South Asia Terrorism Portal
Perils of the Ahmadi Community Sanchita Bhattacharya Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management
On August 13, 2020, a 61-year-old Ahmadi man, Meraj Ahmed, was shot dead near his medical store in the Dabgari Gardens area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On July 29, 2020, Tahir Naseem, a US citizen and an Ahmadi, accused of blasphemy, was shot dead inside a District Court in Peshawar, in the presence of security and the presiding judge. Though he was killed as an Ahmadi, Saleem ud Din, spokesman of the Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan, later claimed, “He was born Ahmadi but left the community many years ago. Therefore, to avoid any misinformation, I would like to clarify that the deceased was not part of Jamaat Ahmadiyya.”
Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan is an organisation that, among other things, watches over the religious, economic and political interests of Ahmadis in Pakistan.
On July 15, 2020, graves of members of the Ahmadi community were desecrated in Tirigiri village of Gujranwala District in Punjab Province, as Quranic verses were written on these graves. Pakistani law prohibits Ahmadis from calling themselves or “posing as” Muslims.
On July 1, 2020, local clerics allegedly vandalised graves of members of the Ahmadi community in the Nawa Kot area of Sheikhupura District in Punjab Province. Saleem ud Din, spokesman of the Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan, condemning the attack, Tweeted
On February 29, 2020, three graves belonging to Ahmadis were allegedly desecrated by the Police in the Khushab District of Punjab Province.
According to partial data collated by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), these were the five reported incidents in 2020 in which the Ahmadi community was targeted (data till August 23, 2020). Two of these incidents resulted in one fatality each. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflicts in Pakistan, at least 128 Ahmadis have been killed and 113 injured in 28 incidents of killing.
The worst ever attack targeting the Ahmadis took place on May 28, 2010. 94 people were killed when two Ahmadi mosques were targeted in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, in attacks that included grenades, small arms fire and two suicide bombers. 27 people were killed at the Baitul Nur Mosque in Lahore’s Model Town area and 67 people died at the Darul Zikr Mosque in the suburb of Garhi Shahu. The Punjabi Taliban, a local affiliate of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had claimed responsibility.
Britain's All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in its Report titled, "Suffocating the Faithful: The Persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan and the Rise of International Extremism", published in July 2020, stated that between 1984 and July 2020, at least 269 Ahmadi Muslims have been killed on grounds of faith. The report also explains the abuse Ahmadis experience in educational institutions,
Indeed, apart from death and desecration, the Ahmadi community faces constant oppression and discrimination in eligibility to hold government positions, in contesting elections, in their businesses, and in destruction of their homes and places of worship. Ahmadi Muslims are prevented by law from publishing and possessing their core religious texts, crucially including the Holy Quran. As reported on January 10, 2020, the Punjab Assembly’s Special Committee decided to ban the Ahmadi newspaper, Al-Fazl. This, in a state and a country where dozens of terrorist organisations openly publish multiple magazines.
The oppression and suppression faced by Ahmadis are at the behest of the Pakistani establishment. Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Religious and Inter-faith Harmony Affairs, declared in May 2020 that any form of “soft-heartedness” toward the Ahmadis was both un-Islamic and un-patriotic,
Unsurprisingly, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), constituted in May 2020 has no member from the Ahmadi community. Initially, it was suggested that Ahmadis should get a representation in the Commission, but, as reported on May 18, 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected that idea after it sparked severe criticism from orthodox Sunnis who consider the Ahmadi belief an insult to Islam.
Moreover, under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), fundamental religious rights are denied to Ahmadis in Pakistan. Ordinance XX prohibits Ahmadis from self-declaration as a Muslim, to make azaan (prayer call), from paying zakat (alms), from observing fast during Ramzaan, and from making pilgrimage to Mecca. PPC 298 C , thus states,
Person of Quadiani group, etc., calling himself a Muslim or preaching or propagating his faith:-
The Ahmadi community, accepted as a minority sect of Islam at the time of the country’s independence in 1947, became the first minority group to be targeted for sectarian violence when anti-Ahmadi riots broke out in 1953 in Lahore, leading to the first imposition of Martial Law in the country’s history, limited to Lahore. 2,000 Ahmadis were killed in violent protests.
Later, in 1974, under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Administration, the Parliament brought the Second Amendment to the 1973 Constitution, and declared the Ahmadis non-Muslims. Unlike all other Muslims in the country, Ahmadis were prohibited from calling their place of worship a mosque and saying the common Islamic greeting of Assalamo Alaikum (Peace be upon you ) or reading the Kalima (the testimony of faith).
