Pakistan Elections and Ahmadiyya Muslim Community – Chali Hai Rasm (Program 3) from Ahmadiyya Muslim Community on Vimeo.

ملک کے طول و عرض میں الیکشن کی گہماگہمی عروج پر ہے اور آج انتخابی مہم کا آخری دن ہے۔

اسی طرح انتخابات اور اس کے بعد آنے والی حکومت کے بارے میں قیاس آرائیاں اور پیش گوئیاں بھی جاری ہیں جن کی شدت میں اب شاید مزید اضافہ ہو گیا ہے۔

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The police eventually determined that they had not broken any blasphemy or terrorism laws, as alleged, and released them without registering an FIR.

The Ahmadis were attending a hearing at the anti-terrorism court earlier in the day concerning relatives who have also been accused of blasphemy and terrorism offences by printing an Ahmadi newspaper, under Sections 295B and 298C of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 11-W of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Members of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat Lawyers Forum (KNLF) opposed the bail applications of Faisal Tahir, Azhar Zarif, Khalid Ashfaq and Tahir Mahmood.

Shortly after the court granted bail to two of the accused, Tahir and Zarif, some 15 men approached the five Ahmadis and, with the help of the police, snatched their mobile phones and took them away to Mustafabad police station, an Ahmadi who had spoken to the detainees later told reporters.

“They appeared to be very angry that two people had been granted bail,” he said. “They claimed that one of them had been wearing a ring inscribed with a Quranic verse, and that this was a crime. Apparently they intend to scare people from supporting or representing Ahmadis at trial.”

He said that the SHO had contacted an SP, who had investigated the complaint and then determined it to be baseless. – See more at: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/05/08/news/national/ahmadis-yet-again-become-a-target-of-persecution/#sthash.KDdjLFJG.dpuf

LAHORE, PAKISTAN – In majority Muslim Pakistan, religious minorities say democracy is killing them.

Intolerance has been on the rise for the past five years under Pakistan’s democratically elected government because of the growing violence of Islamic radicals, who are then courted by political parties, say many in the country’s communities of Shiite Muslims, Christians, Hindus and other minorities.

On Saturday, the country will elect a new Parliament, marking the first time one elected government is replaced by another in the history of Pakistan, which over its 66-year existence has repeatedly seen military rule.

But minorities are not celebrating.

Some of the fiercest Islamic extremists are candidates in the vote, and minorities say even the mainstream political parties pander to radicals to get votes, often campaigning side by side with well-known militants. More than a dozen representatives of Pakistan’s minorities interviewed expressed fears the vote will only hand more influence to extremists.

Since the 2008 elections, under the outgoing government led by the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), sectarian attacks have been relentless and minorities have found themselves increasingly targeted by radical Islamic militants.

Minorities have little faith the new election will change that.

“We are always opposed to martial law (but) during all the military regimes, the law and order was better and there was good security for minorities,” said Amar Lal, a lawyer and human rights activist for Pakistan’s Hindu community.

About 96 percent of Pakistan’s population of 180 million is Muslim. Most are Sunni, but according to the CIA Factbook about 10 to 15 percent are members of the Shiite sect.

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“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.”

Under international pressure, the next military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf revoked separate electorate for minorities, but made a special exception for Ahmadis under the chief executive’s order No 15 of 2002 published in the Gazette of Pakistan (extraordinary) issued at Islamabad on June 17, 2002. The argument is, if the Ahmadis are non-Muslims according to the Constitution, then they must have equal rights that the same Constitution guarantees to other non-Muslims. Ironically, all the non-Muslims can cast votes under the joint electorate except the Ahmadis. This makes them inferior to other minorities. If the Constitution has to be followed, then Ahmadis too should be given the right to vote like other non-Muslims.

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 have been deprived of their democratic right since 1977.

The Ahmadiyya Community has called on the Chief Election Commissioner 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.

Read more: http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/article.php?issue=20130510&page=7

KARACHI, Pakistan — For the last two years, former cricketing superstar Imran Khan has been trumpeting talk of change to Pakistan’s public. Standing in front of beloved national monuments all across the country, Khan has pledged that if his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party wins national elections on Saturday, he’ll transform Pakistan into “Naya [New] Pakistan.”

