Source/Credit: The News | Pakistan
By Rabia Ali | July 20, 2011
Ahmadis: nowhere to hide
Karachi: Although he may not be able to comprehend the seriousness of the message, every time eight-year-old Akbar* sees a sticker denouncing Ahmadis at his apartment’s gate, he knows that trouble is right around the corner.
“I don’t play outside anymore,” he said, while sitting idly in his room. “Other boys call me Kaafir, even though I know the Kalima. Ammi does not allow me to leave the house anymore.”
For Ahmadis, living in Pakistan has not been easy for the past three decades. Their troubles start from being excluded in social life to getting killed in the hundreds as they pray at their mosques. Though most of their troubles remained confined to the Punjab province, the community’s safe haven, Karachi, is no longer so safe for them.
In Metroville, which is considered to be one of the most volatile areas for Ahmadis, fifty families living in a residential complex are continuously being targeted by religious extremists.
At the house of young Akbar, the older men of his community gather to speak of the horrors they are forced to go through on a daily basis. Afraid to give out their names, the men draw grey curtains around the room, causing the ambiance to match their gloomy moods.
“We have been living here for the last eleven years, but have never felt this insecure. The miscreants keep antagonising us in order to get a response. If we do respond, the situation will turn violent and, therefore, we try to keep our cool,” said one of them.
Rising extremism in the country is leading many of the mosques and madrasas in the locality to spew hatred. Situated nearby, Bilal Masjid held a conference in March, during which the listeners were told to harm the Ahmadi community for the sake of religion.
“The clerics told the people to awake from their slumber and kill us. When my child heard the speech blaring from the loudspeakers, he asked me why they wanted to kill us. I had no answer,” said another resident.
But such hatred is not only spread by word of mouth. Booklets and pamphlets about the ‘reality’ of the community are openly distributed in the area. One such booklet released by a religious organisation issued instructions to cut off all ties with the Ahmadis and those who indulged in relations with the community would be labeled Kaafirs. Another pamphlet lectures on “Qadyanion kay saath tajarat aur mel milaap haram hai”.
Hate material is distributed almost after every fortnight, with stickers, large banners and posters being stuck at every corner. Observers say that even those who wish to remain on cordial terms with Ahmadis are bound to turn their backs on the vulnerable community.
Members of the community say that sometimes the situation becomes so tense that the men forgo Friday prayers in order to protect their women in case an attack takes place.
“The sermons before Friday prayers incite people against us and we fear a backlash. Even though police mobiles are outside such mosques, nobody stops the spread of hatred against our community.”
The everyday life of the community is also affected as members are forced to change their schedules when either going to or coming from work. “People are watching our every move. We keep on changing our timings and if we use one route, we won’t return from the same one.”
In addition to this, there have been incidents where shopkeepers were troubled to the extent that they were forced to wind up their businesses. A man in his fifties said that the repercussions of the Lahore attack on a religious place of the Ahmadis spread to the metropolis as the very next day armed men stormed his shop and made him close down for good.
Another youngster, who ran a small store in the area, was equally bothered by the extremists. Recalling the troubles he faced, the shopkeeper said that goons would harass him and take goods for free while taunting him with their usual sneers.
“Not only would these people take away groceries worth hundreds of rupees every other day, they would twist my arm or threaten me with weapons. Sometimes, the miscreants would break the glass of the shelves at the store.” The young man eventually moved his shop to a safe location.
But more serious is the case of a community member who owns a house near the apartments. Just few months ago, Madrasa children claiming that Ahmadis were infidels stoned his house. The grilled walls of his residence did not provide much protection and the windscreen of his car was shattered twice. This is when he decided to move out.
“The stoning incident was very scary and it was good we moved out. But getting a new place is as difficult as is selling our property. Neither can we get houses on rent nor can we sell our own. When people come to know we are Ahmadis, they do not want to deal with us,” he said.
With his wife and daughters now safe, other women of the same locality are not so lucky. Almost all of them are forced to bear the taunts of ‘Kaafir Kaafir’ when they step out of their apartments.
And in such a situation, where an entire community is shunned, it seems that relief only lies in leaving the country for good.
“What other choice do we have? Most of our people have moved abroad and have sought asylum, while others are in the process of doing the same. We have lived our lives, but our children have no future here. After last year’s attack, we fear there will be more violence. We have no choice than to pack our bags,” says Akbar’s depressed father.
*Names changed to protect privacy be defeated and peace restored
Read original post here: Nowhere to hid for Ahmadis
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