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An editorial in a Pakistani daily has likened the 'ethnic cleansing' of Pakistan's Ahmadi community to that of Jews under Hitler's Nazi regime. The Ahmadis are like lambs silently going to their slaughter, who have even stopped protesting, because theirs is a cause that does not move anyone, the editorial stated, adding that Pakistan is still quite backward in its observance of the multilateral treaties it has signed for the protection of minorities. Extremists of Jaranwala are threatening with what has been done repeatedly in many other places: disinterment of a corpse from a Muslim graveyard and its defilement, it said. The Ahmadi community claimed that there was an old custom in the area of burying the dead of all communities in one graveyard, it said. An elderly Ahmadi man, who died last May was buried as per the routine with the consent of all villagers. However, the Muslim clergy got wind of it and put up a protest that has developed into a full-blown campaign to persecute the Ahmadis who are receiving death threats, it added. They fear that these threats are a prelude to something more horrible than just digging up an Ahmadi from his grave. One telltale sign of the coming massacre is that the clerics are from out of town, the editorial stated. In June 2011, pamphlets were distributed in Faisalabad calling on Muslims to kill Ahmadis, audaciously displaying names and addresses of 50 prominent Ahmadis who were to be eliminated. The incendiary pamphlets were signed by the student wing of the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Federation, boldly listing their website and phone numbers, the editorial said. Inevitably, six Ahmadis were shot dead. On average, 25 Ahmadis are killed by fanatics every year, who think Pakistan has to be purged of their presence, it added. True and non-fanatic Pakistanis feel the sting of conscience over the way the Ahmadi community has been treated, it stated. Other communities may also be persecuted in the coming days, but nothing will surpass the horror of the way the Ahmadis are treated, it concluded.

'Ahmadi community's ethnic cleansing like Jews under Nazis'