This episode of ‘Now That’s Why Pakistan is a Shithole’ again revisits the appalling conditions under which minorities suffer in that country. Although life under the Islamic culture is bad for Islamic women, along with Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, it isn’t exactly a bed of roses for minority branches of Islam. This oppression of minorities can be seen in how Pakistan treats the minor branches of Islam.
Started in the 19th Century Ahmadi Islam and its followers have been almost entirely peaceful and, unlike many other branches of Islam, appears to be much more friendly to ideas of diversity of thought.
That has not stopped them from being terribly oppressed by other Muslims, who are not so amenable to sharing their world with those who believe differently to them.
The Pakistan Tribune reports that not only are Ahmadi Muslims being oppressed, attacked and discriminated against, but the police are apparently doing very little to stop it.
The Tribune said:
“On March 25 a mob had vandalised the home of an Ahmadi citizen, Maqsood Anjum, in Shamsabad, a village of Kasur. They had also beaten his family and stolen valuables.
Caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi has taken notice of the incident and summoned the district police officer on April 1 to be briefed on the incident and the progress in the investigation of the case.
The Express Tribune has learnt that police have asked the nominated suspects to be available at the Chunnia police station if [and when] Sethi sends a special team.
SHO Khan said that two Ahmadi families living among a hostile population of 10,000 would always be vulnerable. A contingent of 20 policemen had been deployed to guard their homes even though the families had left the area on March 26, he said.
Khan said he was trying to get the Ahmadis to settle the dispute with the accused. He said he believed reconciliation would be effected in two days.”
It seems as if the Pakistani police were trying to go down the reconciliation route in order to not prosecute the case. It seems that Islamic disgust at people having a different religious path is deeply ingrained, one non Ahmadi Muslim neighbour said:
“We would socially boycott the Ahmadis even if a settlement is reached,” he said, “It is best that they have left.” He said he was related to the Ahmadi families but wanted to have nothing to do with them. “ “
Such gross intolerance being shown here for other Muslims who believe differently to the mainstream should tell the observer much about how Islam has morally impoverished the people of Pakistan. It should also serve as a warning of what can happen when a combination of Islam, poor education and a partisan police force combines together.
In 1947 partition that terrible storm that engulfed a whole subcontinent and displaced approximately 14.5 million people, created two and later three separate nations. Two of those nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the ones where Islam is the primary religion, culture and ideology are basket cases. In the case of Pakistan a nuclear armed basket case but failed or failing states all the same. The nation that wasn’t run by Islam at the time of partition, India, has become a dynamic, growing state with educational and business opportunities streets ahead of their neighbours. Islam, along with endemic corruption, appears to be behind many of the problems that impoverished Pakistan and destroyed much of the potential it started out with in ’47. It has regressed whilst one of its neighbours has progressed.
Links and background
Original story from the Pakistan Tribune
http://tribune.com.pk/story/531707/hostile-neighbours-ahmadis-will-be-always-vulnerable-says-sho/
The Partition of India. Here is a study from Harvard University on the impact of forced migration at the time of the partition of India
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/akhwaja/papers/Big%20March%20EPW%20Publish08.pdf
Ahmadiya Muslims in the UK
Hat Tip: The Religion of Peace http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
