Source: Washinggton Post.

A Pakistani woman walks past posters of a parliamentary election candidate. B.K. Bangash/Associated…)

On May 11th, the world’s second most populous Muslim country, Pakistan, will mark a historic election. The country’s 66-year history is marred by the presence of martial laws and never before has one elected government replaced another. As Pakistanis rush to the polling stations to cast their vote, over 4 million people will sit home, separated and disenfranchised.
They are the members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a peaceful sect within Islam, who are the victims of this “separate but equal” electorate in Pakistan; a system rooted in religious discrimination.

Since the inception of Pakistan in 1947 to up until 1984, all Pakistanis voted on a joint electorate. Then Ahmadis were separated from the mainstream in 1974 when Z. A. Bhutto appeased the clerics by constitutionally declaring them “not Muslims.”  A decade later, Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s military dictator, issued Ordinance XX,  further silencing the Ahmadis who could then be imprisoned for up to three years for simply using Islamic terminology like “Assalamu alaikum” meaning “peace be upon you.”

In 1985, as a step towards pseudo-Islamization of the nation, Zia imposed a separate electorate for all religious minorities, including the Ahmadis, who were required to declare themselves non-Muslims in order to gain the limited right to vote for only the 5 percent minority seats of National Assembly.

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