath temple in Peshawar was desecrated in atargeted attack. Ramesh Lal, a priest at the temple, said: "Vandals smashed a statuette ofLord Shiva to pieces and burned the holy Gita [the sacred Hindu book] as well as severalimages of our deities." The attack came after the Peshawar High Court ordered to reopenthe historical temple, which had been abandoned since Pakistan's establishment. HaroonSarblal, a Hindu community leader, said that these acts of vandalism and desecration werea deliberate attempt to spark religious tension in Peshawar.[61] In March 2012, a historicalSikh temple – 150-year-old gurdwara of Baba Karam Singh – was destroyed by the landmafia in the town of Mardan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The Sikh communityexpressed concern over the targeting of their holy sites.[62]




















In September 2009, Islamist extremists set fire to Sikh holy books in a joint Hindu-Sikhtemple 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 Muslimsclaimed it was built on the site of a Muslim saint's tomb.[64] The Human RightsCommission of Pakistan condemned the decision, stating: "The Sikhs... were told bymembers of... [an] extremist group that the gurdwara was now a mosque and they wouldno longer be allowed to bring in their musical instruments to observe their religiousceremony."[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 inKarachi's Memon Goth area and had to take refuge in a cattle pen after a boy from theircommunity drank water from a cooler outside a mosque. According to a Pakistaninewspaper, the local Muslims were so enraged by this that they beat up the boy and othermembers of the Hindu community, and drove them from their homes. [66]

Meerumal, whose son drank the water from the mosque, described the incident: "Allhell broke loose when my son, Dinesh, who looked after chickens in a farm, drank waterfrom a cooler outside a mosque. Upon seeing him do that, the people of the area startedbeating 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, saidthat another 400 families from the area, located in the vicinity of Malir town, were alsobeing pressured to leave their homes. "Our people are even scared of going out of theirhouses. We are also putting up with living in the filthy pen because we cannot go home forfear 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. In2009, a Taliban representative phoned Dr. Parkas, the leader of the Hindu community inthe Batagram district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (now called KhyberPakhtunkhwa), and ordered him to collect six million rupees from his community anddeliver them to the Taliban.[69] Senior police official Sohail Khalid told a local journalist thatthreats 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 Hindusand Sikhs in the Khyber Agency agreed to pay jizya to Islamist militants led by MangalBagh, in return for protection.[70] Also in 2009, Taliban militants in the OrakzaiAgency banished 50 Sikh families from the area for failing to pay jizya. The militants tookover their houses and shops and auctioned their valuables.[71] It should be noted herethat Taliban and other Islamist militants are merely reinforcing the discrimination that isalready prevalent against the minorities in Pakistan. In January 2010, militants abductedtwo Sikhs in Khyber and Orakzai tribal districts, and beheaded them after their familiesfailed to pay a large ransom.[72]

Pakistani Religious Scholar Says Objectives Of The 19th Century Jihad AgainstSikhs Yet To Be Accomplished, Serving Chief Justice Accuses Hindus Of FundingTerrorism And Later Denies

In February 2011, prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Samiul Haq, emir of the JamiatUlema-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 Shaheedagainst 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 hisIslamist views, accused Pakistan's Hindus of "involvement in funding terrorism" in thecountry.[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 Pashtunnationalist party. Following this, the Lahore High Court issued a statement saying that

Sharif's remarks had been maliciously misreported in the media.[75] Notwithstanding thedenial, Justice Sharif's remark is symptomatic of the prejudice against Hindus and otherminorities in the Pakistani judiciary.

Hindu Children Denied Food Relief During 2010 Floods By Pakistani PhilanthropistsAnd Government Officials; Pakistani NGO: Hindus "Not Allowed" To Drink WaterFrom 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. APakistani daily reported that government officials at the Mir Imdad flood relief camp outsideJhirk 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 ourbelongings 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 localcitizens who came to hand out food during the month of Ramadan. [77] A media reportnoted: "Local philanthropists come to distribute food and other items among people at thecamps, except the Dalits [Hindus].... Especially at the time of Iftari [breaking of the day'sfast during Ramadan], crowds of local people could be seen giving food, fruit and sweetsto the children, but Gulab's kids can only become spectators, not beneficiaries. If thechildren of the Dalits stand in a queue to get some food, other children identify them andelbow them out."[78]

Govindo, another Hindu at a makeshift shelter, said that the children of the urban Pakistanielite visited the flood relief camps and distributed toys and sweets among the flood-hitchildren, 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 differentorganizations engaged in rescue and relief work to ask them to give attention to the Dalitcommunity, adding: "I cannot understand that why, even at this moment, we are beingrefused and deprived of food."[80]





















Some 1,000 Hindu families sheltering at the Sabzi Mandi relief camp in Hyderabadencountered similar discrimination, and some were reportedly expelled from the camp. In aprotest march against this discrimination, they condemned the authorities for deprivingHindus of aid and relief facilities, and said that local officials did nothing when Hindus at thecamp were threatened by extremist religious groups. [81] According to a media report, theHindu leaders blamed this discrimination in food distribution on the fact that thegovernment was not willing to accept them as "citizens" of Pakistan.[82]

