The Ahmadi position

The Pakistan government does not ban formally the public practice of the Ahmadi Muslim sect,
but its practice is restricted severely by law. A 1974 constitutional amendment declared Ahmadis
to be a non-Muslim minority because, according to the Government, they do not accept
Muhammad as the last prophet of Islam. However, Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslims
and observe Islamic practices. In 1984, under Ordinance XX the government added Section
298(c) into the Penal Code, prohibiting Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslim or posing as
Muslims; from referring to their faith as Islam; from preaching or propagating their faith; from
inviting others to accept the Ahmadi faith; and from insulting the religious feelings of Muslims.
[6]
.
This section of the Penal Code has caused problems for Ahmadis, particularly the provision that
forbids them from "directly or indirectly" posing as Muslims. The Ahmadis must not use the
standard Muslim greeting form and must not name their children Muhammad. The constitutionality
of Section 286(c) was upheld in a split-decision Supreme Court case in 1996. The punishment for
violation of this section is imprisonment for up to 3 years and a fine. It has been alleged that this
provision has been used extensively by the Government and anti-Ahmadi religious groups to
target and harass Ahmadis. Ahmadis also are prohibited from holding any conferences or
gatherings.



Religious intolerance in Pakistan
R a j a F a k h a r J a l i l & Q u r a t u l A i n R e h m a n
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=121135
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Saturday, October 22, 2011 - The two main types of threats which endanger the
stability of any state are internal and external threats. Internal threats in a country
are far more fatal and serious. Pakistan is also menaced by such internal threats in
shape of religious intolerance and extremism, soon after its independence in 1947
Pakistan faced many problems. The first calamity that struck this country was the
demise of its founder Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the vacuumwhich was
created after Jinnahs death could not be filled; it caused many problems for the
new born state particularly about the future of Pakistan. Jinnah wanted Pakistan to
be a state where people from all religion, cast or creed will be treated equally, and
their religious beliefs will have nothing to do with the business of the state, which
he cited in his illustrious presidential address to the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan on August 11, 1947.

However, not all the people were thinking similar to Jinnah, as they had their own
aims. A majority in this category was the religious fanatic class, who at first
opposed Pakistan movement but later after the creation of Pakistan they became
part of it, but that was not all, the newly born state of Pakistan seemed like a good
opportunity to these religious opportunists class to propagate and bolster their
own agenda under the umbrella of religion because bulk of the masses of this
country were unaware of the consequences of blind following these clerics, and
these people of Pakistan were a bulls-eye of religious blackmailing. With the
passage of time Jinnahs idea of a Muslim state was overshadowed by the pattern
of the state propagated by clergyman. The onset of cold war and Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan gave a threshold to Mullahism in Pakistan. That time military
dictator General Zia ul Haq assured his full support to the
extremist religiousorganizations inside Pakistan for the purpose of Jihad against
Soviets in Afghanistan. During his tenure the recruitment of Jihadis from all over
the Pakistan and their training through the platform of
these religious organizations (in collaboration with CIA) gained peak, thus
strengthening extremism roots in our society. However, after Zia the failure of
other civilian governments to control these radical religious groups led to an
atrocious situation.

As an aftermath of past governments unconditional support to
these religious organizations today Pakistan is suffering from religious extremism
and intolerance more than ever, the sectarian violence in this country is at its peak,
killings of sectarian leaders for the purpose of gaining more influence over the
other sect is a common practice these days. Pakistan has seen an unprecedented
rise in religious intolerance since last five years, from the assassination of
Governor Punjab alleged of blasphemy to the present day case of a 13 year old
Christian schoolgoing girl, who was accused of blasphemy only because she
misspelled the Urdu word Naat which looked like the word Lanat after being
misspelled in her class test. The girl was expelled from the school by the principal
on the complaint of her teacher, who should have known that a 13 year old young
kid can make such types of mistakes unintentionally. Moreover, her prosecution
was demanded by local Mullas and they waged protests to file a case against the
young girl accusing her of blasphemy.

These events draw the horrible picture of our society which shows that how acutely
the Mullaism and religious intolerance has settled itself in to Jinnahs Pakistan.
Islam is a religion of peace and love it preaches the respect and welfare of
Humanity, rather than killings and prosecution of non-Muslims just because of the
reason that they live in a Muslim state and they differ from us in their beliefs, so
their any unintentional action is portrayed as blasphemy, which is considered as
solid evidence to kill them.

