USCIRF Condemns Rising Attacks on Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan

USCIRF Condemns Rising Attacks on Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan

Washington D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns increasing attacks against members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan. On May 16, Dr. Sheik Mahmood, an Ahmadi Muslim man, was shot and killed in Sargodha. Earlier this month, on Sunday, May 11, Tahir Mahmood and Ijaz Hussain, both Ahmadi Muslim men, were arrested in Karachi for offering Friday prayers. During their court appearance on May 12, both men were violently dragged from the courtroom and assaulted by mobs, resulting in the death of Tahir Mahmood.

“Both Dr. Sheik Mahmood and Mr. Tahir Mahmood’s deaths are the latest examples of an alarming pattern of systematic, ongoing, and egregious violence targeting Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community,” said Vice Chair Meir Soloveichik. “It is deeply concerning that Ahmadiyya Muslims, their mosques, and gravesites, continue to be frequently targeted by violent mobs that operate with impunity.”

Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community is a religious minority but are actively denied referring to themselves as Muslim under the country’s strict blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws. Pakistan’s penal code additionally prevents them from building or referring to their places of worship as mosques or engaging in any public act of worship.

“This year alone, Pakistani authorities have arrested dozens of Ahmadi Muslims, preventing them from celebrating Eid or simply participating in Friday prayers,” said Commissioner Asif Mahmood. “We reiterate USCIRF’s recommendation for the U.S. government to work with Pakistani officials to repeal or significantly amend blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws to ensure the right to freedom of religion or belief for Ahmadi Muslims is honored.”

In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State redesignate Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected]