Last week’s lynching in Karachi of a 46?year?old Ahmadi businessman, brutally beaten by Tehreek?e?Labbaik Pakistan activists merely for offering Friday prayers, laid bare the daily nightmare faced by our country’s religious minorities. For Ahmadis, who many hard?liners regard as heretical, this kind of mob violence has, tragically, become all too routine. Yet what makes this tragedy especially chilling is that Laeeq Ahmad Cheema wasn’t a random victim: he had stepped forward as a witness in the investigation into the TLP’s alleged role in the 2023 demolition of the Ahmadiyya Hall. That detail casts a long shadow over the attack, suggesting a calculated effort to silence those brave enough to speak out. Such brazen assaults on Ahmadi places of worship and the relentless discrimination that follows are woven into the very fabric of our society. In March alone, authorities in Pasrur detained 29 Ahmadis, some barely able to walk or talk, simply for praying together on a Friday. Faisalabad saw TLP mobs storm Ahmadi mosques without a single arrest, and in Sargodha, more than 20 Ahmadis now face blasphemy charges merely for engaging in their faith. What’s most damning is the state’s response-or rather, its deafening silence. Police, entrusted with our safety, have repeatedly abandoned the very citizens they swore to protect. In February 2025, officers even demolished the minarets of Ahmadi mosques in Sialkot and Rahim Yar Khan under TLP pressure, as if vindicating a terrorist mob were part of their job description. Since TLP transformed from fringe agitators into a powerful political force, these grotesque episodes have only intensified. Despite a track record of torching businesses, gunning down innocents, and paralyzing cities with sit?ins, the group stalks the streets with near?impunity. Successive governments have caved to its demands-lifting bans, dropping charges-in a cynical bid to buy short?term calm. But with each concession, the writ of the state shrinks, and the space for violence grows. The world is watching. Human rights organizations have catalogued every desecrated grave and razed mosque. Foreign governments have quietly registered their alarm. But statements and reports won’t bring Laeeq Cheema back, nor will they rebuild shattered minarets. If Pakistan hopes to reclaim its moral bearings, we need more than platitudes: we need action. Let the courts try the real culprits. Restore protections for every citizen, regardless of belief. And let it be known that in our Pakistan, violence is never the answer, and the silence of the state is no longer an option. *