The Diplomat: While South Asian human rights discourse, including both Indian and Pakistani, is obsessed by the issue of Palestine, a cause that has little real relevance to the region, numerous violent incidents closer to home get scant attention, such as the violence in Xinjiang, China, just over the border from both India and Pakistan. Most disturbing, however, is the daily violence perpetuated against religious minorities in Pakistan. Much of this violence is perpetuated by mobs or terrorists against individuals accused of apostasy, blasphemy, or other charges that relate to defaming Islam. The Pakistani government lacks either the ability or the will to put a halt to this violence, and there is even speculation that some government forces are participating in these acts of violence themselves. Pakistan’s Ahmadi minority bears some of the brunt of this mob violence, in a trend that is getting worse. Ahmadis are members of the Ahmadiyya movement, which was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in British India. Ahmad claimed to be a prophet and the second coming of Jesus, a claim that is deemed heretical by mainstream Islam due to the belief that Muhammad was the final prophet. However, Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslim. The animosity towards Ahmadis took yet another deadly turn last week when a mob in the city of Gujranwala in Punjab province killed three Ahmadi individuals. The mob formed after an Ahmadi man, Aqib Salim, allegedly published a “blasphemous” Facebook picture in which a scantily clad woman and the Kaaba in Mecca appeared together. This angered a collection of 150 men who had left a mosque in the town after prayers. These individuals marched to a police station where they demanded the registration of a blasphemy case. However, while police officers negotiated with them, another mob began attacking and burning the houses of Ahmadis, none of whom were connected with Aqib Salim. The three Ahmadi individuals killed included a 55 year old woman and her two granddaughters, aged 7 years and 8 months respectively. Many individuals in the mob seem to have used the violence as an excuse to loot and plunder various valuables. While the police claimed to have calmed the mob as quickly as possible, other reports argue that the police did not intervene. This lends credence to the allegation that accusations of blasphemy are frequently being used by individuals to grab property and settle scores, often with the collusion of local authorities. However, underlying this is the fact that the rise of religious extremism in Pakistan has created a situation where opportunistic individuals or clerics can easily incite mobs against religious minorities. It implies that to an extent, an atmosphere of a lack of respect for non-Sunnis has taken hold among Pakistan’s Sunni majority. This is ironic, considering the fact that many prominent Pakistanis were Shia, including its founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, as well as the Bhutto and Zardari families. Although Shias are a minority in Pakistan, Pakistani Shia are numerically the second or third largest Shia population in the world, after Iran and India.

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