How the Pakistan State targets Ahmadiyya and other Muslims with the full backing of its Constitution

Pakistan is not a nation for all Muslims.  Ask an Ahmadiyya!  It is a nation for only one type of Muslims speaking a certain language and looking a certain way.  The others are persecuted as a matter of state policy and a righteous deed by the dominant type.  Islamophobia is enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution.

The Pakistan State targets Muslims with full backing of the Constitution. Given Pak's #Islamophobia, how can it ever be a 'voice for Muslims'?  Click To Tweet

Persecuting Muslims of all hues is the hallmark of the Pakistani state.  From Bengali Muslims in now Bangladesh (persecution because of difference of language), Balochi Muslims (persecution due to difference in Ethnicity) to Shias, Ahmadis, Aga Khanis – the Muslims in Pakistan are massacred and persecuted as a matter of state policy!  One is therefore compelled to ask – WHICH Muslim is Pakistan really for?

State targeting of Ahmadis

Simply because Sunni Muslims deem so and do not agree with the Ahmadi belief system, those Ahmadi  Muslims are hunted, imprisoned, persecuted, killed and subjugated, not by the radicals, but by the Pakistani state with the full force of law enshrined in the country’s Constitution!

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan passed in September 7, 1974 under the Government of Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims.  This was further strengthened by Ordinance XX promulgated under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq on 26 April 1984 which barred the Ahmadis from practising Muslim observances.  The ordinance resulted in amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code to add the sections 298-B and 298-C.  Subsection B prevents Ahmadis from using certain Muslim epithets, descriptions and titles, while subsection C prevents Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims.  It comes with a punishment of 3 years imprisonment and fine.

The ordinance debars use of any honorific titles and modes of address deemed specific to the Islamic community such as the greeting “As-salamu alaykum” (peace be upon you), reciting the Six Kalimas or the shahada (declaring belief in the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad) etc., from building mosques and calling the Adhan (call to prayer), from undertaking Muslim modes of worship, from worshipping in non-Ahmadi mosques or public prayer rooms, and from making any citations from the Quran and Muhammad’s hadith (source – Trespasses of the State, Ministering to Theological Dilemmas through the Copyright/Trademark, Naveeda Khan, Sarai Reader, 2005; Bare Acts. Page 178)

But the fact is that most of the Ahmadiyyas have been charged under the draconian Blasphemy law.  A provision was added in 1986 where the Ahmadiyyas were also covered under the Blasphemy law.

Pakistan’s “Blasphemy Law,” as Section 295-C of the Penal Code is known, makes the death penalty mandatory for blasphemy. Under this law, the Ahmadi belief in the prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is considered blasphemous insofar as it “defiles the name of Prophet Muhammad.” In 2006, at least 25 Ahmadis were charged under various provisions of the blasphemy law across Pakistan. Many of these individuals remain in prison. (source)

So now an Ahmadiyyas Muslim does not have to do anything outrageous to be killed by the state.  If he is caught even saying “Salam Alaikum” to a fellow Muslim, he can be charged by the State under blasphemy for posing as a Muslim.

This is the situation of the people who were primarily responsible for the creation of Pakistan itself!  The Muslims who created Pakistan are now the hunted in that land!  IN fact, whenever a Pakistani has to get an official passport or a national ID, s/he has to sign an oath saying:

“I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad an impostor prophet. And also consider his followers, whether belonging to the Lahori or Qadiani group, to be non-Muslims.”

Such is the level of state-sponsored terror on the Ahmadiyya Muslims within Pakistan!

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Ahmadiyyas and Pakistan Movement

In March 1933, Abdur Rahim Dard – an Ahmadiyya missionary in London – met Jinnah to convince him to take up the cause of the Muslims in India and ask for a separate state.  AR Dard was the one set the foundation for Pakistan in 1933 by changing Jinnah’s mind.  As the first step, he arranged for a lecture by Jinnah at the Mosque in Putney London in April 1933.  Jinnah was so moved by Dard’s persuasion that he asked Shaukar Hayat to seek blessings from the Hazrat of the Qadianis

Sardar Shaukat Hayat in his book “The Nation that lost its soul” mentions the following event: “One day, I got a message from Quaid-e-Azam saying “Shaukat, I believe you are going to Batala, which I understand is about five miles from Qadian, please go to Qadian and meet Hadhrat Sahib and request him on my behalf for his blessings and support for Pakistan’s cause. After the meeting (in Batala) I reached Qadian about midnight, I sent a word that I had brought a message from Quaid-e-Azam. Hadhrat Sahib came down immediately and enquired what were Quaid’s wishes. I conveyed his message for prayer and for his support for Pakistan. He said: “Please convey to the Quaid-e-Azam that we have been praying for his mission from the very beginning. Where the help of his followers is concerned, no Ahmadi will not stand against any Muslim Leaguer.”

