Ahmadi graves desecration: The death of conscience
When one is sitting thousands of miles away from Pakistan, every horrifying story and news event come across as more malicious than ever. Perhaps, living in safer countries, where rights are mutually respected and accepted, puts things into clearer perspective. There are times when I want to question God about why I opened my eyes into a society where religion is taken as a point of differentiation? Why was I born in a country where religious places are bombed? Why was I made to be a part of a society in which people continue to disrespect and kill others who are diverse and different?
It is unfortunate that many amongst us continue to kill for religion, money and power, however, what is most unfortunate is that we have stopped paying respects to the dead as well. The desecration of an Ahmadi graveyard in Lahore is a prime example of the brutal death of Pakistan’s conscience.
Religious bigots who continue to consider themselves as saviors of the Muslim brotherhood fail to realise that desecrating graves is not exactly aligned with the teachings of Islam. What purpose does this grotesque act serve rather than further disrespecting the dead, lying six feet under the ground seeking the peace that they could not get in the sanctuary of their own country? Is it not enough that fanatics disallow the Ahmadi community to live peacefully in Pakistan, that now they must destroy their final resting places?
It is admonishable that the culprits were not even arrested for the repulsive acts that they have committed. Where were the law enforcing agencies and what happened to the caretakers of the graveyard? No matter what faith you belong to, it is impossible to not wonder about the families of the people whose graves were disrespected in the most obscene of ways. Most of us are nothing more than living corpses who neither feel nor understand the pain of hundreds of suffering non-Muslims and Muslim minorities living in Pakistan.
More tragic is the fact that our respected Chief Justice, the custodian of human rights, fails to take any action against the mistreatment of living — and now also dead — minorities. If there ever was a suo moto action to take against anything, it would be this.
Discouraged by the law and order situation and the ubiquity of religious fundamentalism in Pakistan, many Ahmadis have been forced to migrate to other countries in the hope of being treated on equal footings with other people in the society.
An Ahmadi who now lives in Toronto shared his views on the incident, on condition of anonymity, “I am not at all surprised to hear that the intolerance has penetrated so deeply into the roots of our society. How can you expect militants and fundamentalist to respect the people who have left this world for good when they do not feel any pain for people who are alive? My family left Pakistan in the early 1990s because we were literally hounded by clerics and people who supported them. We would receive threatening letters about how if we do not accept the ‘one and only true form of Islam’ we would be killed or worse, our daughters would be raped because according to them sexually assaulting an Ahmadi woman was not considered a crime.”
“Fundamentalists believe that we use excuses such as the one I just mentioned to seek asylum in foreign countries. That is certainly not the case. Nobody wants to leave their country and everything that they possess and start from scratch. But most of us are not left with any option,” he said, tears glistening in his eyes.
Neither any social class nor any age is taken into consideration when it comes to the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan. Adults and children alike are mistreated for their differing religious beliefs. Workplaces, playgrounds and even schools are used as platforms to spread hatred about them. Educational institutes primarily top the list of miscreants who aim to indoctrinate young minds by filling them with hatred for anyone who does not conform to their religious standards.
Many Ahmadi students have been expelled from colleges and universities without any rhyme or reason whereas, others are abused with degrading and hurtful words. It is most ironic but when the entire world was filled with violence and disharmony over the Innocence of Muslims, a group of Ahmadi students was busy organising symposiums in Canadian universities to discourage violence by highlighting the aspects of the holy prophet and how the video was nothing but a way to instigate hatred and aggression. The symposium I attended was held at one of the local universities in the city of Windsor in Ontario. A lot of students showed up for it, some were Christians, many were Muslims and others were agnostic. Most of them came to hear about the life of one of the most revered personalities in Islam and left the auditorium with positive feelings about the religion and its followers.
For me, these students are the true saviors. They’re trying to abridge the communication gap between different communities by answering hundreds of questions which are important to address in order to build an inclusive society.
Societies which thrive on religious disharmony and bigotry perish sooner than later. It is time for us to wake up and safeguard the rights of religious minorities. It is time for us to hold their hands and stand in defiance to the fundamentalist elements who take advantage of our silence. It is indeed time to acknowledge their sacrifices and treat them with the respect that they truly deserve because their graves now seek answers.
