Pakistani Officer Harassed For Standing By Human Rights Of Ahmadi People In Her Country

A woman officer hailing from Pakistan was harassed by university students for mentioning the Ahmedi community while talking about the minorities in the country.

The incident took place in the Attock region in Pakistan. Jannat Hussain Nekokara, an assistant officer in the region, was speaking at the International Human Rights Day event at the district administration office where she asked the audience to shed their differences and unite.

“We should give due rights to non-Muslim Pakistanis, we should give them their due regard, we have unfortunately gotten stuck in these religious divisions, someone identifies as Shia, someone as a Sunni, someone as an Ahmadi, someone as a Wahabi. We should dissolve these differences and instead identify ourselves only as Muslims and Pakistanis,” India Today reported her saying,

The students protested on the mention of the Ahmadi community. The protestors stormed the government building and demanded that Nekokara apologizes for her remark, for equating Ahmadis with Muslims.

In a video which surfaced on social media, the officer was seen apologizing to the protestors and stating that she should not have said the word “Ahmadi” in her speech.

“I talked about minority rights, I spoke about the rights of non-Muslim Pakistanis, maybe I should not have mentioned in that, then I spoke about how we should stay united and not discriminate against one another.”

Islamist student calls out Assistant Commissioner Jannat Hussain Nekokara for not wearing a hijab while talking about Islam, and says that Caliph Abubakr called for beheading one's own father if he dares to blaspheme against the Prophet. pic.twitter.com/mfl8rSt4fk

— SAMRI (@SAMRIReports) December 12, 2019

She was forced to retract her statement. She later said that she does not consider Ahmadis as Muslims and there has been a misunderstanding on the part of the protestors who are questioning her faith.

The protestors had also criticized her for not wearing a Hijab. “Which country is she living in? She is talking about Islam without covering her head with a dupatta,” one of the protestors remarked in the video.

Also Read: Thousands March For Azadi In Pakistan, Questioning Military Involvement In Government