New York, USA - A United States-based human rights watchdog has asked Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to stop pandering to Islamist extremist groups that foment harassment and violence against the minority Ahmadiyyas.
In a statement today, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) asked Musharraf to repeal laws that discriminate against religious minorities such as the Ahmadis, including the penal statute that makes capital punishment mandatory for "blasphemy".
In the most recent incident, police in Lahore on April 22 supervised the "illegal demolition" of the boundary wall of an Ahmadi-owned graveyard.
Two extremist Islamist groups, Sunni Tehrik and Tehrik-e-Tahafaz-e-Naomoos-e-Risalat, had put pressure on the provincial authorities over the building of the wall on the grounds that Ahmadis might try to establish a centre of "apostasy" within the enclosed walls, the statement said.
Leaders of the two groups had also threatened to kill Ahmadis if the police did not intervene on their behalf.
"Musharraf should stop giving in to Islamist extremist groups that foment harassment and violence against the minority Ahmadi community," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"As religious persecution by Islamist groups intensifies, pandering to extremists sets a dangerous precedent," he stressed.
Founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Ahmadiyya community is a religious group that identifies itself as Muslim. Estimates suggest at least 2 million Ahmadis live in Pakistan. Many Muslims consider the Ahmadiyya to be non-Muslims.