44th WG UPR Session BANGLADESH – 2023  Persecution of Ahmadis in Bangladesh

44th WG UPR Session BANGLADESH – 2023 Persecution of Ahmadis in Bangladesh

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has suffered long-standing persecution in Pakistan, where the very identity of an Ahmadi Muslim, existential by definition, has been denied. The community is persecuted and discriminated by law and by religious ideology. The fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief as well as other human rights of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community have been seriously violated.

Human Rights Council  Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Forty-second session 23 January–3 February 2023  Summary of stakeholders’ submissions on Pakistan

Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Forty-second session 23 January–3 February 2023 Summary of stakeholders’ submissions on Pakistan

recommended to repeal all anti-blasphemy laws, and ensure that the State’s domestic laws, policies and practices comply with the international human rights covenants, in particular articles 2, 18, 19 and 26 of the ICCPR. It also addressed the multiple and intersecting forms of violence and discrimination suffered by the Ahmadi community, including those faced by Ahmadi women, children and refugees.

“pour petrol on his house, not water”: pakistani mullah incites death on ahmadi muslims

“pour petrol on his house, not water”: pakistani mullah incites death on ahmadi muslims

In a speech1 by Syed Muhammad Sibtain Shah Naqvi (Patron Makazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadees, Punjab; Founder and Principal of Markaz Imam Bukhari Sargodha), he went to the inhumane extent of saying, “if an Ahmadi’s house is on fire, you should pour petrol on it, not water”. This egregious and toxic statement risks influencing impressionable youth in an environment already extremely hostile to Ahmadi Muslims who have every basic human right stripped away from them in the country. Their voice is being suffocated as Ahmadi representatives are being de- platformed at events and educational institutions.

Amnesty international lums chapter forced to drop a panelist only because he belongs to the Ahmadiyya community

Amnesty international lums chapter forced to drop a panelist only because he belongs to the Ahmadiyya community

Ironically, the event itself was on ‘Tolerance in Pakistan: Life of Minorities in Pakistan’. Amnesty International LUMS chapter had earlier announced the event to be held on 6 December with this panellist on the poster. Eventually, the event went ahead without him. It is heart-breaking to note that such is the height of discrimination and dogma in Pakistan that the administration of even an internationally recognised institution of higher education like LUMS has fallen prey to this grave trend of discrimination against an extremely marginalized community; and a chapter of an organisation like Amnesty International have had to accede to such a discriminatory instruction.

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