The non-governmental organization Upgrade Minorities for Integrated Development (UMIDor 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, Bheelsand Oads were barred from entering relief camps in the district, and even from drinkingwater from fountains set up outside the camps."[83] In September 2011, an organizationsent two truckloads of relief goods intended for 200 Hindu families in the town of Badin inthe district. The trucks were looted near the camp. When workers from the localorganization informed the police, they were asked to leave."[84]

Hindu Girls Abducted, Drugged And Converted To Islam; Policemen And IslamicClerics Involved In Abducting And Converting Hindu Girls

An increasing number of Hindu girls in Pakistan are abducted and forced to convert toIslam. Many of them later speak of having converted of their own free will as they aresubjected to threats. This pattern of forced conversion and subsequent intimidation isillustrated 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, claimingthat 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 nevermet any of our requests. This is a clear case of forced conversion."[86]Radha's brothersaid: "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, forciblyconverted 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 policeconstable in Karachi was accused of kidnapping Bharati, a 15-year-old Hindu girl, who waslater converted and married off to a Muslim youth. Bharati, now Ayesha, told a court inKarachi 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 ofMirpur Mathello in Sindh province. A press report stated: "This is not the first case of thisnature, as the community has been silently witnessing forcible conversion of their younggirls for many months. Though the Pakistan Hindu Council [PHC] does not have the latestfigures, 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 thePHC 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 acertificate that shows she has accepted Islam and 'wants' to be a Muslim."[91] In April2012, the case of Kumari and two other Hindu women was reviewed by Pakistan'sSupreme Court. The judge allowed them to decide their own future on the ground thatthey were adults.[92] In August 2012, Rinkle's family, deeply hurt and in despair, migratedto India.

In October 2011, 15-year-old Poonam Wasu was drugged by some Muslim friends, andwoke up a few hours later to find herself a married Muslim woman named Razia. PoonamWasu said that her two Muslim friends, Saiba and Shazia, gave her tea. "After drinking it, Ifell unconscious. I don't remember what happened after that. All I know is that, when Iwoke up, I was a woman who had accepted Islam and performed a Nikkah [marriage] withmy friend's brother... I never thought these two girls would do something like this. Bothof them were so nice to me."[93] In August 2012, a teenage Hindu girl, identified by initialsMK, was kidnapped, converted to Islam, and married to a man named Ghulam MurtazaChanno.[94] Her father, Riwatt Mal, aka Beebo, and uncle Sanjay Singh reported: "Mphoned us today and said that she had married, but we heard the voices of two men anda woman, and doubt that she was being allowed to speak freely.... We'll migrate to India, ifM is not recovered. We can't live with this situation now."[95] The teenager appeared in acourt 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 hersister Jyoti met her in court, Dr. Lata Kumari whispered that she "needed help" – "the onlything she managed to whisper," according to a Pakistani daily, "before being roughlypushed aside by some clerics who had come to witness the court proceedings."[96]

Human Rights Commission Of Pakistan (HRCP): Every Month, Between 20 and 25Hindu 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 Hinduconverts 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 convertedand her family files a case in court, hundreds of religious zealots take to the streets anduse pressure tactics, creating an atmosphere of fear... Many lawyers do not take up thegirls' 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 similarestimate, noting that as many as 20 to 25 Hindu girls are abducted every month andconverted forcibly to Islam.[98] He also voiced concern that the word "Hindu" has acquiredthe meaning of an insult and kind of abuse for the Hindu community in Pakistan.[99] Headded: "According to estimates, in Karachi alone, a large number of Hindu girls are beingkidnapped on a routine basis... The families of the victims are scared to register casesagainst the influential perpetrators as death threats are issued to them in case they raisetheir 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 Hindugirls fall in love with Muslim men and convert to Islam with full conviction? Why don't weever hear of a Muslim boy or girl doing the same for the sake of love and perhapsrectitude?... 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 thishappens, the little [Muslim] girl or boy becomes Wajib-ul-Qatl [condemned to be killedunder Islamic law], so it is always one-way traffic."[101] The conference participantswarned of mass migration from the country if immediate steps were not taken to stopforced conversions.[102] Speaking at the conference, Hindu community leader HotchandKarmani said that forced conversions were not the only issue, and extortion andkidnappings for ransom, along with cases of forced conversions, constitute the top threecrimes committed against Hindus.

There is fear that the kidnapped Hindu girls are also being sold into prostitution. Accordingto 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 inorder to survive in Pakistani society. In May 2010, more than 50 members of the Hinducommunity 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 underpressure from their employers."[105] Ram, who used to work in a shop in Karachi, said hefaced similar pressure: "The owner of the shop where I worked said that, after a fewmonths of his employing me, the sales dropped drastically, because people were avoidingpurchasing and eating edibles prepared by Hindus... Many people opposed the largepresence of Hindu employees at his shop, and my boss felt pressured to change thesituation..."[106] Ram said further that some of his relatives had converted to save theirland, and because their Muslim neighbors had been mistreating them.[107]