His promises — which range from stopping drone strikes to revitalizing the country’s economy to eliminating corruption — have struck a chord with many people in the beleaguered “old” Pakistan, particularly minorities who have been promised a life without persecution under his rule.

But that was before Khan mentioned the Ahmadis.

Ahmadis are a minority Muslim group in Pakistan who’ve long been vilified for their religious beliefs by mainstream politicians, Islamic theologists and the country’s militants. Mainstream Muslims in Pakistan consider Ahmadis heretics for believing their sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, was a messiah.

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Pakistan is gearing up for the historic election on 11 May that will mark its first democratic transition from one civilian government to another. Turnout is set to be higher than ever before. But there is one community, numbering around 4 million, who will not be casting their votes.

The Ahmadis are a vilified religious minority in Pakistan, who have undergone decades of persecution. It comes down to a theological dispute. Ahmadis believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded their movement in pre-Partition India in 1889, was a messiah. That contradicts the central belief in mainstream Islam that Muhammad was the final prophet.

In 1974, a law was passed that not only declared Ahmadis non-Muslims, but banned them from “posing as Muslims”. They have not voted since; doing so would be a tacit acceptance that they are not Muslims, as they would be placed on a voter list with other religious minorities, such as Christians and Hindus. Voter registration forms require Ahmadis to disassociate themselves from the Prophet Muhammad; they say that to do so is against their religion, and so the stalemate continues.

“We are Muslims so we want the majority to accept us as Muslims,” Bilal Haider, the president of the Ahmadi Youth Committee in Karachi tells me when we speak on the phone. “Until then we cannot vote.” Like many young Ahmadis, he is angry. “When a political party confirms they will give us our rights, then we will vote for them. Until then, I cannot see the situation changing.”

Although the community has not voted for more than three decades, this year there was some fanfare around the boycott. This is because the level of official discrimination appears to be getting even worse. In 2011, the Election Commission issues instructions for an “Ahmadi-only” voter list, separate even to the other religious minorities. “It is the worst kind of discrimination and bigotry,” says Saleem Uddin, the spokesperson for the Jama’at Ahmadiyya, the community’s main organisation. “It is an attempt to exclude Ahmadis from the national discourse.”

Uddin lives in Rabwah, a quiet town in central Punjab where around 90 per cent of the population is Ahmadi, considered the headquarters of the community. I met him in the headquarters of an NGO in a central area of Islamabad, days after the boycott was announced. His statement created quite a stir on social media, with comparisons being drawn between the steady marginalisation of the Ahmadis to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

The Ahmadi issue was a hot topic after a video surfaced in late April of someone from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party meeting with an Ahmadi community leader in London. Khan promptly released a video statement swearing that he had not solicited Ahmadi votes, and that if he was elected, he would not repeal anti-Ahmadi laws. As the only untested political force, Khan was the Ahmadis’ last hope for their cause to be taken up by someone in the mainstream. So his keenness to disassociate himself from this group as a depressing moment, for both Ahmadis and those concerned with human rights. This is one vote bank which no politician has any interest in winning.

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JUST after the stroke of midnight on Aug. 14, 1947, the Peshawar broadcast station of All India Radio crackled to life: “This is Pakistan Broadcasting Service.” Next came the words of the Urdu-language poet Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi: “Pakistan bananay walay, Pakistan Mubarak” — “Oh, maker of Pakistan, congratulations on Pakistan.”

On Saturday, Pakistanis will head to the polls to choose a new government; for the first time in 66 years, a democratically elected administration has completed its term. Given Pakistan’s tumultuous past, this is an impressive achievement, but it should not prevent citizens from asking the candidates vying for their votes: what kind of Pakistan have you made?

The makers of Pakistan were peasants and laborers. In 1940, they passed a resolution in Lahore to demand a separate homeland for Muslims and an end to British colonial occupation. In 1946, their votes brought a political party, the Muslim League, to power. They chose Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a modernist technocrat, as their leader.

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The police eventually determined that they had not broken any blasphemy or terrorism laws, as alleged, and released them without registering an FIR.

