2010 Ahmadiyya mosques massacre
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The May 2010 Lahore attacks, also referred to as the Lahore massacre, occurred on 28 May 2010, in
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
,
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, during Friday prayers. 94 people were killed and more than 120 others were injured in nearly simultaneous attacks against two
mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
s of the minority Ahmadiyya muslim community. After the initial attack, a hostage situation lasted for hours. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, as well as their Punjab wing, claimed responsibility for the attacks and were also blamed by the Pakistani Police.


Background

The Ahmadiyya movement was started in 1889 and follows the teachings of
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirzā Ghulām Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and Mahdi—which is the metaphoric ...
whom they believe was sent by God as the Promised Messiah and
Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a Messianism, messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a de ...
prophesied in Islam "to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and re-institute morality, justice and peace." It is estimated there are between 3-4 million Ahmadis in Pakistan. The Ahmadiyya Muslims have previously been targeted by
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
groups, while they have also suffered discrimination in Pakistan in the past, most significantly during the
Lahore riots of 1953 The Lahore riots of 1953 were a series of violent riots against the Ahmadiyya Movement, a faith marginalized in Pakistan, mainly in the city of Lahore, Pakistan as well as the rest of Punjab, which were eventually quelled by the Pakistan Army wh ...
. Pakistan does not recognize the Ahmadis as Muslim, because they claim that the latter does not recognize the finality of the prophethood of
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, despite it not being an article of the Five Pillars of Islam. They were declared non-Muslim in Pakistan in 1973 by
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...
and were legally banned from identifying themselves as such in 1984 during General Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization as per
Ordinance XX Ordinance XX ( ur, آرڈیننس 20) is a legal ordinance of the Government of Pakistan that was promulgated under the regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq on 26 April 1984 and is meant to prohibit the practice of Islam and the usage of Islamic ...
, despite Ahmadis calling themselves Muslim and following the rituals of Islam. The ban occurred when
jihadi Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
st ideology became embedded in Pakistan's state and education system. The media in Pakistan are legally barred from referring to an Ahmadi place of worship as a mosque.
Human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
groups in Pakistan said that they had warned of threats to the Ahmadi community center in Model Town for more than a year, saying the government took inadequate steps to provide security.UN News Centre
/ref> The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir; an independent expert on minority issues, Gay McDougall; and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, claimed that because Ahmadis have been declared non-Muslims and have been subject to a number of restrictions, in many instances institutionalized discrimination, opinion makers are emboldened to seek to fuel hatred, and perpetrators of attacks against religious minorities find cannon fodder. According to Minority Rights Group International, Pakistan had the world's highest increase of threats against minorities last year and was ranked the sixth most dangerous country for minorities overall.Pakistan's Christians protest lack of protection after deadly rampage
The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
, 2009-08-03
Lahore has also been the site of various interval attacks by militants, including on visiting Sri Lankan cricketers and the
police academy A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or othe ...
, amongst others.


Follow-up

An Ahmadi man was stabbed to death, while his son was there, watching, when a trespasser attacked them. It was said that the assailant threatened not to leave any Ahmadi alive after hearing a
mullah Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and sharia law. The title has also been used in some Miz ...
's
sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. El ...
on television. Gunmen also attacked a hospital, on the same day, in which some of the injured from the mosque attack were being treated. It is unclear whether the gunmen were trying to free one of their own who was also being treated in the hospital or trying to kill him. The gunmen indiscriminately started to fire in the hospital, killing twelve people.


