By a Pakistani
The events in Punjab Medical College in Faisalabad recently have brought to the forefront once again a very important and yet neglected issue which continues to blacken our collective conscience as a nation. The expulsion of 23 students for allegedly preaching their faith underscored the sickness that has crept into the majority in this country bringing bad name to the country and the faith of Islam as well. There is need for serious inquiry as to whether this pathetic state of affairs will be allowed to continue and will the Ahmadis continue to be the victims of Pakistan’s version of Jim Crow Laws aided and abetted by a PC0-ed judiciary passing numerous “Dredd Scott” like decisions.
The persecution of Ahmadis even under the present mangled constitution is patently unconstitutional. A fair court of law would have noticed and pounced on the Ahmadi-specific legislation that has crept into our statute books for every single one of these laws violate a couple dozen fundamental rights accorded to the citizens of Pakistan not the least Article 20 which gives every citizen the right to practice and propagate his or her religion without any caveats. The rot however began with Bhutto’s 2nd Amendment which declared Ahmadis Non-Muslim. His law minister, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, proved himself to be a poor constitutional lawyer when he declared that the National Assembly was sovereign and could take such a step. The correct legal position was that of Sir Zafrullah Khan, erstwhile Pakistani foreign minister and one of the authors of the Lahore Resolution, who argued that it was beyond the scope of the National Assembly to determine the faith of an individual especially under the Constitution of 1973. Even the Islamic provisions of the constitution of 1973 were to be interpreted according to each sect’s understanding and Ahmadis being an established Muslim sect in 1973 were entitled to their own interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah.
Ahmadis were also very much Muslim when the Government of Pakistan laid claim to Qadian as a Muslim holy place in 1947 as a counterweight to Sikh claims to their holy sites in Pakistan. No less a person than Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding father, had declared unequivocally on the Ahmadi issue that anyone who calls himself a Muslim is a Muslim and that anyone who says otherwise is conspiring against the Muslim cause. It is little known that Jinnah was finally persuaded to return to India and lead the Muslim League by Mr. Ibrahim Dard, the Imam of the London Ahmaddiya Mosque in the 1930s. The future founder of Pakistan had gone to and prayed behind the Ahmaddiya mosque unaware that the country he was about to create in two decades would one day make such an act punishable under law. If he was to time travel into the future, he would probably abandon the whole Pakistan project altogether.
Every single act of persecution against Ahmadis is quite unjustifiably laid at the door of the idea of Pakistan. Unjustifiably because those at the fore front of the “Persecute Ahmadis movement” are the same people who bitterly opposed Pakistan and considered Jinnah as big a Kafir as they consider the Ahmadis. The first occurrence of the anti-Ahmaddiya feeling on record is a report by a Muslim League activist who found that in the tribal areas, Fakir of Ipi and other pro-Congress Mullah elements had begun to describe the Muslim League as a bastion of “Qadiyanism”. The same feeling has persisted. Majlis-e-Ahrar that led the anti-Ahmaddiya movement in 1953-1954 was the biggest Congress ally before partition. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Maududi had dismissed Jinnah and others as too secular and westernized to properly lead the Muslims. The biggest persecutors of Ahmadis i.e. Darul-Uloom-Deoband and their cronies owe their very political existence to Mahatma Gandhi who introduced these Mullahs in the Khilafat movement- out of which arose the Jamiat-e-Ulema-Hind- the forerunner of all fundamentalist and militant movements in South Asia and beyond.
The idea that a majority can dictate to a minority what it is or isn’t allowed to call itself is the very anti-thesis of the principle Pakistan was created on. Pakistan was created on the idea that a permanent majority cannot by sheer numeric strength dominate and dictate to a permanent minority. The anti-Ahmaddiya legislation flies in face of the whole Pakistan idea, leading to at least one perceptive commentator calling the second amendment to the constitution in 1974 nothing less than the death of Pakistan. That a PPP government was in charge and Pakistan’s brightest Prime Minister was in power makes that event even more ironic. Bhutto perhaps had no other option. Had he resisted it, the establishment would have used the issue to dismiss Bhutto the same way they dismissed Khawaja Nazimuddin and the Muslim League government in 1953. Of course Bhutto fell three years later and atleast the rotund and very religious Nazimuddin does not carry the blot of being the Prime Minister who persecuted a group of people based on their faith. Great responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Pakistan People’s Party to undo its heinous mistake and clear up the good name of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto once and for all. It has an excellent opportunity to undo a historic wrong.
