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Ahmadis under attack
The Ahmadis of Pakistan have been under attack for a very long time, though what happened to them and their places of...
The Ahmadis of Pakistan have been under attack for a very long time, though what happened to them and their places of worship on May 28 in Lahore is quite clearly one of their worst days ever. The second amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan in 1974 excluded Ahmadis from the religion followed by the majority of Pakistanis. The amendment made this exclusion legally in that the phrase “for the purposes of the constitution or law” was used when rendering them non-Muslims. Under law, anyone who is a minority is entitled to equal protection and has the right to due process, but as our history and in fact present show all too clearly, Ahmadis have not been given this entitlement.
Friday’s events are more or less an inevitable outcome of the intolerance and bigotry found in Pakistan today – we say ‘today’ because while it began many years ago and was facilitated actively by the state during General Zia’s days, it persists and has perhaps grown stronger than ever. Those who died – the number is at least 70 and could well rise – are going to soon be forgotten and added to the hundreds of minorities who have been killed over the years by extremists and militants. In fact, one cannot help but notice the tragic irony in all of this. Just a week ago, many Pakistanis were outraged – and rightly so – at an offensive page on a social networking website and complained that the west should show some sensitivity to their religious feelings. And what have we done to our own minorities?
We have, in our midst, a group of people so crazed and fanatical in their faith that they see it as an obligation to take up arms and attack a place of worship and kill those present simply because of their beliefs. We can only wonder how many among us will unequivocally speak up and condemn the actions of these militants and how many will label this (undoubtedly right) action as ‘anti-Islam’?
Published in the Express Tribune, May 29th, 2010.
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Reader Comments (25)
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Agreed . Interestingly , many of the politicians/intellectuals on twitter have clearly avoided the topic. The media couldn’t say “mosques” were attacked, or they were praying for jumma. And then we complain about the west having double standards.
Whatever the faith , they were Pakistani’s and they were killed by fanatics. It should be condemned. But we are just surrounded by opportunists. Pakistan is losing its soul to these fanatics.
The Quaid said “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State. “Recommend
To find out more about Ahmadiyya community who was targeted please check out their official website alislam.org
They are some of the most peaceful people on the face of this earth.Recommend
Yes off course Ahmadiyyas are peace loving and they have a slogan love for all hatered for none. Why these gunmen are doing this to the peace loving people. Is this Jahad to kill inocent what ever their faith is. This is shame for whole of Pakistan and to their Mullah who have spread (Mullah) this type of hatered. Thesee type of Mullah who spread hatered are the worst people on the earth.Recommend
I agree that Ahmedis have been victim of terrorist attacks for quiet sometime but here I would disagree with you, current wave of attack is the chain reaction of military operation in FATA. It would be unfair to keep sympathy for Ahmedis only and not for other Non Ahmedis who have been losing their lives by the hands of Taliban.Recommend
Indeed a sad news, but as tanzeel menetioned its the reaction of fata operation. Almost 97% of reaction was done against Muslum, this the 1st time against ahmdis and overhal i thing its thrid or fourth time against non muslim.
@writer of editorial, there is different between non muslims and ahmdis. ahmdis use the name of “Islam” but they are not muslim, as alot of use say TTP use the name of Islam!Recommend
another step to pressurized Pakistan to start operation in punjab.Recommend
Im saying it again,PLEASE LET US NOT GIVE THIS A RELIGIOUS TWIST.My wholehearted sympathies to the bereaved and I fully condemn this cowardly act!It is terrorism,SIMPLE,that has been going on for atleast a decade in Pakistan.When the SriLankan team was targeted,did anyone say that it was an attack against Buddhists/Christians?No.Did anyone say that Benazir was murdered because she was a Shia?No.Did anyone say that Chinese engineers who have been off and on being killed/kidnapped in Pakistan at the receiving end because they were Communists/Non Muslims?No.Did the media create any hype of Christian killing when Daniel Pearl was murdered?No.Did anyone say that Ajmal Kassab went to India to kill Hindus?No,the Indians blamed Pakistan and never mentioned the Hindu/Muslim issue. The examples are countless.YES I AGREE,there have been many incidents when minorities have been targeted.BUT PLEASE THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT ONE.The terrorists have different means to create discord:and they will(or have)succeed if we count this under the category of “Minorities being attacked”It was a simple attack on Pakistan.Full stop.Again at the end,My sincere feelings for those who have lost dear and near ones.May God give them patience.Ameen.Recommend
Another shameless act against innocent pakistanis. Those who were killed were human first and then Pakistanis. This is the point we should stop and condemn all such blatent acts.
Why wasting time in talking who is Ahmadi, Christian or Hindu? We have already waste two complete decades in mind maping. I challenge, unearth history, take all the incidents in which Pakistani religious communities were targeted, and you will find same mind set behind all incidents.
Our media has shown biasness yesterday. At least use the word “Jan bahak” if not “Shaheed”. Through out yesterdays media coverage, we listen “Halak” for the victims. I am out of words. “Shame on those who still misleading our nation in the name of Islam”Recommend
@ Mr Nasir ,
You claim they are the most peaceful people , yet Mr Abdus Salam headed the Pakistan Nuclear Weopons Programme at one time in his life. The very Nuclear Weapon that if used Against our enemy India would bring about the deaths of thousands of Innocent. Peace loving….. i must say every Pakistani and Muslim is. Only the perspective of how this peace would be achieved differs.
