On May 11, Ahmadis did not vote due to secular Z A Bhutto, dictator Ziaul Haq, silent judiciary and fake liberals and civil [read c-evil] society activists who propagate that Ahmadis are Muslims but all of them [except minorities] have signed a declaration that declares Ahmadis as kafir and Mirza as kazzab [liar] to get their passports, ID cards, etc.
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Source/Credit: Politics & Development
By Mohammad Shehzad | May 16, 2013
Minorities in Pakistan can bring positive changes in our society if our leaders could demonstrate courage and maturity and abolish discriminatory laws against them.
There are more than 3m registered votes of minorities including 200,000 of Ahmadis. All of them – Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Parsees, etc. cast their votes on May 11 under a joint electorate except the Ahmadis who boycotted it due to the reason – there was a separate voters’ list for them that has been keeping them away from political process since 1977.
The Ahmadya community took part in the creation of Pakistan lending full support to All India Muslim League. At that time, they were recognized as Muslims constitutionally though clerics had declared them as kafir[infidel]. Sir Zafarullah Khan, Pakistan’s first foreign minister was an Ahmadi.
The Ahmadya community has been participating in the election ever since they were introduced by the British empires. They took part under joint electorate system till 1977, despite the Second Amendment in the Constitution that declared Ahmadis as non-Muslim in 1974.
It was the third army dictator General Ziaul Haq who in a bid to legitimize his unconstitutional rule wooed the religious bigots by marginalizing the minorities by scrapping the joint electorate in 1985 through 8th Amendment to the Constitution. Since then, minorities’ are casting their vote under separate electorate system. Muslims voters will have to sign this declaration:
‘I solemnly affirm that I believe completely and unconditionally in the finality of the prophet-hood of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and that I am not a follower of any person who claims prophet-hood on the basis of any interpretation of this word, neither I believe such a claimant to be a reformer or a prophet, nor I belong to Qadyani or Lahori group or call myself Ahmadi.’
It was the fourth military dictator General Parvez Musharraf who under the international community’s pressure discarded the separate electorate for minorities, however, making an exception for Ahmadis under chief executive’s order no. 15 of 2002 published in the Gazette of Pakistan (extraordinary) issued at Islamabad on June 17, 2002 titled as Conduct of General Elections (Second Amendment) Order, 2002, creating a separate ‘supplementary list of voters’ for the Ahmadis.
The question is, if the Ahmadis, according to the Constitution, are non-Muslims then they must have equal rights that the same Constitution guarantees to other non-Muslims like Christians, Hindus, Parsees, Buddhists, etc. Ironically, all the non-Muslims can cast votes under joint electorate except the Ahmadis. This makes them even inferior to the minorities. If the Constitution has to be followed, then Ahmadis too should be given the right to vote like other non-Muslims.
The honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan could have taken a suo moto notice of this discrimination and addressed it to the satisfaction of the Ahmadya community which is so persecuted and frightened that it is not ready to challenge the discriminatory executive order in superior courts fearing that an endorsement might perish their hope that one day a benign parliament might quash this order. [Parliament is empowered to quash the executive order.]
The same discrimination kept the Ahmadis away from polling stations in 2002 and 2008. Other minorities, however, cast their votes under joint electorate. Thus, the Ahmadis are being deprived of their democratic right since 1977.
The Ahmadya community has called on the Chief Election Commissioner [CEC] Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and other officials of the Election Commission in the form of a delegation and apprised them of this discrimination. But despite promises, no action has been taken to address the grievances. Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is deliberately avoiding the issue. I made dozens of calls to different officials of ECP, but none was ready to give its viewpoint.
However, speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior ECP official disclosed that Secretary ECP Ishtiaq Khan and the CEC are scared to act or comment on this issue. Realizing the sensitivity of the matter, they prefer to avoid this question whenever posed by media. ‘Our secretary once said to us that our night will be in our graves the day when we decide to include Ahmadis in the joint electorate system. So, let politicians deal with this matter,’ says the anonymous official.