Further, in 1985, the then President Zia ul Haq pushed through the Eighth Amendment to the 1973 Constitution in Parliament, which was accompanied by a series of laws effectively creating a separate electorate system for non-Muslims, including Ahmadi Muslims. Moreover, according to the Amendment, they cannot hold government office without publicly denouncing Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadi community.
The status of the Ahmadis has become precarious. Several reports have highlighted the pathetic conditions of the sect, including the International Human Rights Committee report, Ahmadis in Pakistan Face an Existential Threat, published in 2017, which demonstrates that Ahmadis in Pakistan are violently targeted, intimidated, harassed and persecuted at all levels of society. It also testifies to the grave injustices that are meted out to minority religious groups such as Ahmadi Muslims. Likewise, South Asia Democratic Forum’s report, Persecution against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan: A multi-dimensional perspective, published on May 10, 2019, underlined the multifaceted and multidimensional persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan in all spheres of public and private life.
More recently, the US States Commission on International Religious Freedom in its Annual Report 2020, released in April 2020, explaining the situation of Ahmadi community of Pakistan, noted,
In February 2020, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, declaring that minorities are equal citizens of his country, had issued a warning that anyone targeting the non-Muslim population of Pakistan would be strictly dealt with. Regrettably, Khan has failed to back words with convincing action, as evident in the failure to include an Ahmadi representative in the NCM, and also to ensure effective legal action in any of the continuous stream of cases of atrocity and discrimination targeting Ahmadis. Ahmadis, like other religious minorities in Pakistan, continue to face violence and discrimination, targeted by acts of vandalism and violence, forced to declare themselves as “non-Muslims” and prohibited by law from professing or practicing their faith.
Re-writing the Constitution S. Binodkumar Singh Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
As expected, in the very first meeting of the new Cabinet, held on August 19, 2020, the Sri Lanka Government decided to abolish the 19th Amendment and to bring in the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters,
Co-Cabinet spokesman Udaya Gammanpila added further,
Commenting on the 20th Amendment, he stated that “we can’t comment on what will be included in it yet”, but asserted that the Government was keen to “fix the errors of the 19th Amendment as soon as possible.”
The Cabinet appointed a five-member sub-committee to formulate the 20th Amendment. The members of the sub-committee include Education Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, Justice Minister Ali Sabry and Energy Minisster Udaya Gammanpila. The sub-committee is to submit their observation to the Cabinet. According to reports, Justice Minister Ali Sabry has been empowered to study the 19th Amendment and make recommendations to the Cabinet regarding which elements should be carried forward into the 20th Amendment.
It is pertinent to recall that the then Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa had approved the 18th Amendment on September 8, 2010, according to which:
Before the introduction of the 18th Amendment the President could seek re-election only twice.
The 'reformist' Ranil Wickremesinghe-led Government, which came in power in 2015, argued that the 19th Amendment was needed to correct the power imbalance created by the 18th. On April 28, 2015, it introduced the19th Amendment to the Constitution, prominently including:
Moreover, on December 29, 2015, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe appointed a 24-member Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms (PRCCR) composed of academics, lawyers, civil society representatives and politicians of minority parties, to gather public opinion on Constitutional amendments. The PRCCR began collecting grassroots public opinion on January 18, 2016, and completed its work across the country on February 29, 2016. Some 5,000 proposals for constitutional change, both written and oral were presented. Finally, on March 9, 2016, the Sri Lankan Parliament unanimously, without a vote, approved the change of the Parliament into a Constitutional Assembly (CA) to draft a new Constitution for the island nation. The new Constitution was expected to replace the executive President-headed Constitution adopted in 1978, which invested broad executive powers in the office of the President.The new Constitution was expected to abolish the executive Presidency and replace it with a Parliamentary system.
Meanwhile, Rajapaksa’s opposed the 19th amendment on following grounds:
Rajapaksa vowed to repeal the 19th Amendment if voted back to power. Indeed, in his Policy Statement at the opening session of the 9th Parliament on August 20, 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asserted,
He elaborated further,
On August 19, the Cabinet also decided to establish a panel of eminent persons to formulate a new Constitution and asked the Justice Minister to recommend names for the panel to be considered for Cabinet approval. Co-Cabinet spokesman Udaya Gammanpila noted,
The Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP) sought a two thirds Parliamentary mandate or 150 seats in the 225-member assembly to effect constitutional changes, the foremost of them, the move to abolish the 19th Amendment. During the Parliamentary Elections held on August 5, 2020, SLPP won 145 seats. Adding six seats from its allies including two seats of the Eelam People's Democratic Party and one each of Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, Sri Lanka Freedom Party, National Congress and All Ceylon Makkal Congress, to the tally, the SLPP alliance is 151-strong, giving it the two-thirds majority it sought.