The Ahmadis were attending a hearing at the anti-terrorism court earlier in the day concerning relatives who have also been accused of blasphemy and terrorism offences by printing an Ahmadi newspaper, under Sections 295B and 298C of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 11-W of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Members of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat Lawyers Forum (KNLF) opposed the bail applications of Faisal Tahir, Azhar Zarif, Khalid Ashfaq and Tahir Mahmood.

Shortly after the court granted bail to two of the accused, Tahir and Zarif, some 15 men approached the five Ahmadis and, with the help of the police, snatched their mobile phones and took them away to Mustafabad police station, an Ahmadi who had spoken to the detainees later told The Express Tribune.

“They appeared to be very angry that two people had been granted bail,” he said. “They claimed that one of them had been wearing a ring inscribed with a Quranic verse, and that this was a crime. Apparently they intend to scare people from supporting or representing Ahmadis at trial.”

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Lahore, May 6 (ANI): The Ahmedi community of Pakistan has decided to boycott the May 11 elections in protest against alleged discrimination in the voters list.

The Jamaat Ahmediyya Pakistan (JAP) said that a separate voter lists based on religious beliefs specifically for Ahmedis can be counted as discrimination, and against the spirit of joint electorate, reports the Daily Times.

JAP spokesman Saleemuddin said the voter registration forms that the election commission has introduced have a special entry for religion.

Saleemuddin said that in order to register for these voter forms Ahmedis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet, which no Ahmedi could ever imagine. He said that for joint electorate there is supposed to be a single voter list for everyone, but in 2002 and 2008 general elections, special orders were issued to prepare separate voter lists for Ahmedis against the rule.

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Historically, the Ahmedis have not taken part in any election at any level after they were declared non-Muslims in the constitution in 1974. They boycotted the general elections for the first time in 1977. In the later years, they also did not go to the elections when military dictator General Ziaul Haq introduced separate electoral system in the country in 1985.

Prior to this year (1985) all national elections were conducted on the basis of the joint electorate system, but Zia announced allocation of separate seats for non-Muslim Pakistani citizens in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies. Separate electoral lists on a different coloured paper were published for the purpose. The Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Parsi and Ahmedi voters were listed separately.

One seat in each in national and four provincial assemblies was allocated for the Ahmedi community. One proclaimed Ahmedi family contested the elections on every seat and Bashiruddin Khalid became a National Assembly member while his other family members became provincial assemblies’ members. It is pertinent to mention here that the Ahmedis did not accept these men as their representatives, as according to them they had never nominated anyone to represent them in parliament.

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“Ahmadis are Muslims, If They Say They are Muslims and No One, Not Even the Sovereign Legislature, has the Right to Say Otherwise.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 05 May 1944.

“I have been asked a disturbing question, as to who among the Muslims can be a member of the Muslim Conference. It has been asked with particular reference to the Qadianis (Ahmadis). My reply is that, as far as the constitution of the All-India Muslim League is concerned, it stipulates that any Muslim, without distinction of creed or sect, can become a member, provided he accepts the views, policy and programme of the Muslim League, signs the form of membership and pays the subscription. I appeal to the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir not to raise sectarian questions, but instead to unite on one platform under one banner. In this lies the welfare of the Muslims. In this way, not only can Muslims make political and social progress effectively, but so can other communities, and so also can the state of Kashmir as a whole. What right have I to declare a person non-Muslim, when he claims to be a Muslim.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 23rd May, 1944, Srinagar

Sources:

Tahrik Huriyyat Kashmir (History of Independence Movements in Kashmir), volume 2, 1936 – 1945, page 291)

According to the spokesman, 29 buildings were damaged in the attack, including a mosque, a mushola (small mosque) and an elementary school.

The Jakarta Post:

….. Unknown assailants attacked an Ahmadhi hamlet in Tenjowaringin village in Tasikmalaya, West Java, early on Sunday morning.

“There were no fatalities. Only windows and doors were damaged,” Dodi Kurniawan, a spokesman for the Ahmadiyah community in Tenjowaringin, said over the telephone on Sunday.

