Quoted in Dawn
On Monday, at the complaint of an official of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, a member of the Ahmadi community was booked in Gojra for sacrificing a goat on Eid-ul-Adha.
The FIR was registered under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). A copy of FIR is available with Dawn.com
In the FIR, the complainant stated that the Ahmadi individual was found sacrificing a goat at his home. When confronted, the individual affirmed his identity as Muslim, which the complainant claimed hurt the sentiments of Muslims.
“When he was warned,” the complainant said, “he stood firm and called himself a Muslim.” stated by Dawn
“The suspect has committed severe abuse by following the rituals of Islam while pretending to be a Muslim,” FIR said.
A spokesperson stated that nine complaints have been registered across Punjab against the Ahmadi community.
“Shocking reports of police and extremists raiding Ahmadi homes, confiscating meat. What kind of Eid celebrations is this for Ahmadis in Pakistan?” the spokesperson questioned
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A 2022 Supreme Court ruling stated that preventing non-Muslims from practising their religion privately was unconstitutional. The judgement emphasized equality, tolerance, and protecting minority rights under the Constitution.
A 2022 judgement of the Supreme Court, penned by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, stated that “to deprive a non-Muslim (minority) of our country of holding his religious beliefs, to obstruct him from professing and practising his religion within the four walls of his place of worship is against the grain of our democratic Constitution and repugnant to the spirit and character of our Islamic Republic”.
The written order stated: “It also deeply bruises and disfigures human dignity and the right to privacy of a non-Muslim minority, who like all other citizens of this country enjoy the same rights and protections under the Constitution.
“Bigoted behaviour towards our minorities paints the entire nation in poor colour, labelling us as intolerant, dogmatic and rigid. It is time to embrace our constitutional values and live up to our rich Islamic teachings and traditions of equality and tolerance.”