Meanwhile, reacting to President Rajapaksa's assertion that "priority will be given to the concept of one country, one law for all the people", Chief Opposition Whip, Lakshman Kiriella, told Parliament,
Kandyan law is a customary law that originates from the 'Kingdom' of Kandy, which is applicable to Sri Lankans who are Buddhist and from the former provinces of the Kandyan Kingdom. Thesavalamai law is a collection of the Customs of the Malabar Inhabitants of the Province of Jaffna and was given full force by the Regulation of 1806. The Law in its present form applies to most Tamils in northern Sri Lanka. The law is personal in nature,and thus applicable mostly to issues of property, inheritance, and marriage. Muslim law is also a customary law which is applicable to Sri Lankans who are Muslims by virtue of birth and conversion to Islam. It governs aspects of marriage, divorce custody and maintenance.
Apprehensive of an imminent threat, Thamizh Makkal Thesiya Kootanii leader and former Northern Province Chief Minister, C. V. Wigneswaran on August 20, 2020, urged the Government,
However, in his Policy Statement on August 20, 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had asserted,
By rewriting the Constitution, the Rajapaksa's grip on power will strengthen as the country will return to its previous Constitutional status, in which the President could head Ministries, appoint and dismiss Ministers, appoint officials for the Police, Judiciary and public service and dissolve Parliament at any time after one year. The massive victory of the SLPP, a party that occupies the far-right end of the Sinhala Buddhist ideological spectrum, jeopardises the pluralistic cultural landscape of Sri Lanka and the peaceful coexistence of the different ethnic communities. Rajapaksa's talk about Constitutional reforms cannot escape the national burden of the strife-riven past and its unresolved ethnic issue.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia August 17-23, 2020
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
INDIA
Jammu and Kashmir
INDIA (Left-Wing Extremism)
Chhattisgarh
INDIA (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
Sindh
PAKISTAN (Total)
No progress in reconciliation council appointments: The leadership members of the High Council for National Reconciliation are yet to be appointed, even three months after President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah's political agreement. The report adds that critics say that this will affect the next phases of the peace process. President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah signed a political agreement on May 17, to end the dispute over 2019 Presidential election. Tolo News, August 21, 2020.
'No legitimate reason' to delay talks, says US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad: United States (US) Special Envoy for Peace, Zalmay Khalilzad on August 21, tweeted, "no legitimate reason" to delay the intra-Afghan negotiations that are expected in near future but have been postponed over differences on the release of high-value Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government, reports Tolo News.Khalilzad made the remarks in a tweet on the death of a high-ranking education official, Abdul Baqi Amin, who was killed in an explosion in Kabul on August 19. Tolo News, August 21, 2020.
Intra Afghan talks to start after completion of prisoner swap, say Afghan Government sources: Sources within the Afghan Government said that the intra-Afghan talks will be started three days after the completion of the prisoners' swap between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. The State Ministry on Peace Affairs on August 20, said that consultations are moving ahead about the release of the controversial Taliban prisoners and the release of the Afghan government hostages held by the Taliban. Tolo News, August 21, 2020.
HuJI-B failed to reorganise its activities due to its members leaving for other groups, say CTTC officials:Officials from the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Police said Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B), once a notorious militant outfit responsible for killing more than 100 people and injuring 600 others through various terror attacks in Bangladesh, failed repeatedly to reorganise its activities due to its members leaving for other groups and Police vigilance. The officials said the present organisational structure of HuJI-B is at its lowest point, and also claimed that HuJI-B hardly has any capacity to carry out any major subversive activities in the country. DhakaTribune, August 20, 2020.
EC registers new CPN-UML party: The Election Commission (EC) on August 19, registered new Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) party, chaired by Sandhya Tiwari, a permanent resident of Morang District. The General Secretary of the party is Manish Kumar Upadhyay, a permanent resident of Dhanusha District. According to an official of the EC, the new CPN-UML was granted the election symbol of rising sun in the Himalayas. The Himalayan Times, August 20, 2020.