Attack

The perpetrators lobbed
grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
s and started firing as they attacked mosques of the minority Ahmadi Muslim community in two different residential neighborhoods. The near simultaneous attacks were at Darul Zikr, Garhi Shahu and Bait-al Noor. Lack of security meant they easily infiltrated both the Mosques in
Lahore Model Town Model Town Society (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ur, ) is a gated neighbourhood in Gulberg, Lahore, Gulberg, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. History Model Town, established in 1921, is a fruition of Dewan Khem Chand's lifelong dre ...
and in Garhi Shahu, 15 km apart. The attackers at Garhi Shahu, including two would-be suicide bombers, entered the mosque without any resistance, before storming into the prayer halls firing guns, throwing grenades. The assault at Model Town involved two attackers opening fire on worshippers before exploding
hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
s. The attackers did not take any hostages and killed indiscriminately. The Elite Police arrived once the attackers had entered the mosques but did not launch an operation, while the two attackers blew themselves up after the attack in Garhi Shahu which lasted four hours. Two militants were involved in each of the attacks. In Model Town, both the attackers were captured alive as they were overpowered by some of the worshippers; one of the attackers was captured on the first floor by some of the young members of the Ahmadiyya Jammat i.e.
Khuddam Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya ( ar, مجلس خدام الاحمدیة, literally means "Association of the Servants of Ahmadiyya") is one of five auxiliary organizations in the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. It is the young men's branch of the communi ...
, and one was overpowered in the main hall on the ground floor by a worshiper who was an ex-army officer.CNN-IBN. 28 May 2010. 16:32 IST At one time up to 3000 people were reported to be in the mosque during the attack.NDTV. 28 May 2010. 16:06–16:15 IST. This is considered the deadliest attack on Ahmadi Muslims.


Funeral

Many victims of the two attacks were taken to the city of
Rabwah Rabwah (Urdu, pnb, ), officially known as Chenab Nagar ( ur, ), is a city in Chiniot District, Chiniot, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan on the bank of Chenab River. It was the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community since Septemb ...
, the headquarters of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Pakistan, for funeral services. However, it was noted that ministers, politicians and prominent figures did not attend the funeral services, although many made statements condemning the attacks. Media were absent from the burial ceremonies. There were also complaints that authorities did not provide adequate security for the funeral ceremony at Rabwah. Observers said this was largely due to the fear of a backlash as the Ahmadis have the legal status of "non-Muslims" in Pakistan. A politician said that "only to call a dead Ahmadi a martyr is enough to send you behind bars for three years under the laws of the land."Pakistani ministers prefer to keep away from Ahmadiyya Funerals
/ref>


Investigation

Rana Sana Ullah Khan, the minister of law in Punjab, said the attackers stayed with the Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
group. Its headquarters are in Raiwind, on the outskirts of Lahore. He also added that he believed the attackers, who operated as commandos, had been trained in Waziristan. On 5 July 2010,
Pakistani police Law enforcement in Pakistan ( ur, ) is one of the three main components of the criminal justice system of Pakistan, alongside the judiciary and the prisons. The country has a mix of federal, provincial and territorial police forces with both ge ...
arrested six men, members of the banned group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, believed to be linked to the attack. The men were in possession of 18,000 kg of
explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
s, 21 grenades, six AK-47 rifles, as well as bomb-making material, and four of the men are alleged to have been logistical supporters to the attack.Lahore mosque assault suspects held
Al Jazeera English. 5 July 2010


Responsibility

The Punjabi Taliban, a subset wing of the
Pakistani Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...
reportedly laid claim to the attacks. It is allegedly composed of groups like
Jaish-e-Mohammed Jaish-e-Mohammed ( ur, , literally "The Army of Muhammad", abbreviated as JeM) is a Pakistan-based: "The JEM is a Pakistan-based, militant Islamic group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000." Deobandi: "Deobandis like Masood Azha ...
and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which were previously sponsored by the Government of Pakistan. An
SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
sent to many journalists and signed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan as well as the Punjabi wing of
Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
stated that "This is a final warning to the Ahmedi community to leave Pakistan or prepare for death at the hands of the Prophet Muhammad's devotees." The Lahore police also stated that the attacks were carried out by six militants belonging to Pakistani Taliban, who were trained in the town of Miranshah in
North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...
. They were aged between 17 and 28 and arrived in Lahore on May 21. It has been claimed that the reason the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan attacked Ahmadi mosques was because
Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
wished to gain public support in Pakistan. Al Qaeda have been launching attacks on
Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
congregations in the past, but a majority of Sunnis did not endorse these attacks. Brigadier Saad said that by attacking a "community that is not liked by most of (''sic'') Sunni Muslims belonging to he
Deoband Deoband is a town and a municipality in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, about 150 km from Delhi. Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary and one of the largest Islamic Institution of India is located there. Etymo ...
i and Barelvi schools of thought, the terror network has attempted to win some sort of support from these groups" and that also because of the attack "at least close to two million those who study at Deobandi madrassahs across Pakistan would definitely have some kind of “favorable” opinion about al Qaeda." Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan vowed to launch more such attacks on what it called "
infidel An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or the irreligious. Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Church ...
s."Al Qaeda wants to regain public support in Pakistan
/ref>


