Wasib Dheendsa

Highlighting and condemning how India under the Hindutva ideology has turned into hindu supremacist society will not solve our own internal crisis. If we claim to be better then we have to better and ensure safety, liberty and dignity of all citizens under the Constitution. A 58 year Ahmadi Doctor Sheikh Muhammad Mahmood was shot dead in Sargodha yesterday. His crime was his religious identity. On 25th April it was reported that a 19 year Ahmadi Mohammad Asif was killed in Kasur. On 18th April a 47 year old Ahmadi Laeeq Ahmed Cheema was lynched by a Mob in Karachi. The National Commission of Human Rights which is Pakistan's official body responsible for investigating human rights violations in the 2023 report observed that Ahmadis are one of the most persecuted minorities in Pakistan. The Report also noted that "The statistics of human rights violations provided by the community from 1984 to September 2023 show that 280 Ahmadis have lost their lives due to targeted violence, and an additional 415 have faced assaults because of their faith. The assault on the religious identity of Ahmadis is evident in the demolition of 51 Ahmadiyya worship places and the sealing of 46 others by authorities. Furthermore, 39 worship places have been set on fire or damaged, and 18 forcibly occupied, revealing a systematic effort to eradicate spaces of worship integral to the community. The authorities have also obstructed the construction of 62 Ahmadiyya worship places, reinforcing institutional discrimination. The violation extends to the sanctity of the deceased, with 39 bodies of Ahmadis exhumed after burial, and burial denied in a common cemetery for 96 individuals. Disturbingly, 99 Ahmadi graves have been desecrated and damaged in the current year alone, emphasizing the nature of the assault on their dignity, even in death according to various reports."