Persecution of Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan surges in 2025: Report

Vienna, Sep 9 (IANS) The persecution of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan has witnessed an alarming rise in 2025 with the Ahmadiyyas, a religious minority in Pakistan, remaining vulnerable to persecution, discrimination and violence from both hardliner extremists and law enforcement agencies, a report detailed on Tuesday.

"Several Ahmadiyyas were killed while thousands of them were harassed and their places of worship desecrated. Shockingly, law enforcement agencies were found to have participated in the repression rather than protecting the rights of the minority community. Interestingly, when Pakistan was celebrating its Independence Day this year on August 14, Ahmadiyyas living in Faisalabad were harassed by a mob. Stones were thrown at their houses; several were beaten with sticks and bricks, and two Ahmadiyya mosques were set on fire," Rahmatullah Achakzai, a journalist based in Balochistan, wrote in Afghan Diaspora Network.

As many as 269 Ahmadiyya graves were desecrated in Pakistan until July this year while more than 50 mosques were desecrated since 2023, according to the data prepared by the Ahmadiyya community. At least three Ahmadiyyas were murdered by the extremists in 2025 while six individuals were murdered in 2024. According to the UK-based International Human Rights Desk, the second quarter of 2025 was the worst for Ahmadiyyas residing in Pakistan.

Amnesty International also found that the violence increased against Ahmadiyya community during Eid al-Adha this year.

"Not only are local authorities and local enforcement agencies across Pakistan failing to protect Ahmadis, they are themselves actively restricting their rights to freedom of belief and religion. In fact, (they) actively discriminated and harassed Ahmadi individuals through detention orders, criminal cases and orders placing restrictions on the community’s right to freedom of belief and religion," the report quoted Deputy Regional Director for South Asia at Amnesty International, Isabelle Lassee as saying.

"Ahmadiyyas were forced to sign an affidavit that they would not perform Eid rituals, failing to which would attract a fine of PKR 500,000. It is not just security forces but other departments too found to be engaged in the repression of Ahmadiyyas," the Afghan Diaspora Network report mentioned.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had blocked websites which had content regarding Ahmadiyyas and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) imposed restrictions on broadcasting Ahmadiyya channels, while the education department created hurdles for schools and institutions run by Ahmadiyyas.

In 1974, the Pakistani government through legal means declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims. Pakistan government's decision not only barred the Ahmadiyya community from openly expressing and practising their beliefs, but also drove the majority Sunni and Shia Muslims to humiliate and persecute them, and to attack their properties.

"A UK government assessment report highlighted Ahmadiyya’s vulnerability to prosecution under blasphemy laws and specific anti-Ahmadi laws, even as Pakistani police have often found complicity in the violence against this minority community," wrote Achakzai.

After the killings of a few of its members, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in an official statement said that in all cases, the authorities either failed to act or actively participated in the violence.

"The attacks in 2025 are rooted in decades of state-backed persecution. Without immediate action and accountability, the Pakistani State is inviting further bloodshed. Ahmadis are denied the most basic guarantees of life, autonomy and religious freedom in Pakistan," they stated.