Daily Times

In the context of the
continued persecution of the Ahmadis in Pakistan this scribe recently wrote a column titled “Who will stand for Ahmadis in Pakistan?” Since then I am trying to find the answer.

Have I heard some strong voices in their support denouncing their persecution? With Imran Khan chickening out just before the elections, are these the voices of some brave young politicians and intellectuals? With some others too aspiring for the extremists’ support, are Bilawal Bhutto and Fatima Bhutto responding in the affirmative? Perhaps they have realised that faith is the relationship between man and God, and their liberal grandfather erred when he allowed the state to determine a person’s religion in contradiction to that person’s proclaimed beliefs. Perhaps they have realised that the judgment of faith being the prerogative of God, it was wrong to have succumbed to pressure from the clerics in 1974 in letting them have that one of a kind amendment in the constitution that had declared “Ahmadis as not Muslims for the purposes of constitution and law.” Perhaps they have realised that this single piece of legislation later paved the way for the ascendency of clerics in Pakistan and threw open the unbridled rise of religious intolerance and extremism that has eaten up our social fabric. Perhaps they have realised that what is manifesting as violence against Shiites is an extension of this mindset. Perhaps they have realised that this later paved the way for the military dictator General Ziaul Haq to promulgate laws that made the country most receptive to extremist ideology, and that in turn made pseudo-religious terrorists of the world converge in our area when the time was opportune. Perhaps they have somehow mustered courage from somewhere to say no to the unending quest for innocent blood that a category of mullahs had since developed. Perhaps they have concluded that enough is enough and that the time for the showdown with repressive ideologies has come. Then it all fizzled away as it was just a dream.

Should we stop dreaming? No, the day we stop dreaming we would lose the charm of life. George Bernard Shaw aptly said, “You see things, and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream of things that never were, and I say ‘Why not’?” Pakistan too was once a dream. Maulvi A K Fazlul Haq’s tabling of the Lahore Resolution based on the memo drafted by Sir Mohammad Zafrullah Khan, an Ahmadi, was nothing but a dream. Courtesy the cohesive leadership of the Quaid-e-Azam that dream came true and the Muslims of the subcontinent got their homeland. So this dream will also come true one day.

Incidentally, marginalising the Ahmadis has not proved good for Pakistan. Realising their potential, Pakistan’s early leaders made good use of their services. Jinnah made Zafrullah Khan the country’s first foreign minister and later governments made him the permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN where he fought for the rights of the Palestinians, Libyans and Moroccans, etc. Ayub Khan made M M Ahmad, an Ahmadi, his economic advisor and the man orchestrated the much trumpeted decade of development for Pakistan when Pakistan was a model for South Korea. Khan made Dr Abdus Salam, an Ahmadi, his scientific advisor and Dr Salam laid the foundation of practically all scientific development of Pakistan. Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto continued with this, entrusting Dr Salam with tasks of national importance, including its atomic programme. Though as a mark of protest Dr Salam left the country after Ahmadis were declared not-Muslims by the parliament in 1974, he remained a loyal son of his homeland and maintained close relations with the institutions at home that mattered. He personally approved many appointments and a large influx of Pakistani scientists at the ICTP and CERN, who were to later serve his country. Though using the services of Ahmadis subsequently plummeted, people from the community have continued serving their country well. Returning to the Ahmadis their due rights is, therefore, a burden of history on all Pakistanis.

Whenever in history any group has been persecuted on a massive scale, great upheaval has followed. This can perhaps be taken as the revenge of the Divine who does not approve persecution and loves all His creation. Nations and the populace who let grave atrocities be committed have always had to pay a heavy price. In the not so distant past Jews were massively persecuted in Europe. While the people of Europe had the right to differ with the Jews and consider them wrong, persecution was never their right. What Europe received as its reward was a war beyond imagination. In our land the people have the right to differ with the Ahmadis and to consider them wrong. Persecution is, however, not their right. Thanks to the separate voters list for Ahmadis, the addresses of all Ahmadis who were registered as voters stand published for the ease of those who want to inflict upon them a Nazi-era style persecution that the Jews faced. One is compelled to think if it is not a conspiracy to force this moderate and progressive community to leave the country they actively helped create.

The people of Pakistan are generally humane but a section of clerics are hell bent upon deceiving them into cruelty. These innocent people deserve a better future than the one that befalls a cruel nation. One day surely we will have the leadership that would have the mantle to successfully challenge the extremist pseudo-religious elements who want this country to be a theocracy and whose love for religion is nothing but a tool for political gain. The battle for Pakistan’s soul is overdue and the people desperately wait for such leadership to emerge. That would be the day Pakistan rediscovers itself.

The writer can be reached at thelogicalguy@yahoo.com