Sindh bars 'firebrand' 142 religious scholars and speakers from leaving their Districts: The Government of Sindh barred on August 23 at least 142 "firebrand" speakers and scholars from leaving their Districts. According to a notification issued by the Home Department, the speakers and scholars are banned from entering all Districts in the province. The list includes speakers from all schools of thoughts. The decision is aimed at blocking "firebrand" speakers from creating a law and order situation in the month of Muharram. Samaa TV, August 24, 2020.
Government placed sanctions on more than 88 individuals associated with terrorist groups: Government on August 21, placed sanction on more than 88 individuals suspectedly associated with different terrorist groups, including Daish, al Qaida and Taliban. According to the details, the Government has also seized the bank accounts and properties of the individuals in the country. They have also been banned from travelling aboard. It is pertinent to mention here that the 88 individuals were included in the terrorists' list issued by the United Nations (UN) few days back. Ary News, August 22, 2020.
Government bans offshoot of proscribed sectarian group: Pakistan Government on August 19, proscribed a group identified as Khatam-ul-Ambia for being an offshoot of a banned organisation Ansar-ul-Hussain involved in terrorism under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) added Khatam-ul-Ambia's name to its list of proscribed organisations after the Federal Ministry of Interior issued the notification. The notification, however, didn't reveal the name of the banned group that Khatam-ul-Ambia is an offshoot of. Daily Times, August 20, 2020.
4,616 cases of missing persons decided so far by Commission for Inquiry of Enforced Disappearances: Commission for Inquiry of Enforced Disappearances (COIED) has disposed of 4,616 cases up to July 30, 2020, as per monthly progress report of mission persons released by Secretary of COIED on August 19. A total number of 6686 cases were received by the COIED upto June 2020. During July 2020, 43 more cases were received by the Commission and total numbers of cases reached to 6729. The COIED disposed of 23 cases in July 2020 and thus total disposal of Missing Persons upto July 30, 2020 is 4616 and balance as on July 30, 2020 is 2113. Daily Times, August 20, 2020.
Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue approves FATF-related amendments: The Senate (Upper House of National Assembly) Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on August 18 approved the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-related two bills - the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2020, and the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020, with three alterations during its meeting under the chairmanship of Senator Farooq H Naik. It was agreed that committee members, Senator Musadiq Malik, Senator Imam-ud-Din and Senator Sherry Rehman will present their proposed amendments in Senate on August 19 when the bill will be tabled in the upper house. Pakistan Today, August 19, 2020.
Different factions of TTP re-join after pledging allegiance to its 'chief' Noor Wali Mehsud: Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and Hizb-ul-Ahrar (HuA), the two breakaway factions of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have re-joined the group, the TTP confirmed on August 17. JuA 'chief' Omar Khalid Khurasani and HuA's 'chief' Omar Khurasani have pledged allegiance to TTP 'chief' Noor Wali Mehsud, the TTP said in their statement. JuA parted ways with the TTP in 2014 after developing differences with the then leader of the group, Mullah Fazlullah. Later, HuA was formed after the JuA split into two groups. Samaa TV , August 18, 2020.
President pledges new Constitution based on 'one country, one law' principle:President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his inaugural address to the ninth Parliament on August 20, pledged to bring about a new Constitution envisaging the principle 'One country, one law' for all ethnic communities. He said the 19th Amendment to the Constitution would be scrapped. He said a new electoral system would be evolved in this exercise to enable the formation of stable governments in the future instead of weak governments beholden to the demands of extremist parties. Daily Mirror, August 17, 2020.
Concept of 'One Country, one law' could be a difficult task, says Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella: Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella told Parliament on August 21, that the concept of 'One Country, One law' which President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pledged to adopt through the new Constitution could be a difficult task. "There are certain laws which people practice in their personal capacity. The Kandyan law which is practiced in areas such as Kandy, outlines how property should pass from one generation to another. It will not be easy to do away with such laws. The situation is the same when it comes to the Thesawalamai law and Muslim law", Kiriella said. Daily Mirror, August 22, 2020.
Cabinet approves abolishing 19th Amendment to the Constitution: Sri Lanka's new Cabinet on August 19, granted approval for the new Government to abolish the 19th Amendment to the Constitution introduced by the previous Yahapalana Government. Minister of Mass Media Keheliya Rambukwella, who was appointed as the Cabinet Spokesman, said the decision was taken at the first cabinet meeting of new Government. Colombo Page, August 20, 2020.
The South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on related economic, political, and social issues, in the South Asian region.
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