Anti-Ahmadi apartheid in Pakistan: Speak up for Gujranwala

BY MIR NASAR AHMAD

Seven-year-old Hira, her sister Kainat and 55-year-old Bashiran bibi were burned alive after a violent mob set fire to their homes and then openly celebrated the barbarity. The mob was retaliating against an alleged blasphemous post on Facebook and considered it well within its right to burn alive three innocent people not even directly involved in the incident.

Just as the long standing and well entrenched pro-Israeli bias in the Western media and governments is hard to shake and allows the IDF to kill and destroy with impunity, the victims in Gujranwala were Ahmadis who face an apartheid like state backed persecution in Pakistan. The constitution of the land declares them non-Muslim although the group claims to be within the fold of Islam. Ahmadis are prohibited from preaching their religion or posing as Muslims, an offence that carries a three-year jail term under the Pakistan Penal Code. Ahmadis can, however, also be booked under the more draconian provisions of the said penal code that prescribe the death penalty for blasphemy. Any expression of faith by an Ahmadi can potentially be construed as blasphemy and provide a pretext for mobs to ransack Ahmadi homes and burn their inhabitants alive.

Unfortunately, when the highest court of the country was approached to seek some relief for Ahmadis and have these inhuman laws overturned, the Supreme Court not only rejected the plea but also though fit to remark that the very existence of Ahmadis was akin to blasphemy. This was 1992. Not much has changed since. Every Pakistani who wishes to acquire a national identity card or passport today, in order to be recognised as a Muslim, must denounce the leader of the Ahmadi community and declare him an impostor. Ahmadis cannot vote and have no representation or voice in political discourse. Incidents of target killings and mob violence have been taking place with increasing frequency. Yet many Pakistanis do not feel any outrage when such injustice is perpetrated at home and there continues to be a deafening silence across all strata of society.

Just as one cannot expect the recent massacre in Gaza to shame the United Nations Security Council into unequivocally condemning the Israelis and declaring a Palestinian state, similarly it would be wishful thinking to expect that the Gujranwala incident will bring about a change of heart in the Pakistani parliament and that it will act to repeal the anti-Ahmadi laws in the near future. The anti-Ahmadi bias runs too deep and is interwoven with the political, economic and religious interests of groups that are extremely powerful and totally unwilling to concede any ground on this issue. The media has been criminally silent and millions will celebrate Eid without knowing that two children were burned alive not in Gaza, but in our own backyard.

Is there anything then that can be done for the oppressed and marginalised Ahmadis of Pakistan? To start with, why not show support and solidarity for the victims by speaking up. It is heartening to see social media standing up to propaganda waged by the strong and well-funded pro-Israeli lobby, and creating a counter-narrative that has truly brought the world’s attention to the real facts on the ground. We too can raise our voice against the anti-Ahmadi apartheid in Pakistan to drown out the noise of hate and bigotry. If coming out on the streets is not an option, let us at least reserve one tweet, one post and one message of support for the victims of this horrific tragedy in Gujranwala and remember them in our prayers along with the people of Gaza.