1974, Zulifqar Bhutto in a desperate attempt to cling to power declared Ahmadis non Muslims in order to appease the right wing pressure groups. He was replaced by a military dictator regardless of the attempts to please right wing political elements. General Zia, dictator of the late 70s and 1980s brought about changes in the constitution that promised more discrimination against the Ahmadis, a minority sect of Islam in Pakistan. They are forbidden to call themselves Muslims, they are forbidden to call their places of worship mosques and every Pakistani who applies for a passport has to sign a document forcing him to state that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. People argue that the 80s are gone, and democracy is back. They argue that religious tolerance can only improve with a liberal government like the PPP in power and also argue that the “moderate enlightenment model” of the Musharraf era has made Pakistan better for minorities. The massacre of approximately 100 Ahmadis is considered by many as a terrorist incident and condemned. The right wing PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif has publicly called Ahamadis his “brothers”. Why then all the disgust?
Many of these so called peace loving politicians allowed Dr. Amir Liaquat Hussain to get away with saying that it the Islamic duty of all Muslims to murder Ahmadis on the show “Alim Online” (7th September 2008). According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, “48 hours after the first broadcast, two Ahmadi community leaders were lynched and murdered”. This hate monger remains free and unprosecuted. Geo television has not been questioned about why they allowed religious based discrimination on public television at a time when the state is fighting religious extremists. To make matters worse, a 2009 billboard paid for by the Punjab Government (run by Mr. Sharif’s party) for “world Conference for the Protection and Finality of the Prophet hood” stated in Arabic, “Friendship with Ahmadis is Rebellion Against the Prophet Peace Be Upon Him". If that was not enough, a massacre of Ahamadis took place in Lahore, the capital of Punjab. When the PML National Assembly representative, Nawaz Sharif expressed solidarity for the loss of so many innocent lives and called the Ahmadi sect his “brothers”, it did not sit well certain Pakistanis. At a time like this, given the present conditions and the lack of respect for minorities, it was a commendable course of action. Members of parliament should be helping all Pakistani citizens and view them as equals. By equating them as brothers, these minorities can feel less threatened and isolated. It seems our peace loving religious parties did not feel the same way as many were in an uproar. “Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam President Maluana Sami-ul-Haq has threatened to launch a statewide protest unless Nawaz Sharif does not retract his statement about Ahmadis being his brothers. The “Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia”, the representatives of the “Deobandi” religious school of thought stated that Nawaz Sharif should be “ashamed of calling Ahamadis brothers of Muslims”. All these groups have publicly come out against the fascist policies of the right wing Israeli government when it comes to their treatment of Muslims in the Mid-East but seem to forget that they oppress people with different ideologies and beliefs just as much in their own country.
The strange thing about right wing Muslims in Pakistan is how quickly they forget the reason for the creation of Pakistan. The Indian Muslim League was afraid that after the British left India, the Hindu majority community of India would discriminate against the minority Muslim community. Pakistan was a state created to give minorities refuge, not to assassinate them in the name of religion. Pakistan was supposed to be a state for religious tolerance, one where people who ascribed to all doctrines could practice their beliefs without fear of persecution (anyone remember the white part of our flag? It stands for non-Muslim minorities residing in Pakistan).
The sad reality of the situation is that Pakistan is not the state it was destined to be. Mr. Jinnah, a Shia Muslim (one of the minority sects being persecuted by the militant Pakistani Taliban), the man who made Pakistan stood for morality, values, modernization, secular politics, religious impartiality and harmony. Instead, we have a state where religious intolerance increases on a daily basis, where corruption and scandals are the highlights of the political arena and where anyone not born a Sunni has to live in fear. Pakistan unfortunately, has become a failed state.
