The DailyTimes: by Usman Ahmad: The day was in the words of Charles Dickens, “…one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade”, and there all the tears of yesterday and tomorrow were shed once again
Spring is supposed to be the season of renewal. It is the time of year when nature’s life cycle begins again and the world heaves with the verdant breath of future promise. The ancient Mesopotamians ushered in the season with the festival of Akitu that celebrated the cutting of barley. In more recent times, spring festivals have become as abundant and vibrant as the fruits, flowers and harvests they extol. But, in our topsy-turvy age, the nascent Pakistani spring of 2012 has been harsher than the bleakest arctic winter for the country’s Ahmedis. Life has given way to death, and joy has once again been consumed by the unholy shadow of bereavement. Last Wednesday, Maqsood Ahmad became the second Ahmedi to be killed in Nawabshah within the space of ten days. Two motorcyclists assailed him in the busy Mohni Baazar and shot him dead at point blank range. He was 58 years old. This is just the latest harrowing episode in the decades-long persecution Ahmedis have suffered in a country that they helped build from its foundations.
We have been here too many times before. The constitutional amendment enacted by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974, which declared Ahmedis to be non-Muslims, opened the way for a total moral collapse of society that has led us to where we are today. What more is there to say, amidst the many shameful silences, which has not already been said? There is no fresh perspective to the debate, no alternative, no middle ground, no tolerance, no quiet revolution in the hearts of the people and, therefore, no compromise or peace. So far, if we have learnt anything, it is that there are no limits or bounds that prejudice will not cross. And having observed this lesson, willful impotence is the choice most have opted for.
Categories: Asia, Human Rights, Human values, Islam, Pakistan, Religion, Separation of Church and State, Terrorism
I have been saddened so much, that I am not sad any more.(Freelance translation of ” Dil ko itne gham diay ke ab koi bhi gham naheen ).
It reminds me dearly and nostalgically of late Muhammad Hanif Ramay; the literate laureate of Lahore; a painter of traditionals and abstracts, a progressive writer; a revolutionary Publisher-Editor of monthly “Nusrat”; a magnificent translator of world class literature; a soft-spoken gentle person wearing spectacles larger than his face over his shiny little loving eyes; – becoming a Politician and playing “The Helpless PPP Chief Minister of the Punjab Province” sitting in the Circuit House of Sargodha on that ruthless evening of July 1974; the evening when Ahmadi Dwellings were burnt and Crying Babies were kept deprived of Milk under the Hilarious Leadership of one Rao Abdul Mannan Advocate.
Rao Abdul Mannan Advocate; for whom the “Intellectual-convert-Politician” preferred to Keep His Silence and refrained from Raising His Humanitarian Voice and resorted only to a verbal order “arrest him if you find” – and the same evening the same Rao slept on the floor of a Bath Room in Nawabzada NasrUllah Khan Sahib’s residence at 32-Nicolson Road, Lahore.
The lesson we had learnt from our “Progressive Youth Maharishi” Muhammad Hanif Ramay, “to stand for Humanity in All Situations”, went down the drain of Pakistani Politics.
The Seed of APATHY to SOCIAL JUSTICE was sown and the Fields are Blooming Red.
Again a very apt and knowledgeable comment Mr. Pervaiz. It seems you have a lot of first hand accounts that should be shared. I am curious as to how did you get to know such details. It seems as if you were almost there yourself? have you written this somewhere else?
Thank You – Dr. Alim. I am happy that you liked my comments.
I am a learner; whatever I described is 100% out of the Jamaat Literature and the Published News / Public Record.
Yes, I knew of Muhammad Hanif Ramay with all of his (mentioned) abilities and Yes, I was there at 32-Nicholson Road, Lahore.
Dr. Alim – memories get triggered with certain events; either on a happy note or a sad one; they always tend to become another “Yadoon Ki Baraat” {late Josh Sahib was so very right}.