Calendar 1993 With Islamic Dates

[Rosalyn Pomposo]

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In late 1992 and 1993, a number of judicial and legislative decisions were made in Pakistan, apparently portending a more tolerant attitude towards religious minorities, particularly the Ahmadis. However, these decisions do not seem to have resulted in any practical improvement in conditions for the Ahmadi community. Discriminatory laws, notably sections 298(b) and (c) (Ordinance XX) and 295(c) (blasphemy) of the Pakistani Penal Code are still in force and Ahmadis continue to be affected by them. Under sections 298(b) and (c), Ahmadis are forbidden to use epithets reserved for the saints of Islam or to use the word Azan for their call to prayer or the word Masjid for their places of worship; section 295(c) prescribes the death penalty for any person convicted of blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad. (For more information on the above-mentioned legal provisions and the situation of Ahmadis in Pakistan from independence up to 1991, please refer to IRBDC, January 1992, Pakistan: Treatment of Ahmadis Who Return, and Asia Watch, 19 September 1993, Persecuted Minorities and Writers in Pakistan). Copies of these sections of the law are provided in the appendix.

These laws appear to nourish a climate of religious sectarianism under which the Ahmadi community and other religious minorities reportedly continue to suffer intimidation, discrimination and harassment. Pakistani authorities reportedly remain passive and sometimes appear to be implicated in the ill- treatment of Ahmadis.

In November 1992, Pakistan's Supreme Court overturned a decision of the Punjabi High Court in the case of Nasir Ahmad, an Ahmadi charged with blasphemy for having written Islamic expressions on wedding invitations in May 1992. The Supreme Court granted bail, which the High Court had denied on the grounds that bail cannot be granted to an accused charged with an offence under section 295(c). In handing down its decision in November 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of some Islamic expressions by Ahmadis was not necessarily blasphemous and that the act in question had to be considered in a wider context, taking into account the accused's intentions and religious background (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Newsletter Jan. 1993, 4; News from Asia Watch 19 Sept. 1993, 20-21; Dawn 1 Dec. 1992).

Nasir Ahmad has been free on bail since November 1992 and is still awaiting trial (Amnesty International 25 Aug. 1993). The January 1993 Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Newsletter states that when Nasir Ahmad's case-and other blasphemy cases-are heard, the attitude of Pakistani judges in general may be different from the approach taken by the Supreme Court in November 1992 (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Newsletter Jan. 1993, 4). Indeed, according to the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam (AMI), a few weeks after the Supreme Court's statement on the use of Islamic expressions, a municipal court judge in Rawalpindi in the Punjab rejected the Supreme Court's conclusion on the grounds that it did not apply to the case he was hearing, and stated that it would be wiser to await the outcome of Nasir Ahmad's trial before citing it as a precedent. This judge sentenced the accused, Munawwar Ahmad Qureshi, to three years in prison and a fine of 15,000 rupees (approximately CDN$713) for having drawn the kalima, (According to an Ottawa representative of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, some Muslims write the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet" on calendars, jewellery, etc., just as some Christians wear the cross as a symbol of their Christian faith (AMI 24 Sept. 1993)). a Muslim symbol of faith, on a calendar (Tale of Persecution July 1993, 5). In July 1993 the Supreme Court ruled that Ordinance XX was "well-founded", thereby rejecting the appeals of a number of Ahmadis whose cases had been cited in the debate on the constitutionality of this statute that followed the February 1993 court challenge (Dawn 4 July 1993). As for the resolution on the protection of the places of worship of religious minorities, it would appear that any action is still at the planning stage (Embassy of Pakistan 22 Sept. 1993). Finally, information on the planned addition of religious adherence to identity cards is not consistent (see section 3.5).

Following the death in 1908 of their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Ahmadiyya movement split into two groups: the majority Ahmadi (Qadiani) group, and the Lahoris, who are relatively few and less organized. According to the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam there is currently no antagonism between the two groups, and outside their own communities members of both groups are treated the same (AMI 24 Sept. 1993). The split arose as a result of differences over the choice of a caliph to succeed Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the leader of the movement. The Lahoris moved to Lahore, while the Ahmadis stayed in Qadian, now a town in the Indian Punjab (Encyclopaedia of Islam 1986, 301). Influenced by the wave of anti-imperialism and Islamic nationalism that swept across the Indian subcontinent in 1910, the Lahoris fell relatively silent about their religious differences with the Pakistani Muslim community (ibid.; AMI 24 Sept. 1993). The Lahoris do not refer to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet but rather as a reformer, and they contend that he himself never claimed to be a prophet (Encyclopaedia of Islam 1986, 302).