Extremely ironically, thus started the movement for Pakistan in India.

During the Boundary Commission deliberations, the Pakistani side was represented by Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, who was considered an equal of Babasaheb Ambedkar.  He not only paved the way for the current map of Pakistan but also represented Pakistan at the UN Security Council on Kashmir in 1948.  He was the Vice President of the International Court of the Justice at the Hague during 1958-61, President of the UN General Assembly in 1962, and President of the International Court of the Justice at the Hague in 1970-73.

During the 1948 attack on Kashmir by Pakistan Army regulars along with the tribals was aided in a big way by the Furqan force (formed under the second Ahmadiyya caliph Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad).

The Ahmadiyyas have been targeted in many different times in Pakistan.  The massacres of Ahmadiyyas in 2010 inside their mosques where 94 were killed, 1953 Lahore riots where anywhere from 200 to 1000 Ahmadiyyas were killed, the 1974 anti-Ahmadiyya attacks which left hundreds dead!

Persecution of Other Muslims

Now let us look at the persecution of other Muslims.  We will leave the massacres and targeting of Bengali Muslims, Balochis and Muhajirs for another day and post.

Massacres of Shias

There are two main Muslim sects – the Sunnis and the Shias.  Pakistan is predominantly Sunni.  So, Shias are massacred and persecuted on a regular basis.  It is now estimated (source) that between just 2012 and May 2015, over 1900 Shias had been killed!  As per another statistic, since 2001, more than 5,000 Shias have been targeted and killed in Pakistan (source)!

In fact, the terror group Sipah-e-Sahaba in Pakistan has the professed purpose of religious cleansing of Pakistan of all the Shias!  Although this group was under terror watch in Pakistan, but as of 26 June 2018, the Pakistani government lifted the ban on Sipah-e-Sahaba, unfroze its assets and its terror leader is no long in the terrorist watch list!

Bombings at Sufi shrines and beheadings of Sufi Pirs

The bombings and killings at the Sufi shrines have happened since long in Pakistan.  Actually, in just two years of 2010 and 2011, 128 people were killed and 443 were injured in 22 attacks on the Sufi shrines.

In fact, as per data compiled by the Center for Islamic Research Collaboration and Learning (CIRCLe, a think-tank based in Rawalpindi) 209 people have been killed and 560 injured in 29 different terrorist attacks on Sufi shrines since March 2005 (source)!

In 2009, for example Agha ji was killed in Peshawar, while Pir Samiullah was killed in Swat.  Pir Rafiullah’s beheaded body was found in Peshawar, and Pir Juma Khan’s beheaded body was found in Swat.

Ismaili killings and persecution

In May 2015, gunmen stopped a bus in Karachi carrying 60 Ismailis.  They separated the kids from the adults and started shooting.  43 were killed and 13 wounded!  It was done by Jundullah, a branch of Taliban in Pakistan.

“These killed people were Ismaili and we consider them kafir,” Ahmed Marwat, a spokesperson for Jundullah (source)

Everyone knows the state patronage that the Taliban gets from the Pakistani establishment and the government.

Aga Khanis – a Shia sect – or Ismailis are a very well-to-do group of people.  The normal Pakistanis resent their wellbeing.  This has also resulted in harassment and persecution of Ismailis in Pakistan.

A 2005 International Crisis Group (ICG) report on the state of sectarianism in Pakistan indicated that the development work of the Aga Khan Foundation, such as the establishment of an Aga Khan Education Examination Board, has “given Sunni Islamist parties and militants a means of provoking anti-Ismaili sentiment”

In the coming years, as extremism rises, the attacks against Ismailis are bound to increase.

Which Muslim is not targeted in “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”?

Pakistanis keep shouting hoarse as to how ‘Muslims are treated badly in India’, assuming and arguing that Muslims in Pakistan are prospering and safe.  The reality is anything but.  When you see the reality of how the government of Pakistan targets Muslim, it is quite rich that they can even point a finger at other countries!

So you see in Pakistan, things are a little different for the Muslims.

In Pakistan, the Muslims do not have to be in a riot-torn area to fear being killed.  They just have to be in the holy confines of their mosques to be bombed, killed and massacred!

In Pakistan, they don’t have to instigate a riot to be charged or do any terror attack to be arrested.  The Muslims in Pakistan merely have to wish you “Salam Alaikum” or suggest that they are going to a ‘masjid’ to be charged with blasphemy and arrested without cause, probably to be given death sentence!

In Pakistan, Muslims are not targeted by the mad mobs or instigated groups of insane killers, the State of Pakistan with the full force of its Constitution can officially target the Muslims and kill them for being Muslims

Yes, in Pakistan, the Muslims like Ahmadiyyas are not arrested or killed for any crime.  They are persecuted by the State of Pakistan for BEING MUSLIM!  Their kind of Muslim!

Featured Image: Erasing of Islamic Kalma over the Ahmadiyya mosque