In 2008, more than 270 individuals from 40 Hindu families embraced Islam under theinfluence of Islamic clerics in Mirpur Khas in the Sindh province. There were no reports offorced conversion, but, according to the media, the Hindus were pressured by theirlandlords 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 offorced conversion victims. He demanded that the Pakistani government protect theminorities 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 ToIndia; Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC): "Every Week, At Least 20-25 Families AreLeaving Pakistan... For India"

As a result of growing persecution, many Pakistani Hindus have emigrated to India inrecent years. In March 2005, a media report noted that 8,000 Pakistani Hindus hadacquired Indian citizenship. "[T]hese Hindus came to India on valid travel papers fromPakistan and refused to [go] back, saying they were subjected to ill treatment on religiousgrounds."[110] Persecution seems to be particularly serious in Sindh province, especially inthe Ghotki, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Larkana districts. In December 2010, 27 Hindufamilies from Pakistan's Baluchistan province applied for asylum in India due to fear ofkidnappings and killings. According to a report in the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaperRoznama 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 ofHindus have appeared regularly in Indian newspapers in recent years.

In September 2011, over 300 Hindus in the Jacobabad district took a collective decision tomigrate to India due to the continuing attacks against the Hindus in Pakistan. "With tearsin their eyes... [they told local Pakistani journalists] that they had taken the decision with aheavy heart due to insecurity and a permanent threat of being kidnapped [for ransom orfor 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 "Persecutionforces 60 Hindu families to migrate to India," a Pakistani daily reported in August 2012 that60 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, humanrights activist Farzana Bari noted that it was very serious and that the religious minoritiesin Pakistan do not get enough security. "It is not easy to leave your settled life and movesomewhere 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 theBagri clan were sheltering in Delhi and refusing to return to their homes in Sindh owing tothe growing persecution in recent years. The report noted: "Amidst heightened sectarianstrife in Pakistan... a small [group] of landless Hindu laborers has reached Delhi in quest ofasylum 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 Pakhtunkhwaprovince], where Hindus are increasingly being forced to embrace Islam in order tosurvive.... T]he intensified activism of the Tablighi Jamaat is making life increasingly hellishfor Hindus. There is no sunwai (justice) when Hindu girls are kidnapped, converted, forcedinto marriage and never seen again. Fear is a constant companion. The ... [TablighiJamaat's] jihad ... is menacing and all-pervasive."[115]

In the second week of August 2012, more than 250 Hindus from Baluchistan and Sindhcrossed over into India to seek shelter. Speaking to the Indian media, Mukesh KumarAhuja, who hails from Baluchistan, commented: "Hindus are in real trouble in Pakistan, andespecially in the areas of upper Sindh and Baluchistan. I cannot face all that, so I decidedto migrate to India... I had a shop there but closed it about [a] year back. Some people Idon't know looted money from my shop so I had to close it. I was always afraid becauselife is in danger there. It was suffocating, so finally we decided to leave Pakistan foreverand move to India after selling our house."[116]

In August 2012, Pakistani daily The News carried a report titled "Is there a mass exodus ofHindus from Sindh?" The report was actually aimed at refuting the claim of massimmigration. 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 forIndia, 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 werecronies of the powerful Sardars and were unable to act against the extortionists andkidnappers in the region, stating: "The ... [heads] of police stations in these areas aremore powerful than the IG [Inspector General of the province] because they are appointedpolitically."[118]

Persecution Of Ahmadi Muslims

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded in 1889 by spiritual leader Mirza GhulamAhmad (1835-1908) in the northern Indian town of Qadian. Today the movement hasfollowers in more than 200 countries, and its present-day headquarters is in the UnitedKingdom.[119] Islamic clerics in Pakistan accuse the Ahmadi Muslims of not believing thatthe Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet of God. The Ahmadi Muslims themselvesrespond 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 itsrecipients.

In 1974, under the influence of fundamentalist forces in Pakistan, the secular governmentof Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto passed a law designating Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslim. Under thisand 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 symbolsand 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 prejudiceagainst Ahmadi Muslims, leading to numerous cases of discrimination against them andeven to a boycott of Ahmadi-owned businesses and companies. Ahmadis Muslims aredismissed as Mirzais (followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad) or Qadianis, i.e. after the town ofQadian where the Ahmadiyya movement began. The beliefs of Ahmadi Muslims arepejoratively dismissed as Qadianiat (thinking of Qadian).

As in the case of Christians, Ahmadi Muslims face charges of blasphemy brought againstthem by the police or by various powerful individuals; many of them are murdered orrobbed 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 attackon Ahmadi Muslims in recent years was the May 2010 attack in Lahore, in which Talibansuicide 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 AhmadiMuslim-Owned Firms In Courthouses; Islamic Clerics Investigate And Certify TheFaith 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 Pakistanisociety, including the educated elite and government officials. In early 2012, the LahoreBar Association (LBA), a representative body of lawyers, initiated a ban against selling theShezan brand of juice, and other goods produced by companies owned by AhmadiMuslims, in Lahore courthouses. According to a report, the decision was taken on therecommendation of Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, president of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Lawyers Forum, one of the numerous "End-of-Prophecy" groups that havesprung up in Pakistan over the years. LBA President Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said that a teamhad been formed to enforce the decision, and vowed tough action against those foundbuying or selling Ahmadi-owned products on court premises."[121]

