A.Abdul Aziz

Dear Pakistan,

Ahmadis in your country lots of love for you. You raised their parents, taught them what it meant to work hard and provided them with shelter. You didn’t however, provide them with religious freedom. And that’s why many left.

The Ahmadi story of persecution in your country has a rich history. In 1974 you introduced the second amendment in the Pakistani Constitution and declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims, denying their basic and fundamental rights as human beings.

In 1984, your President and dictator Zia-ul-Haq added Ordinance XX to the Constitution, making it a crime for Ahmadis to profess their faith. Since then, Ahmadis have been subject to state-sponsored hate, violence and gruesome persecution.

This persecution has affected millions of Ahmadis throughout the world and continues to cause them great pain, grief and sorrow. Even then, I’d like to fall in love with Pakistan as a nation in the region, but something holds me back. It seems to be fear of continuing to lose those that I love most as a child born from a single mother.

And so, I have to ask, O Pakistan, when will you stop?

To name a few: on May 28, 2010, you killed our beloved 94 Ahmadis for their faith.

On May 4, 2014, you killed Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar, who visited Pakistan to selflessly serve the less fortunate as a practitioner. What crime did he commit by going back to his country to help the less fortunate?

On June 21, 2016, you killed a homeopathic doctor in your country, serving your people.

O Pakistan, when will you stop?

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that this persecution has not only resulted in brutal and unjust behavior towards Ahmadis, but has resulted to affect in your limited growth as a country.

You failed to recognize a Pakistani jurist and diplomat who served as 1st Foreign Minister of Pakistan and was the first Muslim, Asian and the only Pakistani to preside over the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice – Sir Zafarullah Khan. He was an Ahmadi, but he was also a Pakistani. He was a source of motivation for youth aspiring to make a positive change in our world today, but you tried to suppress his achievement.

You failed to recognize the first Muslim Nobel Laureate that your country produced, Dr. Abdus Salam. He was ignored for 30 years while you questioned your baseless morals and had no answer to: Can we recognize an Ahmadi Pakistani Nobel Laureate?”

Finally, 37 years later your Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved a plan to rename the Quaid-e-Azam University’s Physics Department to the Dr. Abdus Salam Centre for Physics, even this victory was bittersweet. While you now recognize Dr. Abdus Salam as a scientist, when will you recognize him as a Muslim? On the same day of this achievement, the Headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Community were attacked in Rabwah, Pakistan.

On December 5, 2016, police authorities forcefully broke into the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya community without any warrants or justification. The contingent of roughly 28 armed and masked unidentified police officers then assaulted the Ahmadi employees. Two Ahmadi Imams and an administrative staffer from the publisher’s office were arrested and taken into custody without charges. 

The irony of this attack was that it was done under the guise of terrorism charges, when Ahmadis are known throughout the world as the most peaceful and law abiding citizens. Had Ahmadis even remotely endorsed terrorism, at the very least they would’ve fought back against the police. But they didn’t.

 And again, on December 12 you crossed the line. Thousands of your citizens attacked our ‘place of worship’ in Chakwal, Pakistan ironically claiming to be lovers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Was this what the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) taught? 

And yet again, it is Ahmadis in Pakistan who will respond with patience and steadfastness. They are responding with love, not hate. For our community to progress and become the predominant voice of Islam in the world, Ahmadis, not only in Pakistan but Ahmadis in world-wide will make all sorts of sacrifices, and they’re ready.

In the wise words of Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad – The Fourth Successor of the Ahmadiyya Community, Swords can win territories, but not hearts. Force can bend heads, but not minds.” 

Your persecution has backfired. Ahmadis may be hated by the Government in Pakistan, but they are loved across the world.

LOVE FOR ALL: HATRED FOR NONE.