Why Taliban attacks two Muslim-minority mosques in Pakistan

The sect was founded in India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who is considered a prophet by Ahmadis, much to the annoyance of orthodox Muslims who believe that Muhammad was the final prophet of Islam. Pakistan is home to an estimated 4 million Ahmadis.

Eyewitnesses say that the attackers today shouted a famous anti-Ahmadi slogan: "Long live the finality of the prophet."

In a statement, the HRCP urged the government to do more to provide “foolproof security” to Ahmadis, adding the group is “concerned over the increasing sectarian dimension of militancy and considers it a big security threat to the entire society.”

Last year, eight Christians were killed in a series of attacks in the Punjabi town of Gojra, an event that shocked the country.

Progress on religious freedom

In its recently released annual report, the United State Commission on International Religious Freedom praised the Pakistani government under President Zardari for taking "positive steps regarding religious freedom," including the creation of a cabinet-level position for minority rights.

But the report singled out a lack of progress in the case of the Ahmadis. And it says that "discriminatory laws, promulgated in previous decades and persistently enforced, have fostered an atmosphere of religious intolerance and eroded the social and legal status of members of religious minorities, including Shi’a Muslims, Ahmadis, Hindus, and Christians. Government officials do not provide adequate protections from societal violence to members of these religious minority communities, and perpetrators of attacks on minorities seldom are brought to justice."

Dr Rifaat Hussain a defense analyst at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, says that the attacks may signal the Taliban’s eagerness to stage a “comeback” after being pushed onto the back foot by a series of military offensives in the Pakistan's tribal areas. “These were soft targets for them,” he says.

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