The attack on the Punjab mosque earlier this month attack left one dead and, according to de Jong, the country’s Ahmadi community “fearing for their safety.”
Earlier, there was a police raid at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community headquarters in Pakistan. Both incidents took place on the eve of Eid, the Muslim festival.
De Jong, who co-chairs a parliamentary intergroup on freedom of religion or belief and religious tolerance, tried to put the matter on the agenda of December’s plenary session of the Parliament as one of the matters of ‘urgencies’, but failed to get the necessary support.
However, he told this website, “I shall, of course, revert to it during the January session.”
He added, “In the meantime, I call upon the European external action service (EEAS) to take action against the Pakistani government which not only fails to effectively protect the Ahmadi community, but now even takes part itself in the persecution of the Ahmadiyya.
“Although I attempted to receive up-to-date information from the EEAS, so far there have been no responses whatsoever.”
The deputy, who is a member of the left wing GUE/NGL group in Parliament, added, “It is high time that both the European Parliament and the EEAS realise that the matter is urgent and that we cannot tolerate that a religious minority in a country like Pakistan has to fear for its very existence.”
Pakistan, he pointed out, is a member state of the United Nations and a signatory to several international conventions and covenants.