Chakwal [Pakistan]: Three leading members of the minority Ahmadiyya community have been put under one-month detention by the Chakwal district administration to prevent them from performing religious rites on the occasion of Eid-ul Azha, Dawn reported.
Chakwal’s Deputy Commissioner Quratul Ain Malik issued three separate orders for the detention of the three men on June 10, following which the three were arrested by the police and sent to Jhelum prison. All three men are natives of Dulmial village, which witnessed a mob attack on the mosque of the Ahmadiyya community in December 2016 resulting in the death of two persons.
The historic mosque built in the middle of the 19th century, had been sealed by the local administration after the attack and its fate still hangs in balance, Dawn reported.
Notably, the Ahmadiyya community is a minority in Pakistan. Frequent incidents are reported of the community facing religious persecution and discrimination. DC Malik in her orders, stated that she received a report from the district police officer in which the latter alleged that all the three men “may cause deterioration for law and order situation in the area” and requested for the issuance of their detention orders under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order 1960.
The matter was discussed in the District Intelligence Committee held on June 10 which unanimously recommended that in order to “prevent the sectarian conflict” as well as law and order situation, all these “three persons be detained.” A spokesperson of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadya said all three persons were called for a meeting with the police officials and the assistant commissioner Choa Saidan Shah regarding the upcoming Eidul Azah on Monday.
“There was also the presence of the complainants (opponents of the Ahmadya community) in that meeting. Immense pressure was placed on the Ahmadya delegation not to perform the Qurbani. Furthermore, while being harassed they were told to submit a surety bond stating that neither they nor any other Ahmadi in the district will perform Qurbani”, spokesperson Amir Mehmood told Dawn.
International human rights group, Amnesty International has strongly condemned the detentions terming it a “gross violation of individual’s rights to liberty and freedom of belief and religion.”
It also pointed out that the incident came days after the targeted killing of two men from the Ahmadiyya community in Mandi Bahauddin on 8 June. “Pakistan: The ‘preventive detention’ of three members of the Ahmadiyya community yesterday in Chakwal to stop them from engaging in religious rites during the upcoming Eid al-Adha is a gross violation of individual’s rights to liberty and freedom of belief and religion,” Amnesty International stated on X. https://x.com/amnestysasia/status/1800835039011217608
The body urged Pakistan’s Punjab government to immediately release the three men and ensure that the Ahmadiyya community is provided protection, particularly during Eid al-Adha, to ensure they are able to peacefully exercise their religious beliefs.
“Even in difficult security situations, human rights must be protected and any laws that facilitate abuses of these rights should be reviewed thoroughly with a view to amending and/or striking off those provisions which are inconsistent with international human rights standards,” it added.
