Pakistani Mango Reigns Supreme

India is a great nation. A billion Indians on the most fertile patch of land on our planet know a thing or two about flavour, spice and the harvest. Unfortunately, they know nothing about the excellence of the Pakistani Mango. I feel sorry for them.



Anwar Ratol - The best mango in the world.

I grew up on mangoes. Anwar Ratol was our family favourite. Every summer, crates of Anwar Ratol mangoes were purchased almost on a weekly basis. In the sweltering heat of mid-summer Punjab, our father would get buckets of iced water and pour into it dozens and dozens of greenish, gold tinged mangoes. We helped in the ritual; picking bits of husk from the sticky resin that perfectly ripe mangoes ooze from the bud.  We would wait a little, just enough for the mangoes to get deliciously cold.

Eating Anwar Ratols is a competitive pursuit. You don’t eat them; You gulp them after mushing the pulp with your thumbs and sucking the rich, flavoursome chunky nectar from the stalk end of the fruit.  You dress for the occasion too. It must be the kurta that needs to go to the wash the same afternoon. Sleeves must be rolled up and you must be seated on the cool floor as close to the bucket as possible. You carry on until there are no more mangoes. Then you calm your stomach with a nice glass of ‘kachi lassi’ - an ounce of milk watered down to repel the heat of the greatest fruit on earth.

Then you sleep.

We were also treated with the whole range of mango varieties throughout the summer. Our kitchen and the fridge remained fragrant with mangoes for the summer holidays. Monsoons brought the best crop to the shops and a good chunk of our food budget would go to the fruit sellers.

Sindhri - A gift from the mighty Indus river

Pakistani mangoes are the greatest fruit on earth. There is no doubt about it. We prepare for our thermometer bursting, electricity deprived summers by consoling ourselves in the hope of mangoes.

I know that some Indian friends are under this illusion that Indian mangoes are better. I have no doubt that their home grown fruit is more appealing for them. Had they ever tasted the Anwar Ratol ripened in the humid, unbearable heat of southern Punjab, they would change their mind.  They have never been invited to a mango party which happens under some trees by the canal. They never tried the mango Ice-cream frozen by rolling the barrels for hours by hand on the streets and plentiful scoops of it presented with chunks of mangoes freshly sliced over it. They have never stopped in a busy night market in urban Faisalabad, ogled at the golden Dueshri and Malda bobbing among the ice-cubes in a glass tank of a roadside vendor, and ordered a few kilos to share with your friends. The vendor also presents you with the watery sweet milk remedy in the end. That is on the house, usually.


To not know the earthy fragrance of a sweet Sindhri and the irresistible, bursting with a bouquet of flavours Chaunsa is one of the greatest misfortunes akin to not visiting Lahore or disliking cricket while being an Indian.



I have nothing against Indian cultivars. They seem to be adequate for the Indian palate. I also accept the fact that Pakistan is part of the Indian subcontinent, so nothing which claims to be a product of biology can ever be inherently purely Pakistani. We are all Indians.

But with the creation of Pakistan, we had effectively firewalled a few things for our great nation. The best mangoes, fast bowlers, fried breakfasts, classical singers, pop musicians, dictatorships, good TV dramas and bad films etc etc. I can carry on.  Did I say mangoes? The humble Indian mango was allowed to thrive by our nation of talented horticulturists, and fertile sandy soil planes of Sindh and Punjab. Saplings of top quality cultivars were nurtured with love and affection. A mango farmer in Sindh cries over his flood or wind ravaged mango plants as if a beloved family member died. The harsh summer season in the planes of the mighty river Sindh has given an evolutionary edge to the Pakistani mango which is apparent in its manifold qualities. Pakistan has been an evolutionary hot spot for a few choicest things. Islamists, mystery spinners, con men, mangoes!

A mango farm in Sindh - Tando Allahyar

Compared to the Pakistani mango, the Indian mango is mediocre at best in taste and flavour. Like an Indian batsman, it only gets high scores in home conditions and is ridiculously overrated by its adoring fans. I have been forced to try the Indian mango once or twice.  Alphonso, the so-called ‘king of mangoes’ is mostly skin. Not impressed! Kesar, the other famous variety, looks good, but barely tastes like a mango. Sweetness aside, both mangoes provided ample fibres to floss ones teeth while eating them. 

Our Indian neighbours are lucky to have proper democracy, first dibs at most of our shared history, a definite sense of identity, batsmen and a booming economy. But with partition, us Pakistanis got the frail economy, a constitutional crisis In every decade, Urdu humour and the best mangoes.

Chaman's mango Ice cream. One of the best!

In addition to a robust mango based summer sub-culture, mango parties, the mango Ice-cream and millions of tons of mango produce every year from Sindh and Punjab, mangoes also helped rid us of our worst dictator. Our diplomacy, both domestic and international relies heavily on the greatness of our mango. We are a nation indebted to the mango. And we wish to share this gift with the world. That is why our mango is distributed far and wide.
 
The Indian mango has its place in the world market. That is in the canned goods isle, next to the Bombay mix and Tilde basmati rice.

King of the canned goods isle

 


It is not all lost for the Indians. After all, Anwar Ratol was a migrant from India. They can definitely have some pride in its heritage. Also, they still have the best coconuts and papaya fruit.  Why not settle on that? Leave Pakistani mangoes at their rightful place. Top of the World!

A small town with an even smaller heart

If you profess to be a Muslim, you are required to pray five times a day. An adult male must attend the mosque to pray in congregation as many times as he can. That is why you can hear muezzins call to prayer, the Adhan, in all towns and cities around the Islamic world. Five times a day, the muezzin invites the faithful to his mosque to fulfill their duty towards their God.