I am a registered voter from NA-122 Lahore. Till recently I was sure who I was going to vote for: the great Imran Khan who is standing from my constituency. Khan has been a hero to me as long as I can remember. We grew up admiring him as a cricketer, as an Oxford educated playboy (this is when Article 62 and 63 were not taken seriously), and as a philanthropist who gave us Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. I was 16 years old when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) was launched and I remember trying to convince my parents that they should vote for Khan then. In 1998 when I went to the US for college, I met a famous religious leader from a religious party who called Khan a Jewish agent and I almost came to blows with him.

There is also a personal emotional connection that makes me want to vote for Khan. My late father who had voted for Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) all his life decided to cast his vote for PTI in 2002 unexpectedly. By this time I had decided to vote PPP largely because I did not think Khan’s candidate had a chance of winning from our constituency. I asked my father why he was wasting his vote, and he said that Khan was the only man with any character or integrity left. He predicted that sooner or later everyone would get around to voting for Khan. He died suddenly before this could happen in 2007, and 2013 seems to make his prediction come true.

So I was all set to vote for Khan from NA-122 till of course I read the press release by the PTI on the Ahmadi issue and it has given me pause. Let me state that I never expected the PTI or Khan to repeal the second amendment or even undo the horribly unjust Ordinance XX of 1984. It is not politically feasible and, therefore, all the defences cited by Khan’s tigers of the press release are justified. However, the press release itself was so poorly drafted and so horribly worded that one wonders if Khan is actually arguing for more state-sponsored persecution of Ahmadis. Then there is the larger problem. Khan has, in many private gatherings, said that anyone who professes to be a Muslim is a Muslim. This is a principled position, a position that Jinnah subscribed to as well but unlike Jinnah who openly said Ahmadis were Muslims and no one had the right to say otherwise, Khan only says it privately. Be that as it may, it makes the press release a lie.

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The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has issued a report that paints a picture of a world that is growing less tolerant of religious minorities. In the last year, the situation has worsened in China, Myanmar, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia – and Pakistan. The report advises the American government to designate Pakistan as a ‘country of particular concern’, which means that Pakistan could be subject to sanctions if so listed. Violations of religious freedoms have risen to ‘unprecedented’ levels as a result of chronic sectarian violence, and a failure to protect the Hindu, Christian and Ahmadi minorities. The Hazaras have been persecuted unremittingly, and carry the largest burden of casualties and fatalities. The blasphemy laws are widely and inappropriately used in pursuit of personal and petty grievances and false accusations of blasphemy can have appalling and often fatal consequences. Pakistan is the location of the most serious violations of religious freedoms out of countries not already blacklisted.

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The Ahmedi community of Pakistan has decided to boycott the May 11 elections in protest against alleged discrimination in the voters list.

The Jamaat Ahmediyya Pakistan (JAP) said that a separate voter lists based on religious beliefs specifically for Ahmedis can be counted as discrimination, and against the spirit of joint electorate, reports the Daily Times.

JAP spokesman Saleemuddin said the voter registration forms that the election commission has introduced have a special entry for religion.

Saleemuddin said that in order to register for these voter forms Ahmedis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet, which no Ahmedi could ever imagine. He said that for joint electorate there is supposed to be a single voter list for everyone, but in 2002 and 2008 general elections, special orders were issued to prepare separate voter lists for Ahmedi

s against the rule.

Terming it as the worst kind of discrimination and bigotry, he said it is against the conventions on human rights that Pakistan has signed.

Saleemuddin alleged that this is also an intentional attempt to separate Ahmedis from the national discourse. He said that he has written to the election commission and has also informed the commission about these concerns in a specific meeting, but unfortunately the election commission has done nothing regarding this so there is no choice left for JAP but to announce disassociation from general elections 2013 in order to register their protest.

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Lahore, May 6 (ANI): The Ahmedi community of Pakistan has decided to boycott the May 11 elections in protest against alleged discrimination in the voters list.

The Jamaat Ahmediyya Pakistan (JAP) said that a separate voter lists based on religious beliefs specifically for Ahmedis can be counted as discrimination, and against the spirit of joint electorate, reports the Daily Times.

JAP spokesman Saleemuddin said the voter registration forms that the election commission has introduced have a special entry for religion.

Saleemuddin said that in order to register for these voter forms Ahmedis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet, which no Ahmedi could ever imagine. He said that for joint electorate there is supposed to be a single voter list for everyone, but in 2002 and 2008 general elections, special orders were issued to prepare separate voter lists for Ahmedis against the rule.