In early 2012, a furor was sparked in Pakistan when it was discovered that mobile phonesmanufactured 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 thatthe company was owned by Ahmadis, that the "Q" in its name stood for "Qadian" (a townassociated with Ahmadis), and that it aimed to defame the Prophet. Islamic clerics calledfor 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 thecompany owners were mainstream Muslims. In order to clear its name, the companypublished an announcement in the Urdu-language Roznama Ummat which said (see theimage above): "We apologize to our clients that they experienced difficulty due to aproblem 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 hadno connection to Qadianiat [beliefs of Ahmadi Muslims]. Praise Allah, we are Muslims andhave 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 QMobileowners – from the Aalami Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (International Councilfor the Defense of the Finality of the Prophethood), an organization of Islamic clerics whichhas 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 haveinvestigated their beliefs. We have reached the conclusion that [they]... are Muslims andfirmly believe that Muhammad... is the last prophet of Allah..."[123]

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Blocks Ahmadi Website "BecauseAhmadis... [A]re Not Allowed To Propagate Their Religious Views Under TheConstitution Of Pakistan"

In July 2012, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked access to the officialwebsite of the Ahmadiyya community, Alislam.org, operated from outside the country. APTA official explained that the website was blocked "because Ahmadis... [a]re not allowedto propagate their religious views under the constitution of Pakistan."[124] The movecame after the Muttahida Ulema Board (United Board of Islamic Clerics) accused thewebsite of containing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. Husain Haqqani, theformer Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, commented that the move "reflectsreligious 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 AllPakistan Students Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Federation, one of the many End-of Prophecyorganizations, the killing of Ahmadi Muslims is termed "jihad." The pamphlet (see the imagebelow) states: "The Qadianiat [beliefs of Ahmadi Muslims] are a deadly poison"; "Oh Muslimbrothers, we must recognize these people"; "It is jihad to shoot these people in themarket"; "Awaken... and achieve martyrdom by killing them."[126]

This pamphlet is not an isolated case. Similar sentiments are articulated every day inreligious 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: "AhmadisAre Completely At The Mercy Of Assassins"

An ideological campaign to eliminate Ahmadi Muslims from Pakistan is underway throughacts 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. Forexample, in May 2012, Tariq Ahmad, an Ahmadi Muslim, was shot dead in Layyah district ofPunjab.[128] In July, 2012, Mukarram Naeem Ahmed Gondal (52), leader of Ahmadicommunity in the Orangi Town area of Karachi and an assistant director in the State Bankof 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 thecity of Rabwah, the headquarters of the Ahmadi movement in Pakistan,[130] and AslamBhatti (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 casesare too many to narrate here.

These killings of Ahmadi Muslims illustrate a pattern continuing from previous years. Forexample, in September 2008, two Ahmadi Muslims – Yousuf in Nawabshah and AbdulMannan Siddiqi in Mirpur Khas – were shot dead.[133] In Sheikhupura district of theprovince, Dilawar Hussain, a 42-year-old teacher, was shot dead in October 2011 whileteaching a class at a primary school in the village of Dere Golianwala.[134] At Ferozewala inSheikhupura district, Chaudhry Basheer Ahmed was shot in September 2011.[135] InMuzaffar Colony of Faisalabad city, 55-year-old Naseem Ahmad Butt was shot dead in bedin September 2011 for being an Ahmadi Muslim.[136]

In addition, there have probably been deaths in small towns and villages that have notbeen reported in the media. In April 2012, Abdul Quddus, an Ahmadi teacher, was takeninto police custody under false charge and tortured to death at Nusratabad in Chiniotdistrict of Punjab province.[137] The deaths in 2012 join numerous previous killings ofAhmadis in recent years. In a letter to human rights organizations, Syed M. Mahmood, anAhmadi Muslim leader, expressed the community's concern: "Ahmadis are completely atthe mercy of assassins who are targeting and killing them with impunity and police andother law-enforcement agencies... [are] doing nothing to thwart their actions."[138]

Teacher Fired, Students Expelled By Schools In Faisalabad District For BeingAhmadi Muslims; College Principal Rusticates 23 Ahmadi Muslim Students

In October 2011, schools in Dharanwali area of the Hafizabad district of the Punjabprovince 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 villageunanimously pressed me to expel all Ahmadis from the school, or else they would forciblyshut the school down."[139] Saleemuddin, a spokesman for the Ahmadi Muslims,explained that the Punjab government had allowed people to register for schools onlineand made it mandatory for students to disclose their religion.[140]

In June 2008, Professor Dr. Asghar Ali Randhawa, principal of the Punjab Medical College inFaisalabad, suspended 23 Ahmadi students from the college. He did so after somestudents from an Islamist organization led a campaign against Ahmadi Muslims and put upposters criticizing their faith. [141]

Ahmadi Muslims Targeted For Using Muslim Symbols; Police Remove Koranic TextsFrom 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 theauthorities and by civilians for building houses of worship that look like mosques or forpublically displaying various Muslim texts or symbols on their shops and homes, or evenon their graves. In July 2012, police in the Pakistani town of Kharian in Punjab provincedestroyed six minarets of a mosque belonging to Ahmadi Muslims, following a complaintfiled by the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Islam (Movement for the Defense of Islam), anorganization 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 Zahiddescribed the demolition as a result of an "amicable and peaceful process," while a mediareport 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 sealedby 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) tooklaw in their own hands and removed Koranic text and religious words from the shop of anAhmadi family at Kot Abdul Malik in Sheikhupura district, and in doing so they were helpedby 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'sname "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 beforethe clerics arrived at his door.

