Pakistan top court amends religious freedom ruling after protests

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — A judge in Pakistan on Thursday said the country’s Supreme Court would amend a ruling that recognized some religious freedoms for the persecuted Ahmadiyya minority, after weeks of widespread protests from far-right Islamist groups.

The Ahmadiyya sect, considered heretical by fundamentalist groups, has been persecuted for decades in Pakistan, but threats and intimidation have risen in recent years.

The Supreme Court in a July ruling had said that while Ahmadis are declared non-Muslim, they have the right to practise and preach their faith within their homes, places of worship, and institutions, as long as they do not use Muslim terms.

However, the ruling sparked nationwide protests and calls from various religious parties, scholars and the government to review the ruling.

“The religious scholars had expressed their reservations on the Supreme Court decision,” said Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who was heading a three-member bench.

“We have accepted the federal government’s plea to clarify the decision and we are omitting the controversial paragraph.”

“The detailed verdict will be announced later,” he added.

The protection for Ahmadis to practice their faith at home was included in a ruling that gave bail to an Ahmadi accused of blasphemy.

The backlash that followed included a bounty put on the head of the chief justice by a leader of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, which wields massive street power.