Reactions

In a joint statement with three
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
human rights experts, Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
, said "Members of this religious community have faced continuous threats, discrimination and violent attacks in Pakistan. There is a real risk that similar violence might happen again unless advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence is adequately addressed. The
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
must take every step to ensure the security of members of all religious minorities and their places of worship so as to prevent any recurrence of today’s dreadful incident." Ban's spokesperson expressed condemnation and extended his condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government. The United States ambassador to Pakistan,
Anne W. Patterson Anne Woods Patterson (born 1949) is an American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer. She served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2013 to 2017. She previously served as United States Ambassador to Egypt unt ...
, issued an unusually strong statement saying Pakistan had witnessed an increase in "provocative statements that promote intolerance and are an incitement to extremist violence." An editorial published in ''
Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...
'' condemned the attacks, commenting that " Bigotry in this country has been decades in the making and is expressed in a variety of ways. Violence by individuals or groups against those who hold divergent views may be the most despicable manifestation of such prejudice but it is by no means the only one. Religious minorities in Pakistan have not only been shunted to the margins of society but also face outright persecution on a regular basis." In a statement made after the attacks the Interior Minister of Pakistan
Rehman Malik Abdul Rehman Malik NI ( Punjabi, Urdu: رحمان ملک; born 12 December 1951 – 23 February 2022) was a Pakistani politician and a Federal Investigation Agency officer, having served as the Interior Minister from being appointed on 25 Marc ...
admitted that militant groups were deeply entrenched in the southern part of
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
and were destabilizing the country. He, however, ruled out the possibility of military offensive in Punjab against these militants.


See also

* Blasphemy law in Pakistan * Sectarian violence in Pakistan *
2009 Gojra riots The 2009 Gojra riots were a series of attacks targeting Christians in Gojra town in Punjab province of Pakistan. These resulted in the deaths of eight Christians including a child. Background Christians make up 1.6% of Pakistan's predominantly S ...
* List of terrorist incidents in 2010


References


External links


Alislam.org – Head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Responds to Terrorists' Attacks in Lahore (Official Statement) – Terrorist attacks on Ahmadi Mosques in Pakistan

Who are the Ahmadi (BBC)

In pictures: Lahore attacks (BBC)
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Video: Attackers Strike Sect Mosques in Pakistan (Associated Press)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmadiyya mosques massacre, 2010 2010 in Punjab, Pakistan 2010 murders in Pakistan 2010s crimes in Lahore 2010 mass shootings in Asia 21st-century mass murder in Pakistan 2010 mosques massacre Attacks on buildings and structures in 2010 Attacks on buildings and structures in Lahore Attacks on hospitals Attacks on mosques in Asia Attacks on religious buildings and structures in Pakistan Hostage taking in Pakistan Islamic terrorism in Lahore Islamic terrorist incidents in 2010 Massacres in 2010 Mass murder in Lahore Mass shootings in Pakistan Massacres in Pakistan Massacres in religious buildings and structures May 2010 crimes May 2010 events in Pakistan 2010 mosques massacre Suicide bombings in 2010 Suicide bombings in Lahore Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2010