Published on May 29 2010 by Dr Saqib Latif - London

Subject: State backed Horrific Terrorism in Pakistan

While there are lots of important issues to deal with since the new
Government came into power, I'm sure you would agree that a significant
incident related to terrorism in one part of the world could not be
isolated and can have a huge impact over the peace process at
international, regional and national levels. The horrific incident on
Friday the 28th of May in Pakistan, when two mosques in the city of
Lahore were attacked in a coordinated manner at a time when hundreds of
worshippers were praying inside resulted in more than 90 innocent
people being shot dead and more than 100 seriously wounded. It is only
the latest in a series of unprovoked attacks on Ahmadi Muslims in
Pakistan. I want to stress the fact that this attack was different from
the other acts of terrorism in many respects as it was targeted at a
specific religious group, was clearly motivated by extreme religious
hatred being spread by the clerics under the protection of Pakistan
government, and seem to form the basis for further similar attacks in
the country which have already started.

Respected MEP, as you may be aware that Ahmadi Muslims believe in "Love
for All, Hatred for None", practice and advocate peace and harmony
wherever they live in the world; and precisely for this reason, they
have been the target of religious persecution in Pakistan. More than a
hundred Ahmadi Muslims have been killed in the last two decades prior
to this incident purely due to their faith. And the reason is that the
extremist Mullahs (Religious clerics) have been preaching hatred
against our community because we do not support "Jihad" (war by
weapons) and hence, declaring us "Wajib-ul-Qatl" (Liable to be killed).
As an example, when an Ahmadi was murdered recently following this
horrible incident and the murderer was caught, he told the local Police
that he has done the right thing to go to the heaven, as was told by
his religious teacher.

This is indeed an extremely serious and grave situation, not only due
to this horrible tragedy, but due to the potential and probable sequel
of it and because of the underlying root of extreme  religious hatred
being preached all over the country. In a text message sent to media
outlets, The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for
yesterday's attacks. "This is a final warning to the Ahmadis, leave
Pakistan or prepare for death at our hands."
Unfortunately, the government of Pakistan has taken a very lenient view
of this incident, not to say that it failed to provide protection of
its patriotic citizens. Pakistan government has a long history of being
under pressure from extremist Mullahs, due to which the country's
Constitution was amended in 1974 to declare us Non-Muslims, and then
the Penal Code was amended in 1984 to specifically target Ahmadi
Muslims. Since then, it is a crime to call ourselves Muslims, or to
practice Islam - an offence punishable by imprisonment and under the
blasphemy law, by death.

These unbelievable atrocities are happening in this day and age because
the world is not really bothered to do much about it, believing this is
"their own problem". As we have seen in the recent years, this is
clearly not; this is exactly the same extremist hatred which became the
basis of 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings. 52 people died in 7/7 bombings in
London, whereas 90 people have been shot dead in a similar coordinated
attack in the biggest and most culturally rich city of Pakistan, but
you don't see a single apology or any resolution from the government to
get to the bottom of this incident. This is because this has been done
under the cover of the Pakistani Government. Unless it repeals these
discriminatory laws, extremists will continue to have backing of the
state in carrying out such ruthless attacks, believing they have been
given this right by the state.

Ahmadi Muslims have never responded with violence in its history over a
century. Its current headquarters are in the United Kingdom, where tens
of thousands of members of the community live peacefully. I would like
you to have a look at some the contributions Ahmadi Muslims have been
making in promoting community cohesion and peace in this country, which
we love to bits. The shock waves of this incident has the potential to
spread around the world, as it is the same religious hatred which is
one of the biggest menaces this country is facing today. I would really
urge you to do something to help stop this threat facing Pakistan and
the world.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Saqib Latif MRCPsych