In August 2012, police in a village near Hafizabad in the Punjab province capitulated to thedemand of a fundamentalist group and removed Koranic verses and religious texts fromAhmadi Muslims' graves.[145] About 650 Ahmadi Muslims have resided in the village fromthe days when Pakistan was not even created, according to a media report, which notedthat 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 Ahmadifamily in the Sheikhupura district, with the aid of local police,[147] and in Rawalpindi, thepolice 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 AccusedOf Blasphemy For "Referring" To Quotes From The Koran And Hadith

The instances of Ahmadi Muslims being implicated in blasphemy cases are part of apattern. 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 Ahmadiwomen's monthly were accused of blasphemy merely for quoting from the Koran andhadith. In a complaint filed with the police, a preacher in the town of Tando Adam said thatany act of "naming and quoting" Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, or referring to theProphet as "beloved master" by Ahmadis were "blasphemous" and offended the religioussentiment of Muslims.[149]

In November 2004 in Faisalabad, an Ahmadi was sentenced to life imprisonment after alocal mosque leader accused him of blasphemy. Blasphemy charges have even beenbrought against Ahmadi children. In early 2009, several Ahmadi boys aged 12-16 werearrested 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 committingblasphemy against Allah and Prophet Muhammad in March 2006.[152] Most suchaccusations are seen by local journalists as completely false, mainly originating fromvarying 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: RepentAnd Accept Islam, Or Be Killed

In a January 2, 2012 article titled "Qadianis Should Join the Mainstream of Muslims," notedIslamic 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 withAhmadi Muslims at Goleki village in Gujarat district. According to the article, MaulanaRashidi called upon Ahmadis to repent their "false" faith propagated by their spiritual leaderMirza 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 oftheir followers; two of them were killed, while the others expressed repentance and

accepted Islam. Those who were killed were Musailmah Kazzab and Aswad Unsa, whilethose who entered into the fold of Islam were Taliha bin Khawilad Asadi (RA) and a womancalled Sajjah.

"The two came into the fold of Islam and spent their last days as good Muslims. I call uponthe Qadianis to follow the path of Taliha and Sajjah, leaving the path of Musailmah andAswad Unsa and repenting of their false faith, and come back into mainstream Islam; theywill be our Muslim brethren."[153]

Pakistan's Only Nobel Laureate, Abdus Salam, Disregarded Due To His AhmadiOrigins, 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 thediscovery of the Higgs boson, and Pakistan's only Nobel Prize laureate, is forgotten anddishonored in Pakistan because he was a member of the Ahmadi community. As a Pakistanijournalist reported, "The two-room bungalow, the birthplace of Pakistan's only Nobellaureate, today stands empty, testament to the indifference, bigotry and prejudicesurrounding the country's greatest scientist."[154]

Dr. Salam left Pakistan for England in 1974 after the passage of the law declaring Ahmadisnon-Muslim. After his death in Oxford, his body was brought to Pakistan and buried nextto his parents' graves in the town of Rabwah. The epitaph on his grave initially read "FirstMuslim Nobel Laureate," but later a Pakistani court ordered that the word "Muslim" beremoved from the epitaph, leaving the nonsensical description "First Nobel Laureate."

In a 2010 article, Pakistani columnist Masood Hasan commented: "Fourteen years after hisdeath 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' gougedout 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 farcefurther and call all those who inhabit this perpetually-threatened place 'Chenabis.' Amagistrate 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 14years since his death. The doctrinal differences over faith seem to have far moreimportance to this country than anything else. We will name no airport, or a road, or builda 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 oneof the great, if not the greatest, sons of Pakistan? No, we won't. Many Pakistanis willcontinue to deny this unique man, and therein lies our shame, except we have none. Welost it many years ago."[155]

Persecution Of Shi'ite Muslims

Of the 190 million people in Pakistan, Shi'ite Muslims constitute about 20%.[156] TheSunni Muslims believe that Abu Bakr, Omar ibn Khattab, Usman ibn Affan and Ali ibn AbiTalib are the four righteous caliphs who succeeded Prophet Muhammad in that order, withAli being the last of the four. However, Shi'ite Muslims cite a hadith of Prophet Muhammadin which he reportedly said that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, would succeedhim, and therefore Shi'ite Muslims consider Ali as the first caliph, leading to an entirelydifferent set of successors.

Over the years, some doctrinal differences have become entrenched between the two sectsof Islam, with the consequence that a vast number of Sunni Muslims does not considerShi'ites as Muslims. In August 2012, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published aglobal survey of Muslim attitudes and opinion after interviewing 38,000 Muslims face toface 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 Muslimnations, 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 Pakistancall the Shi'ites infidels. The most venomous attacks on the Shi'ites of Pakistan come fromLashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the military wing of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP or Soldiers ofthe Prophet's Companions). Both the LeJ and the SSP are banned in Pakistan, but theywork freely under the banner of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) headed by MaulanaAhmad Ludhianvi.

