Source: Dawn.Com
The Ahmadis are one of the worst sufferers as horrors are being visited on them.Qasim Rashid, a 31-year old Pakistani-American who migrated to the US when he was five, returned home to explore his roots and learn more about the status of his community, the Ahmadis, in the country of his birth. This remarkable book is the fruit of a labour of love that took him to Mong, Rabwah, Qadian, and other places. He had long conversations with his uncle Bashir and his cousin Danyal and many others who recounted their experiences — not by any chance happy ones.
In the village called Mong, Ahmadis in their place of worship were butchered heartlessly by three gunmen in October 2005 in what the author calls “a perfectly executed massacre”. Rashid heard the painful tales of woe of mothers, sons and others who lost their loved ones. The prayer leader, who escaped miraculously, summed it up: “In the end they killed eight of my brothers, and shot 20 more.”
That was shocking enough for Qasim Rashid as was the sight of blood-stained and bullet-marked walls and floors. He was caught off guard when Yousef, one of the survivors, said, “The culprits were never caught. The police made no effort to find them.”
Rashid discovers a story of persecution, discrimination, torture and torment of the Ahmadis in Pakistan. They have been victims of violence and oppression. The situation has been compounded by unjust laws that have actually disempowered them by denying them their political rights which prevents them from fighting back. Designated non-Muslim, they have been declared a minority and one knows what rights the minorities in Pakistan enjoy.