Pakistan: Ahmedis and Eid

Even festive occasions, where the motto ought to be nothing but unity and harmony, have become sordid affairs in Pakistan. This Eidul Azha has seen, yet again, the Ahmedi community persecuted for daring to partake in the celebrations. There have been many reports, particularly in Lahore, of Ahmedis being stopped from carrying out the ritual sacrifice, with extremist mullahs and madrassas’ insistence on this being supported by the Punjab police. Police in Lahore halted Eid activities for members of the Ahmedi community because, according to them, it is against the injunctions of Islam for Ahmedis to join in Muslim festivals and also to maintain the ‘law and order situation’. Instead of actually doing its job where it should provide security to each and every one of the nation’s citizens, the Punjab police seem to want nothing more than to make life easier for themselves by preventing an entire community from celebrating Eid just because it could rile up the ever-antagonistic maulvis and madrassa clerics. In other words, the police have turned into the uniformed tools of the extremists. Eidul Azha last year witnessed the same kind of discrimination when two Ahmedis were arrested and taken into custody for having the gall to sacrifice animals. This year, the only difference has been Ahmedis accused of sacrificing animals publicly being dragged off to police stations, ‘persuaded’ not to cause ‘trouble’, and then released. One must ask under what law can the police prevent anyone in this country from sacrificing an animal? The police have no business interfering in the religious activities of citizens. In order to maintain so-called ‘peace’, the police have kowtowed to pressure from the mullahs who are obsessed with their violent hatred of the Ahmedis. This is not what law enforcers do. One must also wonder whether the Ahmedis are considered citizens of Pakistan. While their forced ouster from the Islamic faith in the 1974 second amendment to the constitution is debatable on the grounds that parliament does not have the authority to determine who belongs or does not belong within the fold of Islam, this nevertheless does not imply that they have also been deprived of their citizenship of Pakistan and the rights it bestows on them. The Ahmedis of Pakistan are very much citizens and deserve to enjoy the same rights as anyone else. If the police have become party to the kind of intolerance and nonsense that the maulvis are known to fan the flames of, the Punjab government needs to take note. The police must be filtered of all such elements and trained to adhere to the law without fear or favour. Any fears of a disturbed law and order situation must be dealt with by protecting threatened citizens of all denominations and the minorities and taking action under the law against anyone who espouses violence against them.