First they condemned the attacks. Religious parties got together after the May 28 attacks on the Ahmedi places of worship and termed them un-Islamic (while tempering their criticism with some conspiracy theories). The News reported this:

Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan termed the attacks on the Youm-e-Takbeer a conspiracy to trigger a civil war in the country and justify the US interference in the country. He said Islam strongly prohibited persecuting minorities and causing any harm to their worship places. He said the minorities in the country had always been secure and Islam made it a state responsibility to protect them.

Of course, everyone knows that minorities have NOT always been secure in Pakistan, but at least the religious parties agreed that the attacks on the Ahmedi community “were uncalled for and condemnable.”

But clearly it was false sympathy and crocodile tears. The view that the attacks were also, as reported by The News, a foreign “conspiracy to malign the country in the world in order to put more pressure [on Pakistan] regarding a change in the blasphemy laws” came with a sickening twist yesterday.

A BBC Urdu article reported on a Lahore meeting of leaders of the Muttahida Tehrik-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwat where the attendees concluded that the May 28 attacks on Ahmedis were part of a conspiracy to repeal the laws against them and challenge the finality of the Prophethood. There is an inherent insinuation that Ahmedis were an active part of the conspiracy; that Ahmedis hired terrorists to kill other Ahmedis in order to garner attention because they want to remake Islam. So, Ahmedis are not the real victims here?

This is like 9/11 conspiracy theorists: Americans killed Americans to launch a crusade against Islam.

Further, a Dawn.com report referencing the BBC article said that “the gathering was attended by leaders of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat-i-ulema-i-Islam Fazlur Rahman group, Jamaatud Dawa and Markazi Jamaat-i-Ahl-i-Sunnat among others” and that “Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, a member of the PML-N and the Punjab provincial assembly, condemned Nawaz Sharif’s statement in which he had sympathised with the Ahmadis and called them his brothers.”

Maulana Chinioti seems to be openly preaching that non-Muslims are lesser humans: only certain Pakistanis who are brutally massacred are worthy of pity. Our religious leaders believe Allah to be the most compassionate and merciful (and expect Him to show compassion towards them) but do they not believe they have a duty to love and show compassion in their lives (or even try to show compassion) to all people of all faiths. The people killed and injured on May 28 were innocent people, harming no one, only kneeling before God in peace. What about the verse from the Quran that says “killing one innocent person is regarded as the equivalent to killing all of mankind?”

The US, Israel and India (and whatever other foreign agents are at work) do not have to do anything to “malign the country in the world.” These religious and political ‘leaders’ are doing a fine job themselves.