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A signboard outside Jadeed Qabristan (graveyard), Rawalpindi read: “It’s prohibited to bury Mirzais here.” —Photo courtesy Shahzad Raza

Jadeed Qabristan (graveyard) is located near Murree Road in the heart of the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

A signboard dangling outside the house of the gravedigger reads: “It’s prohibited to bury Mirzais here.” ‘Mirzai’ and ‘Qadiyani’ are derogatory terms used against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. While taking a photo of the sign, one is greeted with suspicious stares.

For decades, Ahmadis have faced persecution at the hands of religious extremists and right wing forces. The state jumped into the fray in 1974, when the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced a constitutional amendment declaring them non-Muslim to ward off pressure from right-wing forces.

People offer prayers at the grave of Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate Professor Abdus Salam, who was a member of the Ahmadiyya community. — AFP/File photo.

Before the May 11 general elections, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) labeled Pakistan as a country where religious freedom has been extremely limited.

The subjugation of Ahmadis started soon after Independence in 1947. Led by Jamaat-i-Islami, right-wing groups spearheaded anti-Ahmadi campaigns. The first such violent movement erupted in Punjab, in 1953, leading to… continue reading at beta.dawn.com

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