Since the Second Amendment

The 28 May mayhem at two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore brought into sharp focus the agenda of extremist Islamic groups against Pakistan's religious minorities. It also exposed the political opportunism of the government especially in Punjab province. The civil administration's complacency, despite being tipped off about the entry of extremists aligned with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TT?) into the province also lays bare its failure to deal sternly with easily identifiable perpetrators and their patrons amongst banned sectarian outfits. In late May, this complacency resulted in the loss of 94 lives and over a hundred injured.

Unfortunately the twin attacks targeting this religious minority were not unexpected. but merely constitute the latest in a century of Ahmadi discrimination by mainstream Muslims. Ahmadis were declared to be 'non-Muslim' through a constitutional amendment in 1974. under Zultikar Ali Bhutto – despite the fact that.at that time. Bhutto's left·of·centre Pakistan People's Party (PPP) enjoyed a two-thirds majority in the national legislature. Ahmadis continue to be derogatorily called Qadianis. after the name of the village in Gurdaspur District. in Punjab state. where the sect's founder. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. lived and established his creed's headquarters in 1901.