Terming it as the worst kind of discrimination and bigotry, he said it is against the conventions on hu

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Ahmadi religious minority vilified by extremists as heretic and shunned by mainstream politicians such as Imran Khan.

As Pakistan‘s election campaign enters its dying days, no town has escaped the attention of the country’s politicians as they crisscross the country, plastering every spare billboard, lamp-post and shop-front with posters bearing their heavily airbrushed faces.

Except Rabwah, a sleepy riverside settlement in the critical battleground province of Punjab. It is home to 40,000 potential voters who could safely be relied upon to vote whichever way the town’s elders recommend – a particularly large and reliable example of what Pakistani politicians call “vote banks”. And yet, in a constituency where the result could go either way, not a single party banner flutters anywhere in the town.

No one has tried to hold a rally on the wide, tree-lined avenues or make the promises heard everywhere else in Punjab of more development, less corruption and an end to electricity shortages.

All of the candidates have given the town a wide berth because the vast majority of its 60,000 inhabitants are Ahmadis, a religious minority vilified by extremists, who regard them as heretics, and shunned even by mainstream politicians such as Imran Khan.

Last week, Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), vigorously denied he had ever asked members of Pakistan’s roughly 4 million-strong Ahmadiyya community to vote for him.

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Lahore/ISLAMABAD, 5 May: Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community today announced that it would boycott the general elections on 11 May to protest discrimination against its members.

“No Ahmadi will vote on 11 May to register his or her protest on the discrimination against Ahmadis,” said Saleemuddin, the spokesman for the Jamaat Ahmadiya Pakistan. According to election rules, the basic requirement to be a voter is Pakistani citizenship, and not the religious or ideological beliefs a citizen holds, he said in a statement. “The voter registration form that the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued has a special entry for religion. In order to register as a voter, Ahmadis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet, which no Ahmadi could ever imagine,” Mr Saleemuddin said.

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=455139&catid=37

Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community on Sunday announced that it would boycott the general elections on May 11 to protest discrimination against its members.

“No Ahmadi will vote on May 11 to register his or her protest on the discrimination against Ahmadis,” said Saleemuddin, the spokesman for the Jamaat Ahmadiya Pakistan.

According to election rules, the basic requirement to be a voter is Pakistani citizenship, and not the religious or ideological beliefs a citizen holds, he said in a statement.

“The voter registration form that the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued has a special entry for religion. In order to register as a voter, Ahmadis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet, which no Ahmadi could ever imagine,” Saleemuddin said.

“It is important to note that for a joint electorate, there is supposed to be a single voters’ list for everyone but in the 2002 and 2008 general elections, special orders were issued to prepare separate voters’ lists for Ahmadis. This was not changed for the upcoming general election and the Election Commission had included the special entry for Ahmadis in its guide for preparing the voters’ list,” he said.

In the wake of this directive, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Muslims and people of other religions would be on one list while there would be a separate list for Ahmadis.

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A separate voter list, specifically for Ahmadis on the basis of religious beliefs is outright discrimination and against the spirit of a joint electorate, JA spokesperson Saleemudin said in a press release.

According to the election rules the basic eligibility for a voter is Pakistani citizenship, not the religious or ideological beliefs a citizen holds, he observed. Despite this rule, in order to register to vote, Ahmadis have to provide their addresses, disassociate themselves from the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and appear on a separate list.

While there is meant to be a single voter list for all citizens, special orders were issued to prepare separate voter lists only for Ahmadis in the 2002 and 2008 general elections. For the 2013 general elections this was not changed.

Read more: http://tribune.com.pk/story/544772/ahmadis-disassociate-from-pakistan-elections/

Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community today announced that it would boycott the general elections on May 11 to protest discrimination against its members.

“No Ahmadi will vote on May 11 to register his or her protest on the discrimination against Ahmadis,” said Saleemuddin, the spokesman for the Jamaat Ahmadiya Pakistan.

According to election rules, the basic requirement to be a voter is Pakistani citizenship, and not the religious or ideological beliefs a citizen holds, he said in a statement.

“The voter registration form that the Election Commission of Pakistan has issued has a special entry for religion. In order to register as a voter, Ahmadis have to disassociate from the Holy Prophet, which no Ahmadi could ever imagine,” Saleemuddin said.