In addition, charges were laid against a number of Ahmadi publishers and printers in 1992 and publications were confiscated (HRCP 1993, 32, 46). The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam reports cases of Ahmadis charged under section 298(c) in early 1993 and states that in every case the charges were laid on the instructions of the district magistrates (Tale of Persecution July 1993, 5).

The U.S. State Department reiterates in its 1992 report that Ahmadis have little chance of attaining positions of responsibility in the civil service (Country Reports 1992 1993, 1171). In fact, according to the HRCP, some thirty Ahmadi civil servants were fired in 1992 (HRCP 1993, 46). Similarly, young Ahmadis are encountering increasing difficulty in gaining admission to recognized institutions of higher education, forcing many of them to continue their studies abroad (Country Reports 1992 1993, 1171). The U.S. State Department also reports that in March 1992, an educational institution in Lahore in the Punjab issued a public notice requiring all applicants to a nursing program to attest in writing that they were not Ahmadis (ibid., 1168). The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam's quarterly bulletins also report incidents of harassment of two Ahmadi teachers in Islamabad and one incident of assault against an Ahmadi student in Abbotabad in North-West Frontier Province in May 1993 (Tale of Persecution July 1993, 5-6).

In 1992, the police continued to close down Ahmadi places of worship (Country Reports 1992 1993, 1167). Some mosques were attacked; others under construction were subjected to prohibitions and have remained unfinished; in some cases graves were desecrated and cemeteries were prohibited by the authorities (HRCP 1993, 46). The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam reports an incident which occurred in June 1993 in the Toba Takesingh district in the Punjab: a police squad accompanied by a municipal court judge categorically refused to allow Ahmadis to bury the remains of a member of their community in a cemetery where a number of their ancestors were buried (Tale of Persecution July 1993, 6). In addition, Ahmadis were arrested, sometimes charged and even imprisoned for practising their faith (Country Reports 1992 1993, 1167; Amnesty International 1992, 229). The U.S. State Department reports that in early 1992, during a religious event in Kotri in Sindh Province, Ahmadis were arrested while saying their prayers and taken to the police station, where some of them were allegedly beaten (Country Reports 1992 1993, 1167). Two weeks later, they were released on bail to await trial on charges of blasphemy (Amnesty International 1992, 229-30).

In February 1993, Pakistan's National Assembly passed a resolution on the protection of the places of worship of religious minorities in Pakistan (BBC Summary 17 Feb. 1993; PTV Television 9 Feb. 1993). According to an official of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, however, action on this resolution is still at the planning stage (22 Sept. 1993). On 10 July 1993, an Ahmadi mosque in Karachi, the Masjid Noor, was attacked by approximately fifteen people. An Ahmadi employee was seriously injured during the incident. According to the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, the attack was planned in the offices of Khatme Nubuwwat (Committee to Secure the Finality of Prophethood), housed in a mosque located not far from the Masjid Noor (Tale of Persecution July 1993, 3). The U.S. State Department's report for 1992 also mentions the forced conversion of Ahmadi women (Country Reports 1992 1993, 1167). However, the DIRB has been unable to corroborate this information.

The adoption of the resolution caused a nationwide outcry, especially from the Christian minority, in the fall of 1992 (The Washington Post 21 Oct. 1992; UPI 9 Nov. 1992; Reuters 16 Nov. 1992; IPS 23 Dec. 1992). Religious minorities contend that marking religious adherence on identity cards is a discriminatory measure in a country where the constitution does not define citizens on the basis of their religion (UPI 9 Nov. 1992). Pakistanis must show their identity cards in many circumstances, including in court, when applying for a job, when applying for admission to a college, and during police checks (IPS 23 Dec. 1992). According to opponents of the measure, the new identity cards will encourage discrimination, particularly in employment and education (The Washington Post 21 Oct. 1992; UPI 9 Nov. 1992; Los Angeles Times 6 Apr. 1993). Hamid Khan, president of the Lahore High Court Association, contends that many members of religious minorities who have taken Muslim-sounding names in recent years in order to evade discrimination will have no escape if their religion is marked on the identity cards (IPS 23 Dec. 1992). The same source reports that according to observers of the Pakistani scene, this measure is aimed at barring non-Muslim citizens, notably Ahmadis, from the civil service (ibid.). Indeed, according to UPI, Islamic authorities told Christian demonstrators in November 1992 that the targets of the regulation were not Christians but rather the members of the Ahmadi community (UPI 9 Nov. 1992).

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