The writer is a Reporter at Dawn.com
why qadianee burry their dead at Muslim cemeteries i cant understand. why qadianee dont listen to their own prophet who has forbidden interaction between ahmadi and non ahamdi such as, praying behind a muslims and also funeral prayers of a muslim is prohibited in qadianee religion. why they insist on burying their daed in Muslim cemetery?
Your english clearly shows your lack of understandibilty. For your information they were buried in their OWN graveyard. If you cannot let them live in peace above ground then atleast let them rest in peace six feet under…!! What’s bugging you that they will start preaching their neighbour graves…??
Mr. Akbar,
This a separate grave yard.
Your negativity is the cause of all this Mess. Grow up……
When Qadianis are declared non-Muslims by virtue of Constitution of Pakistan, why they intentionally bury them in Muslim Graveyard. No sane Muslim will tolerate a non-Muslim is being buried along with their next of Muslim kin.
If Qadianis don’t like Pakistan, they must keep leaving it or if they want to live here peacefully they must behave and live according to laid down rules and norms.
Regards.
It seems you’re insane when above comments have explicitly mentioned that it was their OWN graveyard…They get buried in their own surrounding as per their norms and rules….
If all good people keep leaving Pakistan then one day it’s going to be become hell on earth which it is already becoming very fast.
When living people are being killed for being minorities, why should it surprise anyone that the dead are easy targets of hatred? When militants killed hindus, sikhs and christians, very few Pakistanis cared or were sympathetic. When muslims seperated from India, the Ahmedias were in the forefront. The Ahmedias could not countenance living with hindus. When Ahmedias were targeted, Shia themselves were happy and eagerly participated. When the Shia are now targeted, the Sunni Taliban types are happy. It is the inevitable outcome of hatred and bigotry propagated from day one.
Its the Mullah’s pakistan !!!
Its the Pakistan of “Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah” & inshALLAH morning will be there soon and inshALLAH it will remain “Qauid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah” Pakistan
Inshallahs do not get you anywhere.
Wait a minute, they actually get you somewhere.
They have got us to where we are now.
Keep dreaming!!
Yes that dream is more beautiful that’s why millions of Muslim lost their lives during the great migration & still giving their lives for this beautiful homeland Pakistan.
inhuman attitude ; come on this is too bad cant imagine
The intolerance that entered Pakistani society from the time of partition has just changed its focus from Hindus to Bengalis to Ahmadiyas to Sufi Muslims. If such a tide had been stemmed at the very onset, it may have helped. For one thing, even after the formation of Pakistan, it could have been a mirror image of India where the majority population just happened to be Muslim.
It is human nature to be suspicious of people that are different from oneself. It is up to the state to make sure that this does not spill over into breaking the law. Over time and constant contact, these suspicions heal themselves in most cases. But without effective law enforcement the forces of intolerance and hate have become a lot stronger and that’s what you’re seeing in Pakistan.
I couldn’t agree more. Very well said.
Arent Ahmdis Muslims? I am from India and came across this article and was very surprised. I thought this hate was reserved only for Indians????Whats reason on why ahmadis are hated so much. This is newssss to many of us
The issue of Ahmadi, Hindus, Christians in Pakistan just goes on to show the unsecular side of Pakistan. How many faces does Pakistan have? There is terrorism, sectarian violence, violence against women, violence against children. The people of Pakistan must understand that they can no longer isolate themselves and blame these happenings on radicals or Taliban and so on. The world refuses to accept that story any longer. The whole issue is an issue of human rights which minorities are being denied. It shows Islam in bad light and the beliefs of the people across the world strengthen day by day that Islam is an intolerant religion. It appears that Pakistan is tripping on fault after fault. A legacy created by the faulty vision of Pakistan created by a mess of leaders both military and non military. Today it is becoming hard for Pakistan to sell itself on any stage or forum. People across the world are refusing to accept any excuse or reason for the state of affairs. Imagine — “our daughters would be raped because according to them sexually assaulting an Ahmadi woman was not considered a crime” – if the people of other religions where they are in majority applied the same principle to muslim women. Is this acceptable to the mad mullahs and their followers? It’s sickening! Religion is in the hands of goons and if the people accept that then there is no salvation and they will be seen by the rest of the world in the same light. It’s is difficult to see saner voices prevail in Pakistan. When you create a culture of Guns, Violence and Fundamentalism you are in a dead end alley. As the say goes – “you live by the sword and die by the sword”
This tragedy can only happen in Pakistan.
