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Madiha Tahir reports on the Ahmadis, a minority group in Pakistan that has been violently attacked recently. The Ahmadis consider themselves Mulsim, but Pakistan’s mainstream Muslim groups consider them heretics.

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LISA MULLINS: Radical Islamists aren’t just attacking targets in the West. For decades they’ve ramped up violence against a group in Pakistan called the Ahmadis. Just this springtime, gunmen attacked an Ahmadi mosque. They killed 86 people. Members of the religious sect consider themselves Muslim, but the more mainstream Muslim groups see them as heretics. Madiha Tahir reports from Lahore.

MADIHA TAHIR:  These are the sounds of Eid celebrations earlier this month marking the end of Ramadan. But for the Ahmadi community, the festivities were muted. The community is grieving over the loss of 86 people to terrorism. On May 28^th, attackers assaulted two mosques in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and suicide vests. They laid siege to the mosques for hours, spraying worshippers with bullets and lobbing grenades. Fatima Mohsin’s husband, Zakir Mohsin, not their real names, died in the attack. Fatima is afraid of being targeted for speaking out.

SPEAKING URDU

FATIMA MOHSIN: Every Eid, I miss my father and now this time, my children’s father isn’t here either. They miss him so much.

TAHIR: The Ahmaddiya Movement, which Zakir and Fatima belong to, has roughly 4 million followers among Pakistan’s 170 million citizens. The sect is about 120 years old. Ahmadis call themselves Muslim. They believe in the prophet Muhammad, pray five times a day, and read the Qur’an. But, unlike mainstream Muslims who regard Muhammad as the last prophet, Ahmadis believe that there will always be prophets throughout time. They consider their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, one such prophet. Muhammad, they say, was simply the last prophet to bring a holy book. For most Muslims, that’s heresy.

I.A. REHMAN: Ahmadis are the most persecuted minority in Pakistan.

TAHIR: I.A. Rehman is Secretary-General of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. It’s an independent organization that monitors human rights violations in the country.

REHMAN: They are persecuted to a greater extent than other religious minorities.

TAHIR: In fact, Rehman and others believe the attacks may not have turned out so badly if the police had been more active. Fatima says the police outside the mosque did nothing.

SPEAKING URDU

MOHSIN:  For every man inside, there were ten friends and relatives standing outside trying to get in. We were trying to snatch the gun from the police officer and saying let us go in if you won’t.

TAHIR: From video and live footage, the police appeared to engage in sporadic gunfights with the attackers, but overall didn’t do much. Lahore’s Chief of Police, Mohammad Aslam Tareen, says he’s short of snipers, guns and other equipment. He admits that mistakes were made.

MOHAMMAD ASLAM TAREEN: You see, after every incident you have to learn something, what are the shortcomings, what we have to do in the future. And we are revising our strategies.

TAHIR: But Mr. Rehman of the Human Rights Commission says the issue is deeper than lack of training.

REHMAN: We had received information that the conservative elements were going to target these prayer houses. Now the trouble is that those who oppress Ahmadis, the government doesn’t proceed against them. There is an inability or incapacity to protect the Ahmadis.

TAHIR: That’s because it isn’t just the Islamists who’ve declared Ahmadis non-Muslims. So has the Pakistani state itself.

SPEAKING URDU

TAHIR: That’s Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. By 1974, Pakistan had lost its east wing, now Bangladesh, and its largest province, Balochistan, seethed with ethnic tensions. Bhutto’s secular regime looked to the Islamist parties to strengthen his position. So, he acceded to their demands. On September 7, 1974, Parliament unanimously approved a constitutional amendment declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims.

SPEAKING URDU

ZULFIKAR ALI BHUTTO: The problem of the Ahmadis is over 90 years old but the National Assembly has finally decided it. This problem that was over 90 years old has been resolved during our time.

TAHIR: Anti-Ahmadi laws are still in force today. Ahmadis cannot legally call themselves Muslim, perform Muslim prayer nor call their places of worship, mosques. And they have few legal protections. In 2008, a former minister of religious affairs hosted a talk show on Pakistan’s largest television channel. He declared Ahmadis wajib ul-qatl or fit to be killed for their heresy. Within two days, two Ahmadis were murdered. Human rights organizations condemned the broadcast for inciting murder, but no one was punished, and organizations with similar ideologies continue to distribute literature openly today.

SPEAKING URDU

MAULANA SAHIBZADA RASHID AHMAD: Islam allows us to have relations with other sects or groups. But, Islam forbids any relations with those who call themselves Ahmadis.

TAHIR: Maulana Sahibzada Rashid Ahmad runs the Lahore chapter of the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Movement. The coalition lobbied hard in 1974 to declare Ahmadis non-Muslims. While Maulana Rashid says the May 28^th attacks shouldn’t have happened, he also says that under a proper Islamic state, it would be the state’s duty to enact wajib ul-qatl.

SPEAKING URDU

AHMAD: We don’t agree with vigilante justice. In a proper Sharia system, a religious judge would decide, and the state would carry out the judgment. That’s how punishment for those who commit heresy would work. And there’s a special punishment for those people who claim they are Muslims but are really perverting Islam. People who commit this kind of heresy are different from other infidels. In Islam, they are fit to be killed for their heresy.

TAHIR:  While Muslim interpretations of sharia actually vary widely, groups like the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat movement have been pushing their hardline version for political ends. It’s this social context that set the stage for May 28^th. I.A. Rehman again.

REHMAN: The state has become fundamentalist. That is the problem. The state appeases all kinds of things in the name of god and religion.

TAHIR: He doesn’t expect that the mosque attackers will be brought to justice.  He says not a single suspect in the murder of an Ahmadi has ever been convicted. Meanwhile, the anti-Ahmadi violence continues to take a very human toll, especially among the families affected by last May’s siege. Fatima’s middle son has been refusing to eat and has nightmares. He saw his father’s blood-soaked body as it was brought home that night. Fatima says she took him to a doctor, but when the specialist found out that the family was Ahmadi, he refused to help. For the World, I’m Madiha Tahir, Lahore, Pakistan.

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