At least three houses belonging to members of the Ahmadi community were raided by the police in Faisalabad on Eid al Azha following complaints by workers of extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), and the policemen confiscated sacrificial animals present inside the houses.
Ahead of Eid, police authorities in Punjab had vowed strict action against Ahmadi citizens found offering the ritual sacrifice, amid threats to the marginalised community by extremist groups. The first day of Eid al Azha was marked on June 29 in Pakistan.
A spokesperson for the Ahmadi community told Dissent Today that extremist individuals kept peeking inside houses of Ahmadi residents in Faisalabad to see if they were slaughtering sacrificial animals. Sacrificial goats and cows were seized by the police in raids conducted on complaints of extremist individuals.
A video doing the rounds on social media, purportedly from Faisalabad, shows two men introducing themselves as workers of the TLP, and announcing that they called the police when they found out sacrificial goats were being kept inside an Ahmadi house in their neighbourhood. “We have informed the police, and a contingent has arrived,” they said, adding that if the police did not act against the Ahmadi residents, they would call workers of the TLP.
On the complaint of Tehreek Labeek activist, Punjab Police raided the house of Ahmadiyya community in faislabad and seized Eid animals.
Ahmadis are not allowed to perform Qurbani even in their homes, pic.twitter.com/Z3eYtnAtlb— adnan luqman (@adnan_luqman) June 29, 2023
The video ends with policemen coming out of the house with two goats, and the complainants announcing that two goats have been “recovered”.
The harassment of the Ahmadi community intensifies around Eid al Azha every year, but this crackdown appears to be severer this year. TLP’s leaders and supporters on social media had threatened to lodge cases against the community’s members if they slaughtered sacrificial animals on Eid. In a viral video released ahead of Eid, a leader of the group could be seen warning that if the ritual is performed inside the house, the women of the family would have cases registered against them.
These warnings did not just come from extremist quarters, but lawyers in Punjab had also urged the authorities to stop the community from marking Eid al Azha. Lahore High Court Bar Association and Islamabad Bar Association wrote separate letters to the secretary Home Department and Inspector General Police respectively, wherein the lawyer bodies urged “preemptive and preventive” action to stop the Ahmadi community from performing the ritual sacrifice on Eid al Azha. The letters separately issued by both associations were dated 22nd and 24th June.
Pakistan’s Constitution declares Ahmadis “non-Muslims”, and they are prohibited from “posing as Muslims”. Ahmadis seen posing as Muslims or using Muslim symbols or titles can be jailed for three years. These laws are often used as a tool to harass the community.
