Pakistan’s legal system needs ‘urgent reform’: Report

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Amid the persecution of minorities in Pakistan, the legal system of the country is in need of urgent reform to protect the safety and dignity of the minorities including the Ahmadi community, according to a media report.

Notably, the Ahmadi community in Pakistan lives as second-class citizens.

In Pakistan, the anti-Ahmadi Muslim sentiment is powerful. It is amongst one of the most persecuted minority communities in the country.

According to Al Arabiya Post, there are several reports emerged on August 22 to the effect that sixteen graves belonging to members of the Ahmadi community had been desecrated by unknown persons in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The spokesperson of the Ahmadi community Aamir Mahmood stated that the gravestones in a walled communal graveyard had been desecrated for the first time in 75 years.

In 1974, Pakistan amended its Constitution in a way that effectively declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims, reported Al Arabiya Post, assing that Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code elevates the discrimination against Ahmadiyyas into law.

Notably, many judges have been murdered for delivering “not guilty” verdicts. This knowledge weighs heavily, especially at the lower levels of the judiciary where the judges tend to be less well-trained and do not have access to the protection that senior members of the appellate judiciary would.

Considering that Hassan Muawiya, a religious cleric based in Lahore who works with the Khatm-E-Nabuwwat Forum to pursue cases of blasphemy against Ahmadis, has insisted that he is merely following the law as it was written and has no intention to harass anyone.

Speaking through his lawyer he stated that he had no objection to Ahmadis as long as they “remained within their limits”, but “when you cut my nose, then you can expect me to cut your nose as well”.

Muawiya’s attitude exposes the reality underlying the fate of Ahmadis in Pakistan. Al Arabiya reported, that he is not wrong in claiming that he has proceeded strictly in accordance with the law when filing an avalanche of cases against the community.

Most in the community are resigned to this fate but unfortunately even peaceful existence seems a distant dream when legal forums and mobs of attackers alike are mobilized to target the community and threaten their lives and livelihoods. The Pakistani legal system is in need of urgent reform to protect the safety and dignity of the Ahmadi community.

Back in 2020, a detailed report by the UK-based All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) had revealed details about the discrimination the Ahmadi community has been facing in Pakistan.

The APPG Inquiry heard disturbing evidence that anti-Ahmadi hatred is taught to children in schools, including in their textbooks.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group had called for the repeal of anti-Ahmadi laws in Pakistan and some of its key recommendations to the Government of Pakistan include removing the publications ban on Ahmadi Muslim literature and ensure full freedom of religion for all religious communities in Pakistan. (ANI)