Mosque attackers yet to be tried

Human Rights Watch called on the Pakistani government Sunday to bring to justice those who claimed responsibility for the May 2010 Ahmadiyya mosque attacks. The Punjabi Taliban claimed responsibility for the May 28, 2010 attacks, which killed 94 worshipers. Two men were captured after they attacked the Lahore mosques with grenades and suicide bombs. The mosques belonged to the Ahmadiyya reformist movement. Worshipers reportedly overpowered the two attackers and turned them over to police. The government has yet to take action against the suspects because of repeat adjournments requested by the defendants, Asmatullah and Abdullah Muhammad, Human Rights Watch reported. HRW reported hate campaigns against Ahmadis have intensified since the attacks. A pamphlet distributed in June 2011 named 50 prominent Ahmadis in the city of Faisalabad, declaring them "liable to be killed" under Islamic law. In December 2011, 29 graves in the Ahmadiyya graveyard in the town of Lodhran were vandalized. The Punjab government has sided with extremists in two major instances of discrimination. This year, extremists in Lahore used Pakistani laws that prevent Ahmadis from "posing as Muslims" to justify the demolition of the dome of an Ahmadi mosque so it would not look too much like a mosque. In a second instance, Rawalpindi officials banned Ahmadis from using their mosques.