Pakistan: Ahmadiyya community to protest-boycott General Elections 2013

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On the basis of religious beliefs separate voter lists specifically for Ahmadis is discrimination and against the spirit of joint electorate.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya | Pakistan
By Press Section | May 5, 2013

"In order to register our protest Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan is announcing disassociation from the General Elections 2013."

The spokesman of the Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan Saleem Ud Din has said that according to the election rules the basic eligibility for a voter is Pakistani citizenship - not the religious or ideological beliefs a citizen holds.

The voter registration forms that Election Commission of Pakistan has issued have a special entry for religion that is specially entered in the form and in order to register for these voter forms Ahmadis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet SAW, which no Ahmadi could ever imagine.

It is important to note, Saleem Ud Din says, that for Joint electorate there is supposed to be a single voter list for everyone but against this rule in 2002 and 2008 general elections special orders were issued to prepare separate voter lists for Ahmadis.

For the 2013 general election this was not changed rather the Election Commission in its guide for voter list preparation included the following as a special entry under clause number 12.

“Votes of Ahmadis should be added in a separate list in the initial voter lists and on top of the register page it should be written ‘‘for Ahmadis only ”

Spokesperson of Jama’at Ahmadiyya Saleem Ud Din said after this order and its implementation the voter list would be whereon every Pakistani, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, Muslim or belonging to any other religion would be together on one list while there will be a separate list for Ahmadis only.

"This is the worst kind of discrimination and bigotry," Saleem Ud Din. "This is against the sayings of the founder of nation as well as the rights given in the constitution of Pakistan and specifically against the spirit of Joint electorate."

"It is also against the conventions on human rights that the state of Pakistan has signed."

This is an intentional attempt to deprive Ahmadis - who are law-abiding citizens of Pakistan - from exercising their fundamental rights and to separate them from the national discourse, the Ahmadiyya spokesperson said.

The spokesperson of Jama’at has written to Election commission and has also informed the commission about these concerns in a specific meeting but unfortunately the election commission has done nothing what so ever to address the grievances and genuine concerns of Ahmadis.

"Thus there is no choice left for Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan and Ahmadis but to announce disassociation from general elections 2013 in order to register their protest," the Ahmadiyya spokesperson said.

  --  Pakistan: Ahmadiyya community to protest-boycott General Elections 2013
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