Sara Taseer, the daughter of assassinated Pakistani politician Salman Taseer, was criticised by Pakistanis for refusing to sign an application for passport renewal that did not recognise Ahmadiyya Muslims as Muslims. On Tuesday, Sara took to Twitter and shared a form that labelled Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Quadiani, the Messiah of Ahmadiyyas, as an imposter. The form was for the renewal of her Pakistani passport.
Pakistan is an Islamic nation with Islam as the state religion. The country does not consider Ahmadiyyas as Muslims even though it is home to the largest Ahmadiyya Muslim community in the world. It is notable that Sara Taseer herself is not Ahmadiyya, she belongs to the Sunni sect of Islam. But she refused to sign the declaration out of solidarity with the Ahmadiyya community, a persecuted minority community in Pakistan.
Ahmadiyyas were at the forefront of the creation of Pakistan before the partition of India, but now that same Pakistan refuses to acknowledge them as Muslim.
Following the tweet by Sara, Pakistani Twitter users accused Sara of not being a Muslim for not wanting to sign a declaration that denounced anyone else other than Prophet Muhammad as the prophet. Twitter user Butt Brothers wrote, “So what are you proud of this?? This is something of absolute shame. This is nothing to stand with your fellow Pakistanis… If you are not Qadiani and going against your religion for others this is really absurd.”
Another Twitter user having the Twitter handle @GD_Rasikh wrote, “Non muslims don’t deserve to sign such a special affidavit, your refusal is just a confession that you are not from the people who believe absolutely & unconditionally upon finality of Mohammad PBUH as Holy Prophet. Remember, doer of an atom’s weight good or bad will see it.”
One Usama Khan stated that Sara denying to sign the form indicates that she supports ‘non-believers.’ “Lol this indicates that you support the non believers, This does-not make you to stand for their rights. This simply means you are one of them….. May Allah guide you. My Prayers !!,” the user wrote.
Hafiz Usama wrote, “It is an important declaration for Muslims. Because ahmadies pretending to be Muslims is really dangerous. What if some Muslims does the same by entering into other religions and present the modified version of that religion while claiming to be one of the stakeholders.”
Sara Taseer is the daughter of former Pakistani Governor Salman Taseer and step-sister of British Writer and New York Times columnist Aatish Taseer.
Aatish Taseer and Salman Taseer
Salman Taseer was the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan and was assassinated in January 2011. Governor Taseer was a liberal who frequently spoke out against blasphemy laws. The method and grounds for his assassination illustrate in great detail the Jihadist nature of the Pakistani state. Salman Taseer was assassinated because he considered that a helpless Christian woman should not be punished for blasphemy. He thought that the woman was innocent of the allegation and publicly supported her.
Aatish Taseer, on the other hand, is one among the seven children of Salman Taseer. Aatish is the son of Governor Taseer and Indian columnist Tavleen Singh, who were in a relationship for a short period of time. Aatish has been outrightly critical of the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has also spoken against Hindus at times. In the aftermath of Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder, he argued that Indian Muslims should organize with no peace in their minds. Also, in November 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that Aatish was not eligible for an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card as his father was Pakistani.
Persecution of Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan
The Ahmadiyya community in the Islamic state of Pakistan has been excluded from the Pakistani government’s minority commission, which is charged with defending the rights of the country’s minorities. The Ahmadiyya community is an Islamic group that is frequently persecuted in Islamic countries because Islamic countries consider the community to be not “Muslim enough.”
According to the Pakistani constitution, Ahmadiyyas are not Muslims, and their places of worship are not referred to as mosques. Additionally, their places of worship are not allowed to feature architectural elements like minarets or to resemble Masjids or Mosques.
By amending the constitution, Pakistan’s then-Prime Minister ZA Bhutto considered it politically advantageous to declare Muslim Ahmadiyyas to be “non-Muslims” in 1974. This change received the hearty backing of the “mullahs”. This legislation paved the way for the Community’s persecution. Since then, Ahmadiyyas have been targeted for persecution by the government, the police, and the Mullahs.
In 1889, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a distinguished Muslim scholar and reformer, established this Community in Qadian, India. He formed a movement that denounced terrorism and the use of violent action to preach religion, i.e. the contemporary notion of ‘Jihad.’ The extreme ulemas are adamantly opposed to this tolerant interpretation of Islam. For years, they have used it as a justification to exclude this minority from Islam. Mullahs, politicians, and the military in authority in many Islamic states, particularly Pakistan, have conspired to repress and persecute the Ahmadiyyas.
