Lahore Bar Association asks Punjab to bar Ahmadis from performing Islamic rites on Eid al-Adha

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 29 : Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) asked the Punjab province's home department to strictly implement the laws against the members of the Ahmadi community if they are performing Islamic rites on Eidul Azha, Dawn reported.

In a letter, dated June 22, 2023, addressed to the Punjab home secretary, LHCBA President Ishtiaq A Khan says offering "Eid prayers and qurbani" are Shaair-i-Islam (Islamic rites) exclusively to be observed by the Muslims.

It states that article 260(3) of the Constitution declared the "Qadyani group", "Lahore group" (who called themselves Ahmadi or by any other names) have been declared non-Muslims since 1974.

Asked about the reason behind writing the letter, Khan said it had been written on the request of some bar members. Similar letters had been issued to the home department in the past as well, he added.

An office-bearer said the letter did not represent the whole bar as the president wrote it in his personal capacity, reported Dawn.

They believed the president should not have used the bar's platform for writing such a controversial letter to the government.

The persecution of the Ahmadiyya community has been on the rise in different areas of Pakistan for some time now. A fact-finding mission led by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has underscored an alarming uptick in the persecution of members of the Ahmadiyya community in Gujranwala and surrounding areas specifically, the desecration of their graves, the destruction of minarets at Ahmadi sites of worship, and First Information Reports (FIRs) filed against community members for carrying out ritual animal sacrifice on Eid. Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jilani in his 2014 ruling has termed the attack and demolition of Ahmadiyya Mosques as a blatant violation of Pakistan's constitution and decision.