Remember the issue is not, and it has never been, whether anyone agrees with Ahmadis or considers them Muslim. It is one’s right to hold an opinion but that opinion cannot be imposed no matter what force of majority is behind it. The issue is- as it has always been- what Ahmadis consider themselves. No construction of Article 20 of the constitution can deny them the right to call themselves Muslims and by settled law fundamental rights are the over-riding feature of any written constitution. Therefore the second amendment itself is unconstitutional and illegal, not to mention the antithesis of Pakistan and its idealism. It is also an issue that cuts deep into our aspiration to be a civilized and tolerant society based on rule of law. The actions of those who had always opposed Pakistan and its founder are beginning to taint the very ideal to utter joy of our enemies home and abroad. It is time for Pakistanis to stand up and be counted.
The writer is a lawyer and a participant in the lawyer’s movement. He has asked to keep his identity secret for the fear of persecution.
5 Comments
June 15, 2008 at 7:03 pm
The anti Ahmedi legislation must be with drawn and PPP must act. But the responsibility equally lies on the “defenders of the constitution” the lawyer movement who have with them those very forces , the Jamate Islami and right wing media who than dictated and blackmailed , the elected parliament. This is not a co incidence that Mr Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami, Abdul Qadir Hassan were other day comparing the Lawyers movements with Anti Ahmedi movement which forced these amendments. If the Bar and lawyers movement can either put up or allow banners like “Hum lal masjid ka badla lene nikle hein , chalo hamare sath chalo” and Pakistan ke 3 chief , Iftikhar , Qadeer or Nawaz Shaif, the lawyers movement can also ask for repealing Anti Ahmedi, and Anti Woman laws, but the irony is that Mahatama Gandhi brought these Mullahs into Indian politics and Aitzaz Ahsan is bringing Qazi Hussein Ahmed and Hameed Gul and Lal Masjid back into central stage in Pakistani politics
For historical record “No political party” opposed the Anti Ahmedi resolution, not even Wali Khan. The “national movement” made sure no one could oppose. The old PPP workers still maintain that Bhutto saab had done it as “tactical retreat” to de activate the streets and stop the bloody pogroms against Ahmedis. He intended to reverse all these as things were under his grip again. This gets some support from the fact that Jamate Ahmedia officially asked all Ahmedis to vote for PPP in 1977 election. The elections which the right wing refused to accept resulting in Zia ul Haq, who introduced the real segregation Jim crow type laws in Pakistan [The Imtina e Qadianiat ordinance]. It was these laws which really made life miserable for Ahmedis.
Whilst the government acted the PPP refused to took an official position asking the members to vote “according to their conscience”.
So it was not a Bhutto decision, though he should have resisted it even if his government was toppled. It was a decision of ALL POLITICAL PARTIES of Pakistan. Now its time for all Political parties to act togeather and its time for civil society and lawyers movement to test their allies Jamat and PML-N. if these two agree PPP will not oppose!
Pco ed , right but Justice Iftikhar too NEVER took any notice of ANY discriminatory law!!!
SA
June 16, 2008 at 5:11 am
Its a pity and a shameful act act,i also wrote on my blog.good news is that the punjab governor,Mr-Salman Taseer took action and he has ordered the reinstation of those students.
Any way these lwas should be finished and as ppp is in govt so thye must take this concrete action.
Good Article!
Keep yours voice for the rights of humanity!
July 3, 2008 at 10:15 pm
HRCP statement on PMC Ahmedi students’ episode
Lahore, July 03, 2008: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday expressed its concern at the authorities’ failure to redress the grievances of the unlawfully expelled Ahmedi students of a Faisalabad college and demanded strict action against the trouble-makers.
In a statement, HRCP Co-chairman Iqbal Haider said the rustication of 23 Ahmedi students of the Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, early last month on the ground of their belief was apparently a case of extraordinary discrimination. The HRCP, therefore, requested a senior member of its governing body to probe the matter.
This inquiry showed that while rusticating the students, the college administration did not follow the rules prescribed for this extreme action; that the committee of teachers set up to examine the victims after the event included teachers who were in the body that had taken the decision to rusticate them; and that a few students who appeared before the investigating committee were unduly harassed and intimidated. There were also indications that some members of the faculty colluded with the Ahmedi-baiting trouble-makers.
The commission is, therefore, seriously apprehensive of justice being denied to the unlawfully expelled students. It calls upon the provincial and federal governments to intervene immediately to protect the wronged students and deal firmly with hate-preachers. Dawn
http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/July-08/HRCP- statement-PMC-students.asp
July 4, 2008 at 5:20 pm
The level of civilisation and development in a society can be simply measured by taking a look at its human rights situation. A country with a tainted human rights record cannot be counted among the developed nations. Although Pakistan has been elected a member of the UN Human Rights Council by dint of its clout among a section of Muslim countries, it has a poor human rights record in almost all areas. Despite constitutional safeguards for the protection of minorities, the treatment meted out minorities in Pakistan is far from satisfactory. The minorities have been marginalised and oppressed in Pakistan, both by the people and the state.
