Daily Times: Towards Hotel Mohenjodaro — Yasser Latif Hamdani

Will Pakistan then be willing to consider Ahmedis and other communities in Pakistan worthy of a certain amount of dignity?

The miscreants who attacked a Hindu temple in Karachi to prove their religious bona fides have been charged under Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. It is about time. Now let us also consider the state of that forced minority the faithful love to hate, i.e. the Ahmedis. Who is going to bell the cat and charge the passport offices of the country under Section 295-A for routinely abusing this community?

The state, with deliberate and malicious intent, through words written describes the founder of the Ahmaddiya Jamaat as an ‘imposter’ and a ‘liar’. The state must realise that it cannot have it both ways. It cannot declare an entire community non-Muslim and then deny them the protections that are granted to other religions. If Ahmedis constitute a religious minority, then its founder falls squarely within the ambit and scope of Section 295-A. Ahmedis may be considered non-Muslim, but does that mean they are to be considered non-citizens as well?

Whatever the claims of the founder of the Ahmedi faith — and these are subject of controversy even within the Ahmedi community — it must be said that he is held in some regard by a class of people in Pakistan and therefore should enjoy the protection afforded to the founders of various faiths under Pakistani law.

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