Home Media Reports 2008 Ahmadiyya Muslims couldn’t vote in Pak

Tuesday, 02.26.2008, 11:56pm (GMT)

Senior members of the government in Pakistan have claimed that the elections were conducted freely and fairly. Press Secretary of the Ahmadiyya Community Abid Khan however said in a statement that what they failed to disclose was that “due to certain wholly unjust provisions, members of the Ahmadiyya Jama’at were denied the fundamental right to vote.”

The statement said, “In 1985 under the cruel regime of General Zia-ul-Haq the 8th Amendment to the Pakistan Constitution of 1973 was sanctioned and this led to the development of a Separate Electorate list. Under the provisions of this list those who claimed to be Muslim had to sign a certificate denying the truth of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

“This Separate Electorate list remained in force during the subsequent regimes of the late Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. There is a general, wholly incorrect, impression that President Pervez Musharraf abolished this system upon assuming the Presidency. In fact by virtue of The Chief Executive’s Order No.15 of 2002, a Supplementary list of voters was created in which members of the Ahmadiyya Jama’at were classed as ‘non-Muslims’.

This Order remains in force.” The statement said, “The Pakistani Government is making claims that this year’s Elections have been free and fair. Yet no Ahmadi Muslim can ever take part in such elections, as to do so they would have to publicly disassociate themselves from the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

This is something that no Ahmadi Muslim could ever countenance as we believe that the Prophet Muhammad is the greatest Prophet and that he has no equal in the history of mankind.” It said, “The Pakistani Government has instigated this policy due to the pressure of the Mullahs (religious extremists) who cannot bear to see the prosperity of the Ahmadiyya Community. In other countries such injustice would never be tolerated.

Yet the International Community stands by, turning a blind eye to the continuing persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan and in other countries.” The statement concluded, “Pakistan is a country that is suffering in so many respects and this is because the country has fallen upon a path of grave corruption, grave injustice and grave hatred. It is hoped that such leaders come to the fore in Pakistan who value truth and justice above personal wealth and power.”

Source : http://indiapost.com/article/communitypost/2174/