Source: Daily Times
No election can be “free and fair” if an entire community of about 0.3 million people is effectively excluded from the electoral process
Set by dictators, electoral standards aimed at religious exclusion continue to plague Pakistan. Despite having undergone two democratic governments, nobody has been able to undo the damage caused to our Constitution to ensure the participation of all segments of society in a truly free and fair election.
Deviating from the vision of the founder of Pakistan, General Zia-ul-Haq introduced different political denominations on the basis of religion.It has been more than 33 years since then, but nobody has bothered to address this grave injustice.
To register as voters or to avail their right to vote, Ahmadis must either renounce their faith or agree to be placed in a separate electoral list and accept their status as non-Muslim. To accept being non-Muslim would be a negation of their belief,thus they opt not to vote.
The writer is a journalist currently based in Canada. He can be reached at rana.tanver@gmail.com and @RanaTanver
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Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Pakistan
Tagged as: Ahmadi voting rights, Ahmadis, elections, Pakistani elections
What are the real number of Ahmadis left in Pakistan? We read anything between the 0.3 million (or is that voting age?) to 5 million. I suppose it is somewhere in the middle…