“It is important to note that for a joint electorate, there is supposed to be a single voters’ list for everyone but in the 2002 and 2008 general elections, special orders were issued to prepare separate voters’ lists for Ahmadis. This was not changed for the upcoming general election and the Election Commission had included the special entry for Ahmadis in its guide for preparing the voters’ list,” he said.

In the wake of this directive, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Muslims and people of other religions would be on one list while there would be a separate list for Ahmadis.

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

Press Release can be download from here

In one of my recent columns I wrote about how the Shias of Pakistan are being attacked by extremists who wouldn’t mind if all Shias were wiped off the face of the planet—in other words, genocide. However, there is a group of people in Pakistan who are facing equal amounts of hatred and prejudice, but the bigotry against them is actually codified under Pakistani law.

This group of people is known as the Ahmadis, and they constitute a community that has been declared non-Muslim—not just by religious clerics but also the Pakistani government, who are controlling language to rob the Ahmadis of their very identity.

The Ahmadis are a reformist movement within Islam, but orthodox Muslims reject them because the Ahamdis believe their leader, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who lived in India during British rule in the 19th century, was the “reformer promised at the End times,” an individual also known as the Mahdi, or Messiah. In the eyes of orthodox Muslims, this claim throws doubt on whether or not the Ahmadis truly believe the Prophet Muhammed was the last and final prophet sent from God to spread the divine message—a central tenet of Islam. Their belief in the divine role of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, along with other practices that seem to contradict mainstream Islamic thought, is what drove orthodox Muslims to declare Ahmadis non-Muslims.

In Pakistan, there are about two million Ahmadis who live under the most stressful conditions imaginable thanks to the Pakistani government’s myriad ordinances and constitutional amendments declaring them non-Muslims. Of course, there has always been tension between the Muslim orthodoxy and the Ahmadi community because of the differences in belief, but in order to curry favor with the religious clergy in 1974, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, changed the constitution so that it actually defined a Muslim as “a person who believes in the finality of Prophet Muhammed.” With a stroke of the pen, Ahmadis became non-Muslims, and lost their identity as Muslims forever more.

As a follow-up, the dictator General Zia introduced Ordinance XX, which was designed to “prevent anti-Islamic activities.” Suddenly Ahmadis were told that they could not “pose as Muslims,” and could not call their mosques “mosques” – henceforth they would be referred to as “places of worship.” Additionally, Ahmadis were not allowed to preach, convert, disseminate religious material to, or perform prayers with Muslims. Even worse, they were barred from greeting anyone with the traditional Islamic greeting “assalam aleikum” (Peace be upon you), which even Hindus, Christians, and anyone of any other faith is allowed to utter.

Tellingly, Pakistan’s only Nobel Prize winner, the physicist Dr. Abdus Salam, an Ahmadi, has never properly been recognized for his achievements because of the controversy surrounding Ahmadis. Since his death, his tombstone has been defaced, with the word “Muslim” scratched off it. Moreover, all Pakistanis who want a passport or ID card have to sign an oath saying that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was an impostor and that Ahmadis are non-Muslims.

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Rights groups welcome Pervez Musharraf-era reforms to Pakistan’s electoral system, which helped put religious minorities on an equal footing with Muslims. But Ahmadis say they were left out, and some other religious minorities say they still don’t have adequate representation in Parliament.

“We want to be part of the mainstream, but they [the government] won’t let us. They are keeping us out of elections,” a spokesman for Pakistan’s Ahmadi community said.

Muslim extremists in Pakistan persuaded the government to pass a constitutional amendment in 1974 declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimates there are at least one million Ahmadis in the country.

Ahmadis follow the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a late 19th Century reformer who they consider a prophet.  Most orthodox Muslims believe there were no prophets after Prophet Muhammad.

In 1985, President Zia-ul-Haq altered the country’s election laws so that when someone registered to vote, they were put into a group based on their religion. Non-Muslim groups were given a handful of seats in Parliament and barred from voting in general elections for their districts. Ahmadis, for example, regardless of where they lived in Pakistan, could only vote to elect representatives to one of two reserved seats at the national level.

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