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| India-Pakistan |
| License to kill? |
| 2013-12-27 |
| [DAWN] Sixty-two-year-old Rizwan Hashmi is like any other retired gentleman his age. On a personal front he has led a fulfilling life, worked hard and raised his four children to become educated and successful professionals. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... over the last couple of decades, and more specifically the last few years, his life and that of his family has been torn apart by blinding hatred. Not only has Rizwan had to deal with his colleagues transpiring to frame him and get him fired but he was forced to leave his family home and relocate within the country due to safety concerns. Three of his children fled the country after growing tired of being targets. Like thousands of others from his community, Rizwan Hashmi is paying the price for being an Ahmadi. The excessive prejudice and downright violence the community has been subjected to stems from extreme misinterpretation of a religion which is first and foremost a religion of peace and preaches tolerance as opposed to targeted annihilation of a community that may not share the same beliefs. We often hear Ahmadis being referred to as 'wajibul qatl', meaning liable to be killed. Despite this very real threat to his life, Rizwan refuses to leave his motherland, Pakistain. What he does want, however, is his rights as a citizen of this country. This wasn't always the case though, Rizwan recalls. "My family belongs to a village in Sialkot where intermarriages were very common. There was no conflict and by and large people were very tolerant and forbearing." Times have drastically changed since then. Rizwan tried to be as patient as he could until he finally packed up and moved to Rabwa. "There were instances when garbage was thrown inside my house; it was pelted with stones and attempts were made to set it on fire. We lived in a constant state of fear and insecurity." Of late, news reports on the Ahmadi community being targeted have been regular. Take the last few months for example. From a 72-year-old British Ahmadi doctor being nabbed Book 'im, Mahmoud! in Lahore for 'posing as a Moslem' to some Ahmadis not being allowed by neighbours and police to sacrifice animals this Eidul Azha, there is no shortage of attempts to harass and repress an already marginalised community. Yet another report told the story of an Ahmadi graveyard being desecrated and vandalised. A separate report was on three members of the community who were killed in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Sadly, such reports consistently pour in to the news, so much so, that many Ahmadis feel it has desensitised the nation to their plight. A seasoned researcher, commentator and archivist Ahmed Saleem has written extensively on Pakistain's political and social issues. When asked to comment on the ongoing atrocities faced by minorities in Pakistain, he bitterly responded: "As a nation, we are bothered about any real or imagined atrocities against the Moslems, for example in Paleostine, Myanmar, Syria or India. We are also ready to burn property worth billions of rupees on a blasphemous film and profane cartoons. But we are not pushed when a community is targeted in our own country and subjected to inhuman treatment." |
| Posted by:Fred |