Murders of Shi'ites have been common in Pakistan for decades, and have recentlyincreased throughout the country. In many cases, extremist militants stop buses atrandom, order the passengers off, identify the Shi'ites among them by checking theirnames in their identity cards, and then shoot them. Attacks have increased particularly inthe regions of Gilgit Baltistan, Hangu, Parachinar, Dera Ismail Khan, and Baluchistan. In thelatter province, it is especially Hazara Shi'ites who are being targeted.

Frequent Headlines In Pakistani Dailies: "At Least 20 Shi'ites Pulled Off Bus, ShotDead..."; "Kohistan Sectarian Attack: 18 Shot Dead After Being Pulled Out Of FourBuses"; "Mastung: Pilgrims Pulled Out Of Bus And Killed, 26 Souls Dead, ThreePeople 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 werepulled 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 districtin Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 100 miles north of Islamabad.[158] The buswas travelling between Rawalpindi and Gilgit, the capital of the northern Gilgit Baltistanprovince. A media report, titled "At Least 20 Shi'ites Pulled Off Bus, Shot Dead in NorthernPakistan," quoted police official Shafiq Gul as saying that the armed men "stopped threevehicles, searched them and picked up people in three batches of five, six and nine andshot them dead. They were all Shi'ites."[159]

This attack was not the first of its kind. Early this year – on February 28, 2012 – armedmen ambushed four Gilgit-bound buses in the Harban Nala area of Kohistan district inKhyber 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 PulledOut Of Four Buses," Ahmad Marwat – who identified himself as a spokesman of the Sunnimilitant group Jundallah which is part of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) stable of militantorganizations – claimed responsibility for the attack.[160]

On April 3, 2012, a mob of Sunni Muslims – who were led by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat andLeJ members – pulled out passengers from Gilgit-bound buses in the town of Chilas andshot dead at least nine of them after identifying them as Shi'ite Muslims.[161] On thesame day, a rally was organized by Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat in the town of Gilgit whichturned violent and led to 20 deaths.[162] On September 20, 2011, at least 26 Shi'iteMuslims were pulled from a bus in the Mastung district of Baluchistan province, and wereshot dead after their religious identity was verified; afterwards, a Lashkar-e-Jhangvispokesman 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 UpBodies Also Killed" in the Urdu-language daily Roznama Jang.[163] Numerous such attacksagainst Shi'ite Muslims have taken place in recent decades in Pakistan and even in 2012appear unstoppable.

In reporting on these attacks, the Pakistani media rarely states explicitly that the victimswere Shi'ite. Instead it describes the attacks as "sectarian," a more neutral and generalterm the use of which removes culpability of the Sunni militant groups. These attacks onShi'ites are ongoing and systematic, and most of them are carried out by Sunni Muslimorganizations ideologically affiliated with Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, aka LeJ/SSP, which arefeeder organizations for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pakistani Daily Report: "Ethnic Cleansing of Hazaras [Shi'ite Muslims] Going On InSystematic Manner"; Pakistani Daily Editorial: "The Targeting Of ... [Shi'iteMuslims] 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 ethnicminority. 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 reporttitled "Ethnic Cleansing of Hazaras Going On in Systematic Manner," a Pakistani paperobserved: "Every month around 50-60 members of the Hazara community are eithergunned 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 Hazarashave 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 toIslamabad and Rawalpindi.

"Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) President Abdul Khaliq Hazara... claimed that asystematic... ethnic cleansing of Hazaras... is [going] on, and has dramatically intensifiedsince 2008. 'We don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, as on the one hand we arelosing our dear ones while on the other, the state and its institutions have failed to fulfiltheir 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 thecampaign 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. OnAugust 9, a religious program at an imambargah (a Shi'ite religious place) was attacked inLasbela district of Baluchistan. On July 29, a Shi'ite Muslim was kidnapped by LeJ militantsfrom Hazarganji area of Quetta, and a day earlier another Shi'ite Muslim was killed in thecity. On July 28, a man named Qadir Bakhsh was shot dead in Jaffarabad district. On July26, another Shi'ite Muslim was killed in a targeted firing in Quetta. On July 24, a schoolofficial was shot dead because he was a Shi'ite. On July 12, a Shi'ite Muslim was shot deadin Quetta. Not all killings are reported. One report put the number of Shi'ite Hazaras killedduring a 19-day period in May 2012 at 39.[166] These attacks show a pattern of targetedkilling of Shi'ite Muslims in various parts of Baluchistan, where the Pakistani military hasbeen able to crush the secular Baluchi insurgency for independence but is widely seen asunable or unwilling to tackle the killings of Shi'ite Hazaras.

