Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani may have said that the Second Amendment was brought about to save the lives of Ahmadis, the subsequent reality has only proved him wrong and consistently so.
Source/Credit: The News on Sunday
By Editorial | August 10, 2014
The ordeal of Ahmadis in this country is an unending one, it seems
It all happened two days before Eid. Many of the details were familiar: alleged blasphemous post on Facebook; an angry mob attack, collective punishment of a minority community, burning of houses and vehicles. There were some unfamiliar and sad details: three female members of the Ahmadi community were killed that day; of these two were minors and one was just eight months old.
The two girls and the woman are said to have been suffocated to death in a house that was burnt by the mob.
The ordeal of Ahmadis in this country is an unending one, it seems. They have the unique distinction of having been declared non-Muslim by the country’s parliament as per a constitutional amendment. That was not considered enough and Gen. Ziaul Haq brought about an Ordinance to make life even more difficult for them.
Interestingly, the proceedings of the National Assembly which led to the passage of the Second Amendment in September 1974 have been declassified now. They make for interesting reading and form an important chapter of our bigoted history. But so did the Munir Inquiry Commission Report twenty years before that, following the 1953 anti-Ahmadiya agitation.
With hindsight, both episodes are said to be a consequence of political compulsion — as Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rehman says in his interview “a religious issue was exploited for political purposes”.
Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani may have said that the Second Amendment was brought about to save the lives of Ahmadis, the subsequent reality has only proved him wrong and consistently so. Four years ago, two Ahmadi worship places in Lahore were attacked and about 90 people died. High and low profile killings of Ahmadis have continued before and after that incident.
Beyond this cycle of mindless violence is an ordinary Ahmadi’s life in this country — which is nothing less than a tale of fear, exclusion, and discrimination. Being Ahmadi is a difficult state. Some might dispute if it is more difficult or less than other citizens of this country. TNS tries to give a historical overview of what being an Ahmadi means in the hope that the discussion will improve everyone’s understanding on the issue and lead to more tolerance towards all.
Read original post here: Pakistan: An unending ordeal for Ahmadis | The News on Sunday - Editorial
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