Islamabad, Feb 2 (EFE).- Pakistan’s Ahmadis, a long-persecuted minority community, have decided to boycott the upcoming general elections, alleging discrimination due to a separate voter list based on their religious beliefs.
Amir Mahmood, a spokesperson for the community, said Pakistan’s election laws categorize them as non-Muslims, despite their self-identification as Muslims, a fundamental tenet of their faith.
“The Ahmadi community has announced dissociation from the upcoming general elections…on Feb. 8,” Mahmood told EFE on Friday.
With a population of around 500,000 in Pakistan, Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, sharing similarities with mainstream Islam. However, their belief in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet has been deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims, leading to their classification as non-Muslims or infidels in the Pakistani constitution since 1974.
Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last prophet of Allah, a cornerstone of the Islamic faith.
A 1984 Pakistani law further prohibits Ahmadis from claiming their faith as Islamic, making them frequent targets of death threats from the majority Muslim population in the country.
Global rights groups have often criticized Pakistan’s discriminatory electoral laws, effectively excluding Ahmadi community members.
To register as voters, Ahmadis must renounce their faith or accept being placed on a separate electoral list, designating them as “non-Muslim,” which effectively means denying them the right to vote.
“(While) the elections are ostensibly being held under a joint electorate, there is a separate voter list prepared only for Ahmadi citizens due to their faith,” a statement from the community said on Wednesday. This separate voter list is titled “Qadiani Men/Women.
The controversial term “Qadiani” is considered a religious slur used against Ahmadis in Pakistan. It is derived from Qadian, a village in north India, which is the birthplace of the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, Mirza Ghulam.
The discriminatory treatment “is a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise Ahmadi citizens,” the statement said. EFE
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