The land of religious bigots and people without Conscience.
Thanks: Faiza
Thanks for highlighting the atmosphere of hatred in Pakistan created in the name of a religion that stands for peace and submission to the will of Allah. Jazakallah for the write-up
There are two axis of evil, Saudi Arabia and Israel, Saudi Arabia for its fanatic tribalism that has poisoned the world peace and destroyed Muslims. These hypocrites gave us terrorists and suicide bombers… and Israel for having no humanity in their soul… both nations and their philosophies are anti humanity and peace and the world needs to objectively see their behavior…..
well written
but i have a few points
when pakistn was established a ahamdi were in top position in the govt, i guess in law ministry, foreign affair ect ect, but they never spoke against discrmination of other minorities esp hindus they were vilified even in text books
my point being , in nazi germany a persom waiting in a death cell wrote these words
first they came for the jews, i kept quite was not my affair
then they came for the gypsies
then they came for the deviant (gays ect)
then they came for the commies still i kept quite
now i can hear them comming for mr
if i had spoken when they first came for the jews maybe i would not be waiting here
in pakistn
first they came foe the hindus
then the ahmedis
then the christian
then its was the shia
now the sunnis are turning against each other deobandi/sufi/salafi ect ect
even the shia targeted the ahmadies, and now they are on target
even now everybody should stand up and be counted, consider the ahmadies muslim, change the law, think shia are also main stream ect ect
Richie
Mumbai
It is a shame and gives a bad name to Islam and Muslims. Taliban intolerance and sense of righteousness makes them the greatest threat to Pakistan and to Islam
I feel so very sorry for the Ahmadis, who are so badly persecuted in Pakistan. I also recall that a very large fraction of Ahmadis were unwilling to live in a secular India and had actively espoused a “Muslim” Pakistan. Ironic, isn’t it?
Do you remember “Ibne Qumta” ?
There are some extremist who could be blamed for one off incident but on the whole, things are not as bad as the writer has stated.
One of the reasons of spilling beans and honking so loudly just because, it becomes easier for an Ahamadi to either get a Green Card or neutralization in any other Foreign Country.
If Ahamadis who have been termed officially as “non-Muslims” want to migrate to any other country, they can do so anytime without so much drum beating.
Regards
Dr. Saleem Siddiqi
see people saying “Qadiyanis should not be allowed to live in Pakistan”.. Have u guys ever read your history books? Who did Jinnah choose as his Foreign Minister? Who brought Jinnah back to India after he had retired to London? Who is the only general in Pakistan who has been injured in active war duty? Who was the only Pakistani to become the President of the International Court of Justice? Who was the Ahmadi in 1930 who headed the All India Kashmir Committee for the cause of the Kashmiri people? Which community just at the beginning of partition made a force to secure Pakistan’s frontiers. e.g. Read Furqan Force? Who was the president of the All India Muslim League in 1931? e.g Read Sir Zarfarullah Khan.. Who was the first Nobel Laureate of Pakistan?? Who is the youngest girl to pass her O levels in Pakistan right now?? You shameless people don’t even think before speaking.. Did u know that the ancestors of todays Mullah the Ahraris and the Jamaat-i-Islami used to call Quaid-e-Azam Kaffar-e-Azam?
I’m very sorry to say but who are you to decide who should live in Pakistan or not?? The entire Ahmadiyya Community suffered a lot for the sake of Pakistan. The majority of the members migrated to Pakistan following their Khalifa.. Every Ahmadi voted for the Muslim League, whereas the Maudoodi and Ahrari parties vehemently opposed the ideology of Pakistan.. And You have the audacity and the moral character to ask us to leave Pakistan?? Ahmadis will live in Pakistan as long as they want, we created this country we are here to stay.. Do whatever you want.. Shame on those who condemn in these words “We condemn this act but do u know who Qadianis are?”.. Please don’t condemn this act, we know in your heart you’ll always come up with an excuse to persecute Ahmadi and everytime an Ahmadi is matyred or persecuted, you always bring your “ifs” and “buts”.. We don’t need such people to condemn.. We have our Allah to protect us and our lives and our beliefs.. Thank you very much!
How many one off incidents do you needs Dr Siddiqi?
And i dont think you understand how immigration works.
Mr. Dr. Sahib,
it is the responsibility of the state to keep peace in the country. If it encourages the disruption by discriminating people based on their religion, race, language or other factor “OFFICIALLY”, then it’s the duty of all right-minded citizen to stand up against it and be counted.