However, the targeted killing of Shi'ite Muslims is not limited to Baluchistan. These attacksare occurring in every region of Pakistan. Some of recent attacks on Shi'ite Muslims aregiven here, as recorded by a Shi'ite interest website.[167] In the town of Chakwal inPunjab province, an imambargah was attacked by extremists on June 17. In the city ofKarachi 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. InPeshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a Shi'ite girl died in an attack on animambargah in Gulbahar police station district on July 24. In Kurram Agency, Talibanmilitants attacked the Shi'ite residential area of Bilash Khail on July 17. In Sargodha districtof Punjab, two brothers were beheaded for converting to Shi'ite faith on July 11. InAbbottabad, a religious procession of Shi'ite Muslims was banned by Sipah-e-SahabaPakistan (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, shopsowned by Shi'ite Muslims were attacked by Sunni mobs who were shouting anti-Shi'iteslogans on June 11. These attacks are motivated by a deep-seated ideological prejudiceagainst Shi'ite Muslims, which means that there are no geographical factors and they areoccurring in every part of Pakistan.

Following the August 16, 2012 killing of 20 Shi'ite Muslims in the Mansehra district, a liberalPakistani newspaper summed the situation in an editorial titled "Another SectarianMassacre," observing:[168] "The menace of sectarianism, with Shias [i.e. Shi'ites] usuallybeing targeted, is often delinked from the militancy that is plaguing the country. Treatingboth as separate issues is unwise, as many of the attacks on Shias are carried out by thesame 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'sinability to tackle it in a meaningful way only emboldens these terrorist outfits, who thenfeel free to attack with even further impunity...

"The targeting of Shias is usually accompanied by some form of official collusion. Curfewsimposed in Gilgit tend to affect the Shia community the most and they are often evenstopped 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 theyhave called home for generations...."

The Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) Video Series: "The Shi'ite isa Nasl [Race/Offspring] of Jews; the Sipah-e-Sahaba Calls the Shi'ite a BiggerInfidel Than the Jew"

The hatred against the Shi'ites is fanned by Sunni Muslim clerics who preach prejudice andviolence against them. In March 2012, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)published a research paper, authored by this writer, explaining how the Sunni Muslimgroups 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 againstShi'ite Muslims. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) is the lead organization spearheading the violentcampaign 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 SunniMuslim organizations, which are surviving with open support from the government ofPunjab province, are enforcing hatred against Shi'ite Muslims:[169]

"On its Internet discussion forum ahlesunnatforum.com, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has posteda 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 clericsfrom various schools of Sunni Islam declares that the group draws its ideological rootsfrom all key Sunni sects, stating: 'The Deobandi, the Barelvi, [and] the Ahle Hadith areunited on the question of the honor of the Sahaba [the Companions of ProphetMuhammad].' The images given below from the first video illustrate the ideologicaldeclarations made by the SSP.

"The video declares that the Shi'ite Muslims are worse than the Jews, with the Urdu text asexcerpted 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: 'TheKoran is on my head [i.e. I swear] that the Shi'ite is a kafir [infidel].' Another Urdu text onthe video declares: 'Muslims, keep the Shi'ite far from your offices and factories. To givejobs to these infidels is enmity against Islam.'

"The above footage shows anti-Taliban Pakistani cleric Tahirul Qadri of the Barelvi school ofSunni Islam, with the Urdu text stating: 'One who does not consider a Shi'ite is himself aninfidel.' Another text under the image of Tahirul Qadri, who dismisses the literature ofShi'ite Muslims in the accompanying video statement as false and without authenticsources, states: 'The Shi'ite and the Sunni can never be brothers. The Shi'ite is thebiggest infidel of all.'

"In an image on the video, an Urdu text accuses Shi'ite Muslims of killing Saddam Husseinof Iraq, stating: 'Saddam being hanged under the watch of the Shi'ite.' The videoproduces a series of statements of Shi'ite clerics, accusing them of allegedly uttering abuseagainst the companions of Prophet Muhammad.




"The video also reproduces a clip of Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, the SSP founder, addressing acrowd while the Urdu text (see above) clarifies his speech: 'There is a fatwa [Islamicdecree] 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, alate Islamic cleric associated with the SSP, in which he delivers a fiery speech against Shi'iteMuslims in order to defend the honor of the Companions. In the same video, Maulana AsifAshraf Jalali, a Barelvi cleric, equates the Shi'ites with Jews. It also cites Sheikh Abdul QadirJilani, 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 upfriendship with them. Do not eat alongside them. Do not marry them. If someone is sickamong them, do not ask about them. If someone dies from among them, do not offer thefuneral 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 bythe 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 2,700members of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan had been killed up to 2010, that is, in allegedlyrevenge killings by Shi'ite militants.

"In the fourth, fifth and sixth videos of the series, which are published on YouTube, anumber of Islamic clerics associated with the SSP are shown delivering speeches on variouspoints of beliefs associated with Shi'ite Muslims. In the fifth video, an Urdu text againdismisses the Shi'ites as Jews, stating: 'They are the nasl [race/offspring] of Jews andmerely use the name of Hazrat Ali [the Islamic caliph].

"The sixth and last video of the series shows clips of speeches by various militant clericsassociated with the SSP. Addressing a crowd, Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi, a youth leaderof 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 theCompanions [of the Prophet Muhammad].'

