The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan is once again leaning towards boycotting the upcoming general elections due to the issuance of a separate list of Ahmadi voters by the election commission, Daily Times learnt from members of the community. The election commission displayed votersÂ’ lists across the country in mid June and invited registered voters to check that their names and voting numbers had been duly registered. Members of the Ahmadiyya community noticed that their names had been posted in a separate list in spite of the government claims of forming a joint electorate. Ahmadiyya community said this act reflected discrimination based on religious views and branded it also an attempt to strengthen Islamic extremists.
Election Commission Secretary Kunwar Dilshad Ahmed, on the other hand, told Daily Times he was “unaware” of the matter. “The issue is not in my knowledge but I will check the lists,” he said.
Asked whether this could be a technical mistake, he said these lists were initial drafts for display, and that a separate list for the community could help its members in checking the names and information of their members.
Community representatives have repeatedly asserted that the community should not be treated in a discriminatory manner in the voters lists, which include all other non-Muslin communities, Ahmadiyya community insiders said. An Ahmadiyya report notes that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom annual report says that Pakistan abolished the system of separate electorate in 2002. “It seems there is a general impression that Pakistan has shifted from a separate electorate to a joint electorate system, although actually the shift was only from one level of separate electorate to another,” the Ahmadiyya report says.