15 years after the Lahore attacks, violence against believers in Pakistan calls for action. 28 May 2025 marked the 15th anniversary of the deadliest attacks to date on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan. In coordinated terrorist attacks on two mosques belonging to the religious community in Lahore on 28 May 2010 during Friday prayers, 94 worshippers were killed and over 120 seriously injured. The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) criticizes that the religious community continues to be subjected to systematic discrimination and violence in Pakistan. Like members of the Christian faith, Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan are regularly victims of violence by Islamist groups and hate preachers. The ISHR calls on the Pakistani government to protect all religious groups threatened by violence.

The Islamist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attacks in Lahore and was held responsible for the massacre by the authorities. In a disturbing message to Pakistani media, the perpetrators threatened other members of the Ahmadiyya community with death if they did not leave the country. Islamist terror has also been directed against Christians in Lahore. On 15 March 2015, the Taliban carried out two suicide attacks on churches in the eastern Pakistani city, killing at least 14 people.

Systematic persecution for decades

For decades, Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan have been subjected to systematic persecution, discrimination and violence – by state laws and by violent religious extremists and people who listen to them. Last month alone, three Ahmadi Muslims were killed because of their faith. Representatives of the religious community criticize the impunity for these hate crimes and the failure of the rule of law, which encourages perpetrators to commit further attacks.

In addition to the discrimination enshrined in the Pakistani constitution and the so-called blasphemy laws, the situation for Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan is precarious. In 1974, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan was officially declared ‘non-Muslims’ by a constitutional amendment, followed in 1984 by a law prohibiting Ahmadiyya Muslims from calling themselves Muslims or practicing their faith in public.

Blasphemy laws against religious freedom

Blasphemy accusations in Pakistan are often accompanied by violence and lynching of suspects, with Christians and Ahmadi Muslims particularly affected. Between 1985 and December 2021, around 2,000 people were charged with blasphemy on false accusations. At least 84 persecuted people were murdered during this period after being accused of blasphemy. Blasphemy cases are often passed back and forth between the judges because they are afraid of the Islamists. Persecuted people were murdered during this period after being accused of blasphemy.