The recent brutal killings of people from Shiite sect in Quetta is another horrifying
example ofreligious intolerance. The rising negative role of religious extremists is
acting as a pandemic in our society; these people have narrow minds, radical
beliefs and sectarian agendas which are only in their own favour and are largely
harmful to our society. The growing activism of such organizations are alarming
which can be seen quite often in variety of fields particularly in educational
institutions where religious and so called student organizations are actively
working. In the public sector universities they have strong hold from where a large
number of recruitments take place. Students who are suppose to study are playing
in hands of these organizations by wasting their time, money and carriers after
being trapped by these people as a member of some religious student organization.
They are indoctrinated and then used for the implementation of their
organizational agenda either through protests, strikes or even by use of violence all
in the name of Islam.

Pakistan is a country where quality education is rare; people are used to of blind
following and there is a great dearth of awareness among people about misuse of
religion. It is the need of the hour that as an individual and as well as a society we
shall raise awareness among people against such propagandas and for the welfare
of our country by using all possible means, we need to claim back the Jinnahs
Pakistan which endorses tolerance, peace, love and equality rather than a country
plagued by intolerance, hatred, sectarianism and fanatic mentality indoctrinated
by those who have already hijacked the ideal state of Pakistan and camouflaged
themselves as religiousshepherd.


Religion in Pakistan:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm

According to Pakistani government sources, almost all of the 130 million
citizens of Pakistan are Muslim:
77% are Sunni Muslim
20% are
Shi'a
Muslim
1.5% are
Christian
1.5% are
Ahmadis,
Hindus,
Zikris,
followers
of other
faiths, or
persons
of no
organized
religion.
However, Christian leaders insist that they constitute at least 6% of the total
population.
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However, Christian leaders insist that they constitute at least 6% of the total
population.
18


Pakistani Blasphemy Law
An old blasphemy law, which was written in 1927 during during colonial
days, banned insults directed against any religion. In 1986, dictator General
Zia-Ul Haw modified the law to protect only Islam. The law require a life
imprisonment or a life sentence for anyone who defiled the name of
Muhammad or committed other blasphemy. In 1990, a religious court ruled
that the penalty for crimes under the law (Section 295-C of the country's
Constitution) is execution.
6
The law states: "Whoever by words, either
spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by inputation, innuendo,
or insinuation, directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy
prophet Mohammed...shall be punished with death and shall be liable to a
fine." The law is being used in Pakistan to discriminate against religious
minorities: largely Christians, and Ahmadis. Under the present law, a Muslim
may blaspheme Christianity with impunity. But a Christian doing the same
against Islam can theoretically be executed.
Iqbal Haider, then the Law Minister, urged reform of the blasphemy law
because several individuals had been falsely accused. There was a suspicion
that the motivations of their accusers was to settle old scores or to
intimidate others. In response, some extreme Fundamentalist Muslim
leaders put a price of $40,000 on Haider's head.
On 1994-JUL-28, Amnesty International urged prime minister, Benazir
Bhutto to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious
minorities.
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The AI press release stated: "Pakistan's blasphemy laws are so
vaguely formulated that they encourage, and in fact invite, the persecution
of religious minorities or non-conforming members of [the] Muslim
majority."
Benazir Bhutto attempted to change the law, but was unsuccessful. She did
direct all district magistrates to release any accused persons under this law
until their case had first been investigated. A subsequent prime minister,
Nawaz Sharif won two thirds of the seats in parliament in 1997-JAN with
strong support from Muslim religious fundamentalists. His government has
reversed the ruling of the former prime minister. Individuals are now being
arrested for blasphemy, and held without bail, while their cases are being
investigated. No Christian charged with this crime has every been granted
bail.
1

The government is considering appending to the blasphemy law an
amendment that will provide heavy penalties in the event of false
accusations.
As of mid-2002, only the testimony of a single Muslim is sufficient to
prosecute a non-Muslim on blasphemy charges.
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Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death
in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British
writer, Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses." Lower appeals
courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court,
his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to
force Mashi's family off their land and then acquired control of the property.
Masih has been released.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm
this link have all the details about ahmedis , Christians and shia sunnis