36 Ahmadi community members arrested in Pakistan for animal sacrifice on Eid-ul Adha

'Instead of protecting Ahmadis from harassment and violence, the police officials are calling in Ahmadiyya leadership in various police stations and are threatening them that if any Ahmadi is found performing the 'Qurbani' or offering Eid prayers, then they are in imminent danger from the TLP,' said Amir Mahmood, a Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan official.

Lahore: At least 36 members of the minority Ahmadi community were arrested in Pakistan on the charges of sacrificing animals on Eid-ul Adha as they have been declared non-Muslims in the country, a community leader said on Tuesday.

The Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan, which represents the minority community in the country, strongly protested the authorities preventing Ahmadis from offering their religious rites within the confinement of their homes during Eid.

"At least 36 members of the minority Ahmadi community have been arrested for offering sacrificial animals for slaughter on Eid-ul Adha in the country mostly in Punjab province," Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan official Amir Mahmood told PTI.

He said the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbiak Pakistan (TLP) has been fanning hatred against Ahmadis and pressuring police to stop members of the minority community from performing their religious rituals.

"Preventing Ahmadis from offering their religious rites within the confinement of four walls is a grave violation of their human rights as well as a clear violation of the judgements by the Supreme Court of Pakistan," he said.

Mahmood said that Ahmadis are being harassed throughout the country, especially in Punjab, not only by extremists but also by law enforcement agencies.

He said the police not only detained Ahmadis, but also their sacrificial animals.

Mahmood said that in some places, Ahmadis were also pressured not to offer Eid prayers on Monday.

"Instead of protecting Ahmadis from harassment and violence, the police officials are calling in Ahmadiyya leadership in various police stations and are threatening them that if any Ahmadi is found performing the 'Qurbani' or offering Eid prayers, then they are in imminent danger from the TLP," he said.

"It has come to be known that the intelligence agencies have also issued a threat alert on the occasion of Eid against Ahmadis," he said.

The Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan has demanded the immediate release of the Ahmadis detained on Eid and urged authorities to take steps to ensure their religious freedom.

Minorities, especially Ahmadis, are very vulnerable in Pakistan and are often targeted by religious extremists.

Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but were also barred from practising aspects of Islam.

These include constructing or displaying any symbol that identifies them as Muslims such as building minarets or domes on mosques, or publicly writing verses from the Quran.