'I, too, am a Pakistani'

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“...you can call my persistent, love for this country my Stockholm syndrome. It is a wound that remains full, which dries only temporary and starts spilling blood on a slight scratch on the surface.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Pak Vote
By Rabia Mehmood / May 10, 2013

MaiN Bhi Pakistan HouN

As Pakistan makes history and goes to poll after the first ever democratically elected government completes a full term, the Ahmadi youth will be looking from afar when their peers go out to cast their votes.They know that they are not welcome to be a part of that crowd, and in case they are welcomed, there is a chance they might never be accepted.


The Ahmadi community, which was disowned by the Muslim clergy decades ago and officially discarded by the State in 1974, have since been struggling to stay true to who they are and what they believe in.

The current electoral procedure, does not let the Ahmadis vote without declaring themselves as non-Muslims, such is the paranoia of the State and those who run it. Via General Pervaiz Musharraf’s executive order CEO 15, Section 7 (a), (b) & (c), the Ahmadis were put in separate electoral rolls. The last elections where the Ahmadi community voted were in 1977. When General Zia introduced separate electorate, Ahmadis were asked to contest from reserved seats, something which the community did not want anyway.

A case was presented to the Election Commission of Pakistanon behalf of the Ahmadi community, but nothing came of the hearing after disagreements among the ECP officers..

To better understand the Ahmadi community’s feelings on being outcasts in the electorate process, I spoke to some of them. Here’s what they had to say.

Kanwar Idrees – Retired Civil Servant

Kaward Idrees filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the electoral discrimination against the Ahmadis. The petition was filed in 2007, and accepted for hearing in 2009. After[QZ1]  more than 20 hearings and 5 years, Idress withdrew his petition in March this year.  “Because it had been pending for years, and I withdrew it because they were not deciding it. The rolls were already made. The time was over”, said Idrees. A retired civil servant who served as a federal secretary in the government in 2008, Idrees does not know about the future but says that the fight must go on because this law against Ahmadis actually “disenfranchises the whole country”.

Idrees believes that Musharraf’s executive order, which put Ahmadis on separate electoral rolls,is “so arbitrary and foolish that it will offend anyone.”

Other observers, who went to the hearing of Idrees’s Supreme Court case, are of the view that the bent of the court was scary; it revealed that there was no possibility of finding justice during the current tenure. They say that the court wanted to look at cases with judgments against the Ahmadis, which was a bad sign. Therefore the withdrawal of the petition against electoral discrimination was the sensible thing to do at that time.

Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Sheikh –Lawyer

Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Sheikh is a senior lawyer and is from the Ahmadi community. Sheikh says, the community “takes calculated risks” when it comes to cases against them. Because there is always a possibility and fear that the court might end up giving a judgment which would set a scary precedent, just like there have been set in the past, when it comes to rights and freedom of Ahmadis as Pakistani citizens.”

Sheikh explained that while Ahmadis were fine with being considered a religious minority during the polls in 2002, when Musharraf had first issued an order for a joint electorate, the addition of the controversial clause i.e. section 7 (C)which was directed at Ahmadis, made them vulnerable.

Sheikh said “it is against our conscience to vote via such a discriminated electoral procedure.”

Maryam Mubarak – Doctor

MaryamMubarak, was one of the Ahmadi students who were expelled in 2008 from the Punjab Medical College. Mubarak says she feels like an outsider.

“Young people are so hopeful that their vote will matter in these elections, and yet I see that and feel so hopeless. When I hear such sentiments, I feel hopeless. I have contradictory feelings. I feel like I belong to Pakistan, but Pakistan does not want me… I am Pakistan’s but Pakistan is not mine.”

Malik Omaid – Accountant, Blogger 

Twenty seven year old Omaid, says, “you can call my persistent, love for this country my Stockholm syndrome”. “It is a wound that remains full, which dries only temporary and starts spilling blood on a slight scratch on the surface.”

Despite the hurdles, Omaid is resolute and continues to encourage other Pakistanis to exercise their ability to vote.

“I am an Ahmadi and I love Pakistan. I do care about what would become of this country and where it would go. Even when I cannot see any future with secular values here and feel like we are getting more polarized on basis of religion.”

Khalid Bajwa–Entrepreneur

Bajwa is an entrepreneur and an engineer from the Ghulam Ishaque Khan Institute of Technology . He thinks that for now there is nothing more he can do other than stopping the negativity that comes his way.

“Yes, my country is important, and having a say is important, but my faith comes first.”

To be honest, I have gotten to a point where this does not matter. It feels like I am desensitized. I have learned to make my peace with this. God will give us our justice.”

Waleed Dawood – Software Engineer

Waleed is another story. Despite the statement by Imran Khan, where he calls Ahmadis infidels – a classification which is in accordance with Pakistani constitution -Waleed remains a die-hard supporter.

While acknowledging that “there was no need for Khan’s statement”, he rationalizes it as a political necessity and chooses to ignore it, “for the sake of Pakistan”. He believes that “Khan is the lesser evil, and I support him because he is good for Pakistan.” So, on the Election Day, this young Ahmadi boy will not vote himself, but if he manages to get people to vote for Khan, he hopes his service as a dutiful citizen will be done.

Lubna Sosan Bajwa–Bachelors Student

This 23 years old student of International Relations is frustrated to the point of being heartbroken. Her area of interest and what she studies at her university in Islamabad, are very close to state matters, but she feels like she has been “made the other by the state”, and all she can do is research and analyse but not vote herself. This makes her feel like she is “voiceless and useless.”

“Given the election season and its fervour  being a member of the persecuted community you start feeling a lot more alienated. I am a student of International Relations.My colleagues ask me about my political preference and analysis. Then the question of faith comes up and I struggle to make them understand. I would want to be part of the process. I support democracy, but the State keeps bringing faith in this process.”

At the end of the conversation her voice broke down, “I feel suffocated and powerless. It would have been easy if we did not love Pakistan so much, we bleed green too, but nobody wants to acknowledge that.”

After the phone call, Lubna sent me these lines of Faiz Ahmed Faiz portraying what she feels about Pakistan.

“Hum tou majboor-e-wafa hain, magar aaye jaan-e-jahan
Apnay ushaaq se aisay bhi koi karta hai?
Teri mehfil ko khuda rakhay abad tak qaaim
Hum tou mehman hein ghari bhar kay hamara kyahai…”

Rabia Mehmood is a multimedia journalist, currently managing a human rights literacy project at the Jinnah Institute. She tweets @rabail26.



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