In Nazi Germany, the jews and other minorities were “OFFICIALLY” discriminated and “gased” very OFFICIALLY. Does this mean it was good????? No way.
After the war, all the accused were asked in court to justify their acts and you know what they said?
They said, they were just following orders, and it was not their fault that so many million people were gased. They said they were following OFFICIAL orders. People on the street said they could not do anything, because it was the state that was committing those crimes and everything was OFFICIAL.
The word OFFICIAL is just a veil for coward/bad people to hide themselves and feel comfortable when really bad things are happening and they know they being part of it.
Either they are actively involved in it or tolerating it.
were you at graveyard that night? if not, your ideology sure were…
Its a sad commentary and religion has become a scapegoat for all the other problems like poverty and lack of education, just to mention a few.
If someone says that they are Muslim and recite the ‘Kalima’, then what is the problem? Is Islam some one’s private property?
Very well said Fazia. I don’t know about you but I have no problem expressing my feeling about this country so called ” Qila of Islam” that it would be greatest un-justice of God if this country remained
a country on this planet..
I don’t know why you all are up to Pakistan….Pakistan will remain inshAllah don’t worry “Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah” make it with the help of ALLAH and Million of Muslims all over the world who love Nabi Pak (PBUH).
This is really upsetting. Pakistani society has failed. Everything that Pakistan stood for is now being overshadowed by religious extremism. We could have been better off a secular country..
THIS HURTS
you are one courageous lady!
Desecrating graves is disgusitng act and no action against the culprits means justice delayed is justice denied.
i agree with the views expressed by the writer i would also invite readers to read my letters i wrote in dawn:faith in decline,and religion and politics.they would give you and insight into the roots of the issue.ATHER NAVEED PESHAWAR
Can someone tell me who are Ahmadis and how are they different from the mainstream shia/sunni muslims?thx
yes, i can tell you:Ahmadis believe in Ghulam Ahmad as Rasool ul Allah againt the Quarnic revelations about finality of the Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him)as well as Traditions of the Holy Prophet and IJMA of mainstream ulema-shia and sunni both.Just read verse no 4 of sura al baqra(chapter 2 )which says that those who believe in the revelations inspired in Muhammad and those sent before HIM.This theme is repeatedly mentioned in sura al imran, sura nisa, sura maida and many other suras of the HOLY QURAN.It is nowhere mentioned in the Quran that there will be another messenger after MUhammad (saw).Therefore, according to explicit verses of the Holy Quran and sayings of the Holy messenger Muhammad (saw) the belief in another messsenger is infidelity.Therefore, qadyanis are no doubt non -MUSLIMS.However,being follower of the last prophet i do not approve of violance againt them.
NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO DECIDE ABOUT OTHERS BELIEF.ITS GOOD TO HAVE DISCUSSION,AND LISTEN TO OTHERS INTERPRETATION.LET EVERYBODY THINK ,READ ,SEE AND DECIDE.THAT TIME IS GONE,WHEN THEY USED TO KILL THAT PERSON,WHO HAD DIFFERENT OPINION.ITS IS TIME OF SCIENCE,REASONING AND TECHNOLOGY.YOU DO ,WHATEVER YOU THINK IS RIGHT.AND LET ME DO WHAT I THINK IS RIGHT.AND LET GOD DECIDE ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT.
Please read their literature and then drop your fatwa of Muslim non Muslim. If they recite same kalima, say the same azan and namaz and read the same Quran then what is their religion? Above all they are human being and have equal rights like any one else? No one has right to destroy their properties and take their lives.
Ahmedis are the exact equivalents of Mormons in American Christianity. Mormonism dates back to the 19th century, with Joseph Smith as their prophet. Their church also believes that tthere were many Latter Day Saints. It is therefore of interest that even though most American Christians would be against Mormonism, Mitt Romney’s running for US President did not create much of a commotion. Probably something to be said for secularism?
Beautifully expressed. But will it make any sense or difference to the culprits and bigots?
And let us not put the blame on Talibans or the Military dictators for not giving us enough democratic space in the past for our ills to be corrected in religious matters. It is simply the Mullahs who have bullied their way through and are now unstoppable and out of control.
Good job Faiza! You should write in Urdu to reach more than just Keyboard Cowboys.