Source & Credit: The Persecution |
By ThePersecution.Org
It is thirty-five years since Mr. Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto violated the injunction of the founding father of Pakistan that the state would not interfere in matters of faith or religion, and proceeded to amend the constitution to declare Ahmadis ‘Not-Muslims’. Ten years later General Zia promulgated Ordinance XX that made it a punishable offence for Ahmadis to practice the religion of Islam. This opened the flood gate of tyranny and persecution against this community. This gate has remained open ever since although numerous military and democratic regimes have come and gone during the past quarter of a century.
Pakistan has suffered greatly at the hands of the mulla during the past decade. The present democratic regime is literally at war with extremist elements. However, it is yet to realize that extremism and sectarianism are evil in all their forms. The federal government has not even hinted that it will repeal the unjust laws specific to Ahmadis. The provincial governments, notably in the Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have gone out of their way to show that they are in league with the mulla in his anti-Ahmadiyya campaign.
The government of the Punjab, which is nearly bankrupt, spent public money to sponsor and hold a Khatme Nabuwwat (End of Prophethood) conference at the Royal Mosque in Lahore on April 11, 2009. The authorities invited numerous mullas of the Khatme Nabuwwat party, who were from the same league as Chaudhri Iqbal whose statement was reported in the press as: To dispatch a Qadiani to hell is the religious duty of every Muslim – Chaudhri Muhammad Iqbal, President Khatme Nabuwwat. (The daily Ausaf, Lahore, July 25, 2009)
The behaviour of the government of Azad Kashmir was just as unfortunate. The president and the prime minister of AJ&K attended a conference in Bagh where almost all the speakers indulged in anti-Ahmadiyya rhetoric. The participants resolved and urged the government leaders: “Qadiani centres of apostasy (mosques) should be destroyed without delay. Resolution at the End of Prophethood Conference” (The daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Islamabad; May 11, 2009).
Thus how can these political leaders fight extremism and protect democracy?
The tacit support of the authorities for Islamist clerics resulted this year in the murder of numerous Ahmadis for their faith, a number of attempted murders, abductions, destruction and desecration of Ahmadiyya places of worship, arrests, registration of police cases of whole groups of Ahmadis on fabricated blasphemy and other religion-based accusations, harassment and economic privations etc. Thus tyranny prevailed in almost all spheres of public and civic life. Politicians who now occupy positions of power and privilege and are basking under the sunshine of democracy have made sure that Ahmadis remain deprived of their human rights. Ahmadis do not even have a councilor to represent them in the local government of their own town – Rabwah. This is the consequence of a deliberate policy of tempering with election rules, devised jointly by the mulla and the rulers. Initially the government introduced Joint Electorate as urged by the international community, but then added a religion column to the voters’ application form, thereby allowing Ahmadis to register as voters only if they agree to accept themselves as non-Muslims; this is not acceptable to Ahmadis.
This report does not include all that happens to Ahmadis of Pakistan in their own homeland. It however briefly places on record most of the major events. It is essential that human rights concerns remain aware of the plight of Ahmadis in Pakistan. This report serves that purpose.
An abstract of the events of the year is provided in chapter 18, while important statistics and information are made available in Annex VIII.
Read complete report here: [html] Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the Year 2009 - A Summary
Or, download a PDF copy here: [pdf] Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan during the Year 2009 - A Summary
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