"One of the final images in the video reads (see the above Urdu text): 'Muslims of theentire 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 judicialbranches of government – minorities are experiencing discrimination, social avoidance, andhate crimes. This is a result of an interpretation of Islam that has been favored in Pakistansince 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 ingovernment 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 invillages and city streets, leading to acts of discrimination, hate and violence. Almost allinfluential Islamic organizations in Pakistan approve this interpretation of Islam, includingthe 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 MutedResponse To... [The Killings] Is Similar To What Happened In Nazi Germany";"Present-Day Nazis In Pakistan Have Succeeded In Coercing Or Co-opting A VastMajority Of Their Countrymen"

The growing attacks on all minorities in Pakistan are causing serious concern among liberalPakistani thinkers. In an August 2012 article, Raza Rumi, director of policy and programsat the Islamabad-based think tank Jinnah Institute, spoke of the killing of Shi'ites in termsof "a genocide [that is] unfolding before us."[170]

Leading Pakistani columnist Dr. Mohammad Taqi condemned the "muted response" to thegrowing massacres of minorities, observing: "The sanitized discourse and muted responseto... [the killings of minorities] is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany. It seems thatthe present-day Nazis in Pakistan have succeeded in coercing or co-opting a vast majorityof their countrymen into backing them. More vicious than the massacre at the BabusarTop [where Shi'ite Muslims were plucked out of buses and shot dead] was the muffledresponse of the Pakistani political leaders, rightwing intelligentsia and the militaryleadership...."[171]

Pakistani Journalist Amir Matin: "20% Of Pakistanis – The 15%... Deobandis Plus5% Of Ahle Hadith [Who Represent The Dominant Version Of Sunni Islam InPakistan] – Strictly Consider The Remaining 80% As Kafir, Even Willing To SubjectThem To Death And Destruction"

In a recent article titled "Who Gets To Be A Muslim In Pakistan?" Murtaza Haider, a liberalacademic and columnist, noted: "If Muhammad Ali Jinnah [the founder of Pakistan whobelonged to a sect of Shi'ite Islam] were alive today, only half of Pakistan would considerhim a Muslim. The ethnic, sectarian, and tribal fault lines have reached such depths thatthe nation once founded to be the homeland of Muslims is now bickering over who gets tobe called a Muslim."[172]

This question as to who is a true Muslim in Pakistan also affected Muhammad Ali Jinnaheven 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 whenMuhammad Ali Jinnah and his sister Fatimah Jinnah died, they "were given private Shi'iteburial rituals initially before the State [of Pakistan] they created swung into motion and [byensuring a Sunni funeral] made a sectarian issue of their burials. Jinnah's state funeral wasnot allowed to be led by a Shi'ite cleric. That was a formal declaration that Pakistan is aSunni State."[173]

In an article in July 2010, Pakistani journalist Amir Mir commented on how the search for atrue Muslim is dividing the country into various sects, observing: "In a way, a minority ofPakistan's population has taken to declaring the rest as kafir [infidel].... Most agree on thefollowing 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 SunniIslam 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 reportsquoted 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 HamidMir estimates the number of Bangla-speaking Muslims killed by the Pakistan Army at aboutthree million. Bangladeshi government too puts the number at three millions, but some






http://www.memri.org/sasp

http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/840/6704.htm#_ednref1


http://www.hazara.net/persecution/pak-persecution.html




three million. Bangladeshi government too puts the number at three millions, but someresearchers 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 andkillings 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, accessedAugust 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, accessedAugust 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 isnot 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 thefirst 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 hasfive 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.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18049515



http://dawn.com/2012/07/26/balochistan-case-sc-resumes-hearing-5/



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VzDwy49pNU&t=8m38s


http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-203-2008



http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/vieweditorial.php?editorialid=18














http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/35551.htm




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1625976.stm





























[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.

[65] http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/39498.htm, July 20, 2011.

[66] The News (Pakistan), July 9, 2010.




[70] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 3, 2009.


[72] Roznama Mashriq (Pakistan), February 22, 2010.

[73] Roznama Mashriq (Pakistan), February 14, 2011.

[74] TimesofIndia.com (India), March 18, 2010.

[75] TimesofIndia.com (India), March 18, 2010.






[81] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.

[82] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.






[88] The News (Pakistan), September 20, 2009.

[89] The News (Pakistan), January 4, 2012.



[92] Daily Times (Pakistan), April 19, 2012.

[93] The News (Pakistan), October 12, 2011.



































































[108] The News (Pakistan), April 29, 2008.

[109] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 19, 2010.


[111] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), December 29, 2010.

[112] Dawn (Pakistan), September 3, 2011.



[115] Dailypioneer.com (India), November 22, 2011.

[116] Hindustantimes.com (India), August 13, 2012.



[119] Alislam.org (UK), accessed August 15, 2012. Ahmadis call themselves Muslims andtherefore are described in this report as Ahmadi Muslims.

[120] Roznama Express (Pakistan), May 29, 2010.

[121] The Express Tribune (Pakistan), February 13, 2012.

[122] Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), January 14, 2012.

[123] http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6092.htm, February 16, 2012.

[124] The Nation (Pakistan), July 6, 2012.


[126] https://www.thepersecution.org/news/11/mtkn_poster_fbd_2011_06.png, accessedAugust 22, 2012.


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