The Ahmadya community never accepted the Second Amendment in the Constitution. It continues to claim itself as Muslims, endorsing Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadyani (as) as a prophet, Masih Mauood, wali, etc and thus is being challenged by the Muslims since the creation of the Ahmadya religion towards the end of 19th century. The religious bigots in Pakistan publicly provoke the masses against the Ahmadis.
‘I will chase every Ahmadi in any part of the world and will not spare them. Ahmadis don’t have the right to live in Pakistan. They don’t have the right to be on any post in Pakistan. All of them who are on important posts in Pakistan should be sacked immediately,’ says chairman moon-sighting committee Mufti Muneebur Rehman [Ummat: Mar 18]
Inflammatory statements like above brainwash gullible masses to kill Ahmadis. ‘More than 210 Ahmadis have been killed since 1984 after Zia-regime promulgated anti-Ahmadis laws,’ says MrSalimuddin, spokesman of the Ahmadya community based in Rabwa talking to this writer exclusively.
According to National Commission for Justice and Peace, from 1987 to 2013, 1170 cases of blasphemy were registered in Pakistan against 527 Muslims, 457 Ahmadis, 158 Christians, and 20 Hindus. In 2011, 76 cases of blasphemy were registered against 15 Christians, 56 Muslims, and 5 Ahmadis. In 2012, 30 cases of blasphemy were registered against 11Christians, 14 Muslims and 5 Ahmadis.
From landlords to poor laborers, Ahmadis are a community with a literacy rate of 90%. The only Pakistani Nobel laureate was an Ahmadi – the physicist Dr Abdus Salam. According to a tweet by ‘a proud Ahmadi’ – Malik Omaid @Omaidus – Ahmadis’ per capita income is more than 25,000 rupees.
According to Ummat [May 28, 2011], National Assembly’s outgoing speaker Fahmida Mirza had ordered to make public the 1974 proceedings of the parliament that declared Ahmadis as non-Muslim. It was sealed and could not have been made public for 30 years. The proceedings, according to Mr Salimuddin have been printed on the order of court but have yet to be made public.
The issue of Ahmadis is highly sensitive and life-threatening. One is labeled as an Ahmadi if he/she writes or raises voice for the legitimate rights of Ahmadis as human beings. Once he/she is labeled as an Ahmadi, his/her life is endangered. Due to this reason, no candidate approached Ahmadi voters during the general election on May 11 fearing backlash from Islamists. A video on social media showing a representative of Pakistan Tehrik Insaf [PTI] calling on spiritual leader of Ahmadis in London and soliciting his community’s votes provoked the Islamists to such an extent that PTI’s chief Imran Khan had to issue a clarification in which he categorically stated that he is a Muslim with unshakable belief in the finality of the prophet-hood of Mohammad [peace be upon him]. He is not an Ahmadi, he never asked for Ahmadis’ votes. He never needed Ahmadis votes!
In the light of above statement, one can easily understand that Ahmadis are pariahs in Pakistan. No political party needs their votes because they are such a miniscule minority [only 600,000 with registered votes of just 200,000].
On May 11, Ahmadis did not vote due to secular Z A Bhutto, dictator Ziaul Haq, silent judiciary and fake liberals and civil [read c-evil] society activists who propagate that Ahmadis are Muslims but all of them [except minorities] have signed a declaration that declares Ahmadis as kafir and Mirza as kazzab [liar] to get their passports, ID cards, etc. My point is, if they are true liberals and committed activists, then why they do not refuse to sign this declaration? But the fact is, their activism/advocacy for Ahmadis is just donor driven, not backed by their conviction.
Pakistan is a signatory to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. If Pakistan has to survive as a member of the international community, it will have to abolish all the discriminatory laws against the minorities. We can’t afford to live as a pariah state in this age. Religion is a personal business. It is not the responsibility of a state to determine any citizen’s religion. Ahmadi or non-Ahmadi, believer or an atheist, everyone should be allowed to vote as a citizen of a country, not as a follower of any particular religion or creed.
Constructive criticism is welcomed at: yamankalyan@gmail.com
Read original post here: Ahmadi or non-Ahmadi, believer or an atheist, everyone should be allowed to vote
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