@ Pervaiz Wani ,
The word Mullahs is derived from Arabic and other Farsi sources which literally means one who guides to ALLAH. How can these be the worst people on earth? If there is someone who spreads this kind of hatred then he is not a Mullah but a human being, please watch your words.
@ Faran ,
If i were you i would not be disheartened just because of the word halak. Shaheed is a very cheap word these days which people easily buy for the Likes of Politicians and Thugs. The media by the Constitution of Pakistan is barred from naming Ahmediya as Shaheeds as the Constitution do not consider Ahmediya as Muslims. Regardless, Ahmediya can be great people , practicer of some faith but in the laws of this land they are not Muslims hence the word Shaheed is used for every thug to a Saint who is a Muslim. Do not blame the Media but the politicians and the laws but be grateful that Ahmediya community enjoys greater perks then a normal citizen. They are backed by Amnesty international and Other Humanitarian organizations, a benefit Pakthuns can only think of Affording even at the loss of million lives at the hands of ‘terrorist’ and agencies hands. Also , they do not have internet to lodge their disappointments on not mentioning their dead as shaheeds.
Ahmediya also enjoy better security then most of the minorities in Pakistan. Every friday there are police vans guarding the Ahmediya prayer Congregation near my house , a privilege the Shia imambargah across my Street does not enjoy.
For anyone who laments at Pakistan (including Amnesty or any movement) please step away from the affairs of our land, Ahmediya lost its life to terrorism , an act not in the hands of any Muslim.
There should be an organization which protects the right of the Majority and grant us same privileges as enjoyed by the minorities in our country. That is backing by International order and Recognition and easy visa policies and numerous articles in the books of History.Recommend
@Mohammad Ziad
Well said.We should at this juncture share the grief of those who lost their loved ones,instead of scoring points by terming it an attack on minorities.Who will we blame for the Shias and Sunnis being blown up in their mosques?Let Sanity prevail please.Recommend
The fact remains that the people who died were humans first. They were also created by Allah.
Who are we to judge whether they are Muslims or not? Who are we to decide they should live or die? That is a decision which lies with Allah. We call ourselves Muslims just cuz we have been born in a certain sect. How many of us actually perform all the acts which a good Muslim does or should do.
They were humans…given life by Allah…Recommend
The Express Tribune’s editorial “Ahmadis under attack” is quite revealing and unfolds many facts unknown to many commentators. Umayr Masud is 100% right. We have forgotten what the Father of the Nation Quaid-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, said: You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”Recommend
Many of the people in Pakistan who have died due to running terrorism across country were in fact Muslims. This is the first time that Ahmedis have been attacked in such a manner, after Musharraf agreed to USA-led war on terror. So, it is a bad assumption that Ahmedis have been targeted by people frustrated in North Waziristan. I am sure this is the case of rising sense of bigotry among the so-called Madrassah-going terrorists. But until all reports are properly investigated we will have no way of saying who killed them. Fingers are being pointed by our lame duck government on Punjab Talibans. Who are they and how does our government know within a fortnight that they are involved and not someone else?Recommend
@ Mr. M Ziad
with all due respect, sir, your take on the state of the state of the minorities of Pakistan is utterly preposterous! Do you seriously think a low-class Christian has a chance to move up the economic, social or political ladder, just because of the fact that he/she was born into a minority subjected to the lowliest of tasks in our society? How dare you claim that the minority enjoys ‘previliges’ in our country? Have you not seen around you? Or are you also going to turn a blind-eye to these inequities of our society? Isn’t the Constitution, the law, the whole status-quo enough for us, the majority, to propagate our ‘rights’ that you profess have been taken away by international forces? I have not heard a flimsier rationalization of the inadequacies of our society in a long time!Recommend
continued…
and, by the Constitution ‘protecting the rights of the majority,’ i mean the unfortunate, unjustifiable way in which the very law of the land marginalizes so many religious groups of the country. And when you ask international organization to keep away from OUR issues, remind yourself that humanity transcends petty boundaries of states. You are either oblivious to the hate that plagues our society, or in denial of it, which caused dire consequences like the attacks on Christians in Gojra and the recent attacks on Ahmedis in Lahore!Recommend
@ Mr Ammar,
Privileges which are not enjoyed by others. This was a terrorist attack not a state sponsored atrocity against minority Yet they are lamenting the state as if the state is responsible for the Massacre which is indeed partly correct as far as security is concerned but terrorism itself is a global phenomena which can strike in any city of the world. How then is this not a privilege that the international community sympathizes with this lot but point at Pakistan for being responsible for the attacks which is down right irrational. Privileges such as patronship of organizations such as Amnesty and Human rights Commission , something the majority which have been mostly targeted in these terrorists attacks do not enjoy. Is it not a privilege that a community targeted first time
by these terrorists have the ability to mount pressure on Pakistan . Humanity should transcend borders when bombs are dropped in Fata from both sides which results in civilian casualties but is overlooked and given a shade of war. Where is the International Humanity when the night operations in Kandahar results in the deaths of innocents?
