Ahmadiyya in Pakistan

Ahmadiyya in Pakistan are members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The number of Ahmadiyya in the country has been variously estimated to between 0.22% and 2.2% of Pakistan's population.[1][2][3][4][5] Hence Pakistan is the home to the largest population of Ahmadis in the world. The city of Rabwah in Punjab, Pakistan used to be the global headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Community before they were moved to England. The Ahmadiyya population in Pakistan has often come under persecution and discrimination by the Sunni majority.

According to a Pew research report, only 7% of Pakistanis considered Ahmadiyyas as Muslims.[6]

The Ahmadiyya movement has its origins in the Punjab region, in the city of Qadian (now India). Following the independence of Pakistan, as a separate nation for Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. There have been a number of notable Pakistani people who have belonged to the Ahmadiyya Community, including the country's first Nobel Prize laureate, Abdus Salam and Pakistan's first foreign minister Muhammad Zafarullah Khan. Ahmadiyya with Mahdavia constitute the two main Mahdi'ist creeds practised within Pakistan.[7]

History

Supporters of Pakistani movement

Movement for returning of Jinnah

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, the second spiritual leader of the community, ordered the cleric of Ahmadiyya Community in England named Maulana Abdul Raheem Dard, to talk with Jinnah. He met Jinnah in King's Bench Walk, London and they spoke for three hours.[8] Jinnah agreed to it {??} and returned to India.

Support in AIML in 1946 elections of India

Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, drafted Pakistan Resolution,[9] Ahmad advised the Ahmadis to support All India Muslim League in the elections of 1945–6.[10] Khan also gave a speech in London for the freedom of India.

Resignation of Khizar Hayat Tiwanna

Khizar Hayat headed the local government in Punjab in 1946, supported by Congress and Akali Dal. Muslim League opposed his government. Due to the boycotts engulfing the Punjab, he resigned as Premier on 2 March 1947. Later, he moved to Pakistan for a few years and then to California, where he died.

Struggle for Muslim Rights in Boundary Commission

After the creation of Pakistan and creation of Rabwah

After the creation of Pakistan, some Ahmadis with the Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad came to Pakistan and constructed their own city which they considered a promised land.

1953 Anti-Ahmadiyya riots

A massive persecution was launched by anti-Ahmadiyya groups to persecute the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community by Islamists including Jamaat-e-Islami. The Government of Pakistan put down the unrest. The Ahrar sect was banned shortly after.

1974 Anti-Ahmadiyya riots and Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan

Amidst more massive persecution and the appearance of an Anti-Ahmadiyya movement called Tehreek-e-Khatme Nabuwwat, Pasban Khatme Nabuwwat launched by all Islamist parties. They forced the Government of Pakistan under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to pass a constitutionally Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan for declaring members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as non-Muslims.

1984 Anti-Ahmadiyya Amendment

Under president Zia-ul-Haq, an anti-Ahmadiyya ordinance was made in the Constitution of Pakistan which restricted the freedom of religion for Ahmadis. According to this law, Ahmadis cannot call themselves Muslim or "pose as Muslims" which is punishable by three years in prison.[11]

Headquarters shifted to London

Following the enactment of these two amendments, which legalized persecution of Ahmadis, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the caliph of the community, shifted the central headquarters to London in 1985.

Community issues

Persecution and anti-Ahmadiyya sentiment

Qadiani and Mirzai are the derogatory terms used for Ahmadis. Anti-Ahmadiyya groups have called for an Islamist jihad to finish off the community.[12]

See also

• Minorities in Pakistan
• Islam in Pakistan

References

1. The 1998 Pakistani census states that there are 291,000 (0.22%) Ahmadis in Pakistan. However, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has boycotted the census since 1974 which renders official Pakistani figures to be inaccurate. Independent groups have estimated the Pakistani Ahmadiyya population to be somewhere between 2 million and 5 million Ahmadis. However, the 4 million figure is the most quoted figure and is approximately 2.2% of the country. See:
   • over 2 million: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2008-12-04). "Pakistan: The situation of Ahmadis, including legal status and political, education and employment rights; societal attitudes toward Ahmadis (2006 - Nov. 2008)". Retrieved 2012-06-28.
   • 3 million: International Federation for Human Rights: International Fact-Finding Mission. Freedoms of Expression, of Association and of Assembly in Pakistan. Ausgabe 408/2, Januar 2005, S. 61 (PDF)
   • 3–4 million: Commission on International Religious Freedom: Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. 2005, S. 130
   • 4.910.000: James Minahan: Encyclopedia of the stateless nations. Ethnic and national groups around the world. Greenwood Press . Westport 2002, page 52
   • "Pakistan: Situation of members of the Lahori Ahmadiyya Movement in Pakistan". Retrieved April 30, 2014.
2. over 2 million: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (2008-12-04). "Pakistan: The situation of Ahmadis, including legal status and political, education and employment rights; societal attitudes toward Ahmadis (2006 - Nov. 2008)". Retrieved 2012-06-28.
3. 3 million: International Federation for Human Rights: International Fact-Finding Mission. Freedoms of Expression, of Association and of Assembly in Pakistan. Ausgabe 408/2, Januar 2005, S. 61 (PDF)
4. 3–4 million: Commission on International Religious Freedom: Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. 2005, S. 130
5. 4.910.000: James Minahan: Encyclopedia of the stateless nations. Ethnic and national groups around the world. Greenwood Press . Westport 2002, page 52
6. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/10/in-pakistan-most-say-ahmadis-are-not-muslim/
7. Sheikh, Samira. "Aurangzeb as seen from Gujarat: Shi ‘i and Millenarian Challenges to Mughal Sovereignty." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 28.3 (2018): 557-581..
8. "Movement for returning Jinnah to India". Perseuction.org. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
9. Khan, Wali. "Facts are Facts: The Untold Story of India's Partition" (PDF). pp. 40–42. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 19, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
10. "Support of AIML in elections by Bashir Ahmad". Persecution.org. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
11. "ORDINANCE NO. XX OF 1984". The Persecution. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
12. "Anti-Ahmadiyya conferences on the increase in Pakistan" (Press release). Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat International. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2011.