International

Ahmadis seek protection as bury victims of mosque attacks

Associated Press, Lahore

Leaders of the Ahmadi community demanded better government protection Saturday as they buried many of the at least 80 members killed by militants at two of the group’s mosques.
 

The request could test the government’s willingness to take on hard-line militants whose influence is behind decades of discrimination against the Ahmadis in the Sunni Muslim-majority country.

The attacks occurred minutes apart Friday in two neighbourhoods in Lahore. Two teams of gunmen, including some in suicide vests, stormed the mosques and sprayed bullets at worshippers while holding off police.
 

Thirteen people died overnight at hospitals, raising the death toll to 93, said Raja Ghalab Ahmad, a local sect leader. Dozens were hurt.
 

Waseem Sayed, a US-based Ahmadi spokesman, said it was the worst attack in the group’s 121-year history.
 

Local TV channels reported that the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility.
 

Ahmad called on the government to take action against the militant group, which also has attacked security, government and foreign targets throughout the country in recent years.
 

‘Are we not the citizens of Pakistan?’ he asked at the site of the attacks in the Garhi Shahu section of Lahore. ‘We do have the right to be protected, but unfortunately we were not given this protection.’
 

The Ahmadis are reviled as heretics by mainstream Muslims for their belief that their sect’s founder, was a saviour foretold by the Quran. Many Muslims say Ahmadis are defying the basic tenet of Islam that says Muhammad is the final prophet, but Ahmadis argue that their leader was the saviour rather than a prophet.
 

The sect originated in 1889 in Qadian, a village in British-ruled India.