Another member of the Ahmediyya community, Rana Ata-ul Karim (36) was killed on 6 August 2009 in Multan, Pakistan. He was murdered simply for being an Ahmedi, a minority sect of Islam. Mr Karim, a well educated agriculturist, left his home for a few minutes in the afternoon and returned to find that his wife had been locked in their bedroom by three young men who had forcibly entered his house. Mr Karim was shot 3 times and died on the spot. The assailants immediately fled the scene. Mr Karim is survived by his wife and two young daughters.
The killing came during the same week when another minority group in Pakistan, members of the Christian community, also faced persecution. Mirza Masroor Ahmad the world Head of the Ahmediyya Muslim community said in a press release.
Recently extremists, with the collusion of local administration and police in Pakistan, have inflicted horrific cruelties on the Christian minority. The country is generally ruled without any respect for the rule of law and Muslim extremists are free to kill anyone they feel might be enemies of Islamic extremist elements. It has also been observed that the Government of Punjab is also working under pressure from Muslim extremists. The government of Punjab, ruled by PML-N, has both funded and made donations to the fundamentalists for their advertisements against the Ahmediyya community in the name of the Khutm-e-Nabowat movement (the movement targeted against the Ahmediyya community).
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government to fulfil their duty to protect the minorities according to the countrys laws and its constitution. The involvement of the administration and high police officials, as was proved in the case of killings of Christians, shows the very biased and discriminatory attitude of the police and administration towards religious minorities. It appears that the government of Pakistan does not have the courage or willpower to deal with those people who are falsely using Blasphemy laws for their personal interests and this is why no one has been arrested for filing false FIRs against the religious minorities groups. On the other hand, not a single case of Blasphemy has been proved through a fair trial. The lower courts general carry out legal process on hearsay. In view of this there is an urgent need to do away with the blasphemy law.
The AHRC also urges the government to immediately arrest the murderers of Mr. Rana Ata-ul-Karim, the identities of whom are well known as they belong to a banned Muslim militant group.