Ahmedis in our country enjoy Security (it is the first case of terrorist attack on their community where as thousands from the ‘majority’ have been the victims). The incidents you named are just few , have you ever considered looking into the state sponsored incidents all over the world which is ignored by the same ‘humanity which transcends borders’ ?
Do not take me wrong, i was compelled to write because of their demand of calling their dead as Shuhada , this is the hidden agenda . Why cash in on the dead?? It is the social contract of our with the state to consider ahmedis non Muslim. Raising such issues mock the dead that were killed by the terrorists. This means that the community is much more upset with the constitution than the ones who died and they are holding the constitution responsible for the killings which is absurd. We are going through the times of war, and i repeat in these terrorist waves this is the first time they have been victimized. Yes, indeed our condolences are with them but that certainly does not mean we succumb to other issues which are not related to the terrorist attacks.Recommend
@ Mr Zaid
I believe atrocities committed anywhere to be as much condemnable as this one. But do not ignore the fact that the status-quo in our country DOES favor a religious majority. And you have your facts messed up again when you say ahmedis have been victimized for the first time. there have been numerous cases where adherents of this belief have been attacked. Friday’s attacks were fuelled by the same old hate and bigotry in a more violent garb, the same tendency that has been thriving on hatred and difference, only this time it was heavily armed!
Yes, terrorism is a menace for every single community of this country. But then again, it thrives on all the tendencies that have unfortunately existed in our society for a long time now. Be it against a minority or a state or the army, the fact of the matter is that this bigotry was, sadly, made part and parcel of our society, and has now unleashed a monster!Recommend
It very terrible incidence for the people of pakistan.Pakistan is a muslim state and protect the minorities is its religious obligation.
We have to pray for pakistan and its people.May Allah forgive us.Recommend
its really a sad and tragic event, and why should we people be surprised, the government of pakistan has ever never treated Ahmadis as the citizens of Pakistan, infact the government dont have the time, they dont have the interest , they dont have the courage to treat ahmadis like Muslims and like other people of pakistan, one of my friend wrote that the ahmadis are enjoying better standards of protection, well i would like him to correct his statement, whenever asked for security at the ahmadi mosques the government officials or the police shows least interest in providing security, and my dear friend when security was provided at one of the attacked mosques in lahore, i hope you dont know what happened, there came two policemen, one of them with a DANDA( a wodden stick) and the other one with only four bullets in the magazine of the riffle, well do you call this better security and better living standards, it should be accepted open heartedly that these attacks showed the attitude of the government officials towards the security of the Ahmadis and also towards the other minorities in Pakistan, No doubt my friend you might have seen security at the mosques sometimes and this is because not all people are alike, and there must be some officials in the government who still want to treat ahmadis like HUMANS. My dear friend the word Mullah is not traceable in any language, it is a PUSHTO self made word, if you really can show us where it is traceable then that would be great. My dear friend the word Shaheed is used in Pakistan where ever the government wants it to be used. The ahmadis call them selves Muslims and there is by no mean possible for any one to call them as non-Muslims, but who will understand this? Sad for all the caring people of the nation what happened in Lahore.Recommend
Anyone who believes the current attacks on Ahmadis are FATA related should read on what perpetrators have to say for their motives;
> Meanwhile, a police official, who did
> not want to be identified, told PTI
> that the terrorists, after arriving in
> Lahore on May 21, stayed in Tableegi
> Markaz area of Raiwind.
>
> “Their facilitators took them to the
> Ahmadis Mosques for at least two times
> before they carried out the deadly
> attack on May 28,” he said.
>
> The official said the attackers were
> religiously motivated and that they
> were told by their handlers that
> “killing Ahmadis is a license to go to
> heaven”.
>
> **”They were also told that Ajmadis had**
> **role in drawing cartoon of Prophet**
> **Muhammad (on Facebook),” he said.**
dnaindia.com/world/report_ttp-militants-behind-attacks-aided-by-local-facilitators-police-officer_1389550
[Same news was published in Jang too but I can't find the link at the moment]
Essentially they were provoked into attacking Ahmadis by linking Ahmadis to the cartoon controversy. Banners to the same effect were also erected on Lahore Mall Road in Model town. This was a cleverly designed conspiracy.Recommend
Lahore Mall Road in Model town = Lahore Mall Road and Model townRecommend
@Muhammad Ziad:
“You claim they are the most peaceful people , yet **Mr Abdus Salam headed the Pakistan Nuclear Weopons Programme at one time in his life**.”
I don’t think that has ever been the case, can you provide a reference?Recommend
The title of this post should have been “Pakistanis under attack”.Recommend
What anti-Islam activities do Ahmadis indulge in? I have know many Ahmadis for years and I not noticed or even suspected any such activities!Recommend
Much shame on you Muhammad Ziad, Dr Abdus Salam was the only muslim Pakistani nobel peace prize winner ever and most likely to be when Pakistan is full of people like you……I feel sorry for you jahil lot!!!!Recommend