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Another shocking reminder of how we treat minorities is what happened in Faisalabad, where the administration of Punjab Medical College (PMC) expelled 23 Ahmedi students studying in various classes from first year to the final year, on charges of preaching religion in the university, following a recommendation by the college’s disciplinary committee. The students of the PMC belonging to different religious groups such as the Islami Jamia- e-Talaba had initiated protests on the campus, demanding the termination of Ahmedi students from the college. Some reports say that the Ahmedi students were accused of preaching their religion on the campus, while other say that four Ahmedi students had removed the posters of a religious gathering, which allegedly contained insulting remarks against the head of the founder of the Ahmediyya movement, thus sparking the incident. Whatever the actual cause may be, the PMC administration, in an unwise and highly biased move, yielded to the pressure by the students and expelled 23 Ahmedi students. Following the expulsion, the parents of the expelled students and the Ahmedi community decided to go to the court against the action of the PMC. As a result, the PMC administration withdrew the rustication order, but suspended the students for two weeks. History reveals that this incident is not the first of its kind. The institution prides itself on leading the movement against the Ahmadis in 1974.
Traditionally, the Ahmedis have been known to conceal their identity for fear of persecution in a society that is routinely fed with bias and hatred against this community by the fire-breathing clerics. When the college administration displayed the list on the notice board, it made the cardinal mistake of exposing the vulnerable students to the persecution of religious outfits, who are not averse to using violence. Such is the pressure of fundamentalist sections on state institutions that these elements literally get away with murder as a matter of routine. Even after the rustication of the Ahmedi students has been reversed, one could imagine the daily battle they will have to go through being surrounded by an extremely hostile atmosphere. Prejudice against the Ahmedi community is so deep seated in our society that if some students/teachers believe in non-discrimination and equal rights for minorities, they cannot come out openly in support for the risk of being labelled as pro-Ahmedi.
The kind of behaviour that has been meted out to them will surely have its repercussions. How can the students be expected to give a 100 percent performance in their exams, if they know that the whole system is biased against them?
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Viewing things in a broader context, this mindset is not limited to one college or city only, these incidents manifests the bigotry underlying the moderate facet of society. It is worthy of mention that these attitudes, which were confined to a minority of religious outfits, have spread in society due to the strengthening of such elements by successive government as well the failure of the state to punish those indulging in discrimination and violence against minorities. The educated and so-called ‘liberal’ section of society has started responding to issues like this without thinking it through. The reason is that the fanatic elements present in society directly or indirectly push the common citizens to act on impulse and many buckle under this pressure, as it is safer for the average citizen to side with the stronger party, rather than supporting the minority. The same attitude governs the mobs, who commitviolence without thinking.
If we do not respond to these incidents and provide support to the minority communities in Pakistan, it might lead to devastation of the already fragile state of social harmony, peace and justice. The civil society and the government have to make efforts to safeguard and provide basic human rights to the minorities, while educating the masses to curb the rising tide of bigotry and religious intolerance.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/vis.aspx
July 18, 2008 at 8:51 am
Hazrat, the constitution is not superior to the Qur’an: the Ahmedis are non-Muslim, as conclusively proved by all the Ulema:- Sunni, Sufi, Barelvi, Deobandi, Ahle Hadith, Shia, over a hundred years ago when Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadiyan declared he was the Messiah and a Prophet and failed to show up at the Lahore debate -which he had himself instigated- with Hazrat Pir Mehr Ali Shah RA.
[Mirza Qadiyani sahib also shortly afterwards announced at a rally to Hindus that he was an incarnation of Krishna, but this failed to get much notice, and seeing that he won no followers amongst the Hindus, did not bother repeating this claim]
The fact is that they were a sect created by the British who always loyally supported the British Colonial Masters, even if it meant stabbing the “natives” in the back. Mr. Mirza Qadiyani They opposed the Khilafat Movement, Mr. Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement, Independence for India etc. etc.
They are welcome to rights -as a minority.
As to your claim that anyone who claims to be a Muslim is one, is untenable.
An opinion is not legal fact. One may feel one is entitled to pension, but this opinion is immaterial if one does not meet the conditions required to be a pensioner .
Clearly the condition to be a Muslim is a belief in God, His books, His Angels and messengers and the Finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad PBUH.
The Qadiyanis frankly fail this requirement. As do the Baha’is and the Babis, and no sensible person regards them as Muslim, but rather as sects which eventually ended beyond the pale of Islam.