Extremist elements on Tuesday displayed banners carrying derogatory and hostile messages against Ahmadis outside a university in Pakistan’s Punjab province, a day after UN experts expressed grave concern over continuing discrimination, violence and legal restrictions targeting the minority community.
Several banners, displayed along Sargodha University Road, around 200 kilometres from Lahore, called for the exclusion and social boycott of Ahmadis. Some described Ahmadis as “disloyal to Pakistan”, demanded their removal from key positions and called for their complete boycott.
“We hate Qadianiyat,” read one banner, referring to the community.
Jamaat-i-Ahmadiyya Pakistan condemned the display of banners, saying that differences in religious beliefs must never become a basis for spreading hatred against any sect or community.
Calling for the immediate removal of the banners, it urged law-enforcement agencies to identify those responsible for erecting the banners and take action against them under relevant laws.
“Spreading hatred against individuals or communities on the basis of their beliefs is condemnable and a violation of the law,” the statement said, adding that the state had a responsibility to protect all citizens from incitement, discrimination and violence.
The incident has renewed concerns over the use of religious rhetoric and public spaces to target Pakistan’s vulnerable minority communities.
On Monday, UN experts expressed grave concern over continuing reports of discrimination, violence and legal restrictions faced by members of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, urging Islamabad to break the “pattern of impunity” that allows perpetrators to act without restraint.
“Every individual has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. No one should be subjected to discrimination, intimidation or violence, nor should they be prevented from peacefully manifesting their faith or face discrimination in the enjoyment of any of their human rights,” they said.
The UN experts also expressed concern over reports of attacks on Ahmadi places of worship, desecration of graves, interference with peaceful religious observance, arrests and prosecutions linked to religious practices or identity, and hate speech.
Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadiyya community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were banned from calling themselves Muslims. They are banned from preaching and from travelling to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage.
