A mob led by right-wing Muslim clerics attacked the funeral of an Ahmadi woman in Pakistan’s northwestern region on Sunday.
The minority Ahmadis were gathered in Chak 79 in the northwestern state of Punjab for a funeral service of an Ahmadi woman. As the Ahmadis entered the local cemetery, a mob of locals burst into the burial grounds, pelted stones at mourners, and beat them with sticks. However, the Ahmadis stood their ground and completed the burial.
The whole incident was captured on a viral video which prompted a heated reaction from Muslim clerics across Pakistan. Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, a radical cleric pressed the Police to side with Muslims instead of Ahmadis. Zaheer also met with the district Police officials and DC Sheikhpura and released a video in which he announced that the administration had accepted all three conditions that they had set out
Zaheer said the conditions include the following, no legal action against Muslim attackers, instead, legal action will be taken against Ahmadis, and in the future, no Ahmadi will be buried in the local graveyard.
Pakistani actor Osman Khalid Butt, former MNA Farahnaz Ispahani, and Pukhtun activist Usman Khilji condemned the incident in their tweets.
..including Pakistan, where we won't even let the Ahmadi community bury their dead. https://t.co/EaRI242cEc
— Osman Khalid Butt (@aClockworkObi) June 8, 2021
Not allowed to live in peace and not even allowed to be buried with dignity. #ahmadi persecution in #Pakistan https://t.co/mX0YmEjwTJ
— Farahnaz Ispahani (@fispahani) June 6, 2021
Complete impunity for clerics & mob that attacked funeral of Ahmadi woman in Safdarabad, Sheikhapura, despite FIR.
But punishment for Ahmadis that were attacked.This is dehumanisation. This is genocide. This is apartheid.
We must not shy from calling a spade a spade at home. https://t.co/5h76GD1wRC— Usama Khilji (@UsamaKhilji) June 9, 2021