Human Rights Watch says it is "absurd" Pakistan didn't invite the oppressed Ahmadiyya community to a new body that aims to safeguard minority rights. Ahmadis face religious persecution and hate campaigns in the country.
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Pakistan received condemnation Friday for excluding a persecuted group from a new official body set up to safeguard the rights of religious minorities.
The NGO Human Rights Watch became the latest international voice to condemn the exclusion of the Ahmadiyyah community. Ahmadis make up 4 million people in Pakistan.
Pakistan's Cabinet established the National Commission for Minorities on Tuesday, instructing the Ministry of Religious Affairs not to include representatives from the Ahmadi community.
"The Ahmadis are among the most persecuted communities in Pakistan and to exclude them from a minority rights commission is absurd," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"Keeping Ahmadis off the commission shows the extent to which the community faces discrimination every day," he added.
The religious affairs ministry had previously expressed support for the inclusion of the Ahdamis, but Pakistan's government appears to have vetoed this. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has already rejected the body based on its composition.
The Ahdamiyya community have faced death, intimidation and a hate campaign for decades. Pakistan declared the group non-Muslims in 1974, although the community say they are a sect of Islam.
The group regard their founder, Ghulam Ahmad, as a prophet. Orthodox Islam says there can be no prophet after Muhammad. Ahmadis live all over the world and number up to 20 million.
Ahmadiyya spokesman Saleem Uddin said the community did not want to be part of the commission anyway, but regretted that his community had not been invited.
Pakistan repeatedly fares poorly on global indices on religious freedom.
Forced piety - Pakistan's Ramadan law and vigilantism
Pakistan's Ramadan law, which bans people from eating in public, has once again come under discussion after lawmakers recently introduced stricter penalties. Why does Pakistan insist on enforcing the harsh law?
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Harsh penalties
In Pakistan, it is illegal to drink, eat or even smoke in public during Ramadan. You can be sent to jail, heavily fined, or may even be beaten by vigilantes. Earlier this month, the country's lawmakers introduced stricter penalties that could see people jailed for up to three months for a violation.
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'This is not Islam'
Bakhtawar Bhutto, the daughter of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was quick to condemn the latest amendment, dubbing the law "ridiculous." "Not everyone in Pakistan will be fasting - children in school, the elderly, people with medical issues - Should we arrest them for drinking water?" tweeted Bhutto. "People are going to die from heat stroke and dehydration with this ridiculous law."
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Obliged to fast
"A person who, according to the tenets of Islam, is under an obligation to fast shall not eat, drink or smoke in a public place during fasting hours in the month of Ramadan," says the Ehtiram-e-Ramadan (Respect for Ramadan) law, which was introduced by the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq in 1981.
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Austerity and peity
Theologically, Ramadan is about austerity. It teaches Muslims to be pious, to stay away from evil, to fast during the day, and to donate money to the poor. "Zakat" (which means alms-giving in Arabic) is an Islamic tradition in which Muslims give part of their earnings to those in need, particularly during this holy month.
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Unbearably hot weather
The Islamic month of Ramadan coincides with sweltering temperatures in most Muslim-majority countries. In 2015, a brutal heat wave killed over 1,250 people in Pakistan - many of them died of dehydration while fasting. Even then, the government did not relax the 36-year-old law. Some clerics did, however, say it was permissible to break the Ramadan fast for health reasons.
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No respite
Nearly all restaurants are closed from fajr (dawn) until maghreb (dusk), and shopkeepers only sell takeaway food items. If you are hungry or thirsty the only place for you is home. At offices - both public and private - you are not allowed to eat.
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Rising religious extremism
With the war in Afghanistan and growth of Islamist organizations such as the Taliban in the region, things have taken a turn for the worse in the past few years. Religious extremism and intolerance are on the rise in the South Asian Islamic country. At the same time, Ramadan is also an opportunity for extremist and militant outfits to rake in cash through charity donations.
Image: Reuters/F. Mahmood
Vigilantism
Incidents of religious vigilantism have spiked in the past few years, with fanatic mobs trying to enforce their own version of Shariah. A number of people have been lynched on unproven accusations of blasphemy. Observers say the existence of various Islamic laws has emboldened radicals to take matters into their own hands and dole out "justice" to what they deem un-Islamic. (shs)
