A Federal Minister and Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Mian Javed Latif has launched a fresh hate-filled campaign against the persecuted Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan, using religion to score political points.
On Wednesday 15th September 2022 Latif appeared on Pakistani State TV – Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) to utter falsehoods and propaganda against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which is already under immense threat and subjected to cruelties and state persecution.
Pakistan’s media regulatory body – the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has been criticised for not sanctioning television channels from airing such hate-filled rhetoric.
The use of religion is not new in Pakistani politics but the airing of such rhetoric on mainstream state media is a serious and shocking use of state television and risks furthering an already vile hate campaign against Pakistan’s most persecuted community. The Ahmadi Muslim Community is being used as a scapegoat to score political points and malign political opponents, without any regard for the risk of life and hatred it spreads.
At the cost of further endangering the lives of Ahmadis in Pakistan, this level of hate speech in mainstream media and social media is shocking and inexcusable and likely to radicalise people further against innocent Ahmadis. As a result of such hate campaigns, an Ahmadi, Mr Naseer Ahmed was killed last month on 12th August 2022 by an extremist radicalised by hate-filled religious clerics.
Another Pakistani politician, Federal Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique similarly stoked the fire of enmity against Ahmadi Muslims. He tweeted the anti- Ahmadi trope and baseless allegation that Ahmadis were a conspiracy against Islam and a seditious group.
This format of hate speech and incitement which falsely blame the country’s ongoing instability on Ahmadi Muslims has a history of triggering violent attacks against innocent Ahmadis.
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