March 11, 2025
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The Civil Lines police in District Mandi Bahauddin have registered a case under Sections 324 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of an individual belonging to the Ahmadiyya community that some men had tried to kill him for his faith. The complainant, A, was critically injured after the incident.
According to the police, A was on his motorcycle heading home from the city when unknown armed men intercepted him and fired indiscriminately. The 25-year-old sustained severe injuries, while the attackers fled the scene. According to details upon receiving the report, police reached the site and shifted the injured youth to the hospital, where he was given treatment.
The official police report confirms that A suffered two bullet wounds, one in his arm and one in his abdomen, resulting in his critical condition. Meanwhile the suspects remain at large, so there were no arrests made.
The mother of the survivor, spoke to Voicepkand said that he was the sole breadwinner and after her husband’s death she had to rely on his daily wages to run the home. The woman and her son live together. She added that there had always been people who had been seen as a ‘looming threat’ at all times, mainly because everyone around them was ‘against them for being an Ahmadi’.
“They all oppose us, but we never imagined that anyone would try and take my son out in this manner,” she said. “It goes without saying that the attack took place because of our faith.”
She said that they had been extremely afraid since the attack and although her son was now at home and has survived the attack, she is fearful of him leaving the house again.
“Although the police is investigating the case, how will they nab anyone when we ourselves cannot identify who it was behind the attack?” she questioned.
Hate material
In a separate development within the Mandi Bahauddin’s City Police area, three individuals were detained for circulating material intended to incite hatred against the Ahmadiyya community. Law enforcement confirmed that the suspects were actively provoking residents and were found with inflammatory materials. A case was filed against them under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, under Sections 11-W, 8, and 9.
According to details provided in the FIR, some police officers were at Cheema Chowk on their vehicle when a source informed them via WhatsApp that three individuals on Wasoo Road were inciting people against the Ahmadiyya community.
Relying on the information to be credible, a raiding party was put together, and upon reaching the mentioned location, the accused individuals were found as indicated by the source. Upon seeing the raiding party, they attempted to flee, but were apprehended with the help of colleagues.
The suspects disclosed their names and addresses as Qamar, son of Haji Sadiq, Ghulam Mustafa, son of Muhammad Akram, and Qasim, son of Tahir Sultan, all residents of different areas of Mandi Bahauddin. Upon conducting a personal search, it was revealed that they were carrying and distributing pamphlets titled ‘Using Qadiani Products is Unlawful for Muslims’ along with a monthly magazine Lolak, titled ‘Acceptance of Islam by Qadianis‘.
Further personal search led to the recovery of I-TEL mobile phone and a SPARK mobile phone, which were taken into police custody through a seizure memo. Upon inquiry, the individuals stated that ‘Qadianis are infidels and they are distributing pamphlets against them’.
A case was lodged against them under ATA for possessing and distributing hate pamphlets at the Mandi Bahauddin city police station.
The two events, occurring one after the other have once again generated a climate of fear among the Ahmadiyya community living in Mandi Bahauddin. Both incidents took place along Sugar Mills Road and Wazirabad Road, within the jurisdiction of the Saddar Circle police station.
For now the police have declined to comment on the incident. However with the attackers still at large, the community feels increasingly vulnerable.
Speaking to Voicepk, Amir Mehmood the spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya community, said that the Mandi Bahauddin area remains sensitive since a very long time.
“This is the area where the TLP leader Naeem Chattha lives and commands strength from,” he said. “Previously also Chattha has made extremely disturbing calls for violence against the Ahmadi community, specifically pregnant Ahmadi women.”
The fanatical cleric made threats on video in September 2022. He called on his supporters to carry out attacks against pregnant Ahmadi Muslim mothers to “ensure that no new Ahmadis are born,” and went on to say, “Those babies who are being born, should be killed”. Throughout that speech, he led various chants, including “There is but only one punishment for blasphemers, decapitation”.
“We are the descendants of Mehmood Ghaznavi whose horse’s galloping sound would cause the miscarriage of Hindu women,” he said, inciting his followers to attack Ahmadi women, ‘so as to stop them from giving birth to Ahmadi babies.’
In a video released in October 2023, Muhammad Naeem Chattha Qadri made demands of authorities to revoke the appointment of an Ahmadi Superintendent of Police in his area, saying that just as the former governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer was assassinated, ‘a killer would be born to do the same to the Ahmadi SP’.
“Either he will be here, or we will be here,” he says in the video calling for the SP to be posted elsewhere or face the lethal consequences.
Information found on Youtube, shows videos of his speeches, and also videos after his release from jail, that have been posted by TLP social media teams. His actions have contributed to a climate of fear and heightened tensions for the Ahmadiyya community in Mandi Bahauddin.Throughout his sermons however Chattha has enjoyed impunity and has been attempting to incite violence.
Though Pakistan has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in June 2010, it also made reservations to several key articles, including Articles 18 and 19 that guarantee the freedom of religion and expression respectively. Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to withdraw what it calls these “obstructive and legally impermissible” reservations that threaten the integrity of the UN human rights treaty system.
Under Pakistan’s draconian anti-Ahmadi laws, Ahmadis have been kidnapped, murdered and imprisoned arbitrarily, their homes and properties destroyed, their mosques come under siege and even their graves desecrated.
Amnesty takes note
Meanwhile international human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, took note of the increasing trend of violence against the Ahmadi community of late.
‘The disturbing pattern of arbitrary arrests, harassment and violence against the Ahmadiyya community is in violation of their right to freedom of religion and belief,’ said a statement. ‘In the past two weeks alone, more than 60 Ahmadis, including children, have been unlawfully arrested in Daska, Sargodha and Karachi cities in Punjab and Sindh provinces, while Ahmadiyya places of worship have been desecrated in Bahawalnagar and Gujranwala. The authorities have filed cases under section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code which bars the Ahmadiyya community from calling themselves Muslims or preaching their faith. Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release and drop charges against all Ahmadis detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. Local authorities in Pakistan must provide adequate protection to Ahmadi places of worship and any officials engaged in harassment or destruction of Ahmadiyya property must be brought to justice. Denying the Ahmadis their right to freedom of religion and belief is in violation of Article 20 of Pakistan’s Constitution and the country’s international human rights obligations.’