A Mosque is like a second home to a Muslim; his first if he achieves the spiritual devotion as intended by the scriptures.

 

Now imagine a town where the local residents have tried to block the building of a Mosque for a tiny community. Imagine how hard it is to be a practicing Muslim having no access to a  mosque. The townsfolk have a serious reason for their rejection of this mosque. They think that it would be a serious threat to their way of life. Not only that, they feel that any such construction would be against the religious tradition of the town and the country. Mobs attacked the under construction mosque numerous times despite repeated attempts by the community to seek police protection.

The community dropped the plans to build their mosque for the sake of maintaining peace in their small town and instead agreed with the local administration  to build a residence in its place. They had an Imam to accommodate and living quarters of the mosque would have been ideal. Mosque or no mosque, the Imam was there to stay to cater for their spiritual and educational needs. But the locals weren't content with this arrangement. They wanted a guarantee that no prayer congregation could take place in that house.

 

You will be shocked to learn that a sworn affidavit to this effect was also duly signed by this community.

This all happened more than ten years ago. Now the community has received various threats from their neighbours to stop using the facility for prayers. They suspect that the Imam may be leading some of his visitors and guests in prayers in secret. The local police has been reminded of the affidavit and requested to take immediate action against the clandestine activities of this group.

It could easily have been a story of Christian, Mongol, Hindu or Sikh oppression of their Muslim subjects in the past.

But this story is about Pakistan: A Muslim majority country where these particular Muslims are not Muslim. Their mosque is not Mosque. In this town of Tatlay Aali, near Gujranwala, like the rest of the country since 1974, Ahmadis are a non-Muslim minority. Since 1984 they have no rights to build a mosque or call it one. Now we have learnt that according to the pious and right-minded residents of TatlayAali, they can't even pray within the confines of their homes as it is considered to be against the law of the land.

I heard this story from an acquaintance and had it verified. For me it came as no surprise as I have seen it happen numerous times before. Back in the early 90s, I witnessed the destruction of the under-construction mosque (or Qadiani temple as described by the press) in Rawalpindi. Local mullahs petitioned against the mosque in the courts and as a result, many thousands of Ahmadis in Rawalpindi are still without a mosque of their own.

Tatlay Aali is a typical small town in Punjab. It probably could still be classed as a village, but increasing urbanization in the region has blurred the line between a village and a small town even more. It probably used to have a diverse population. A beautiful Sikh Gurudawara still stands tall, although deteriorating due to lack of use and maintenance.

 

I don't need to explain why the Sikhs left. A small Christian community also lives here.

Like the rest of the country, terrorism and religious extremism are threatening the very core of this society too. In Tatlay Aali, you hear the news of armed militants seeking safe houses in the local madrassah and engaging the local police in a shootout. A seminary teacher also got arrested for training small children for terror activities.

Tatlay Aali: Four terrorists with their pressure cooker bombs. Image courtesy express.com.pk

It also appears to be a good spot to hide and negotiate ransom for kidnappings.

The town isn't doing  so well on the moral front either.

 

While the local seminary provides shelter to terrorists, crime against donkeys makes headlines. Four poor donkeys were abducted by thieves and their skinless carcasses were discovered in the fields. I am puzzled myself, but in a country where donkey meat has been served in many a restaurants as mutton, donkey hide must have its uses.

Another news item described a case of incest - rather the rape of a girl by her father. Also in the news are numerous stories of murder and abductions.

 

Human rights commission of Pakistan reported in 2008 two harrowing incidents in Tatlay Aali . One, of a labourer whose fingers were chopped off by a landlord for refusing to do his bidding, and of a family of seven sold in slavery to another landlord for just over 1400 US dollars.

 

A young man commits suicide after having an argument with his older sister. Whereas the local police arrested a number of gentlemen on drug and alcohol related offenses. Police also discovered a brothel and arrested few people.

Organizations of various Sunni or Wahabi affiliations are aplenty in this part of the world.

One news site lists all the happening news in the region and almost the whole page is full of statements from religious leaders of this town decrying the threat of secularism to the country. One Jamaat-e-Islami leader told a rally that one should never compromise on the belief of Khatme nabuwwat, the finality of prophethood.

A leader of Sunni Tehreek laments the fact that crimes of corruption, nepotism and armed robberies are rife in the area, sewers and garbage dumps are overflowing on their streets and people are suffering under the current government.

Despite a couple of seminaries, dozens of constitutionally acceptable Mosques and tens of religious organizations, the very small Pakistani town of Tatlay Aali seems to be festering in all sorts of depravity and moral ills.

Should I be surprised that the congregational prayers of a small group of Ahmadis are a threat to the town's religious way of life?

Peshawar Massacre: Who will avenge our children, and how?

In Peshawar, the Army Public School must have been a prestigious institution. A place in the school will ensure good education fit for middle-class children. Today the school was attacked by seven Taliban terrorists who probably never saw the inside of a proper school. They went around asking who were the children of Army personnel and shot them dead. This must have been tiresome and slow as many children were not from  military families. Then, they killed indiscriminately.
 

In anger and desperation, I followed the twitter feed and various websites for more details. With each update, the count increased, my heart sank lower and lower.

 

I  remembered today a retired Christian officer from Pakistan Army and two civilians who I met a long time ago. He was a proud cavalry man if I remember correctly, the two civilians were much more intriguing.
 

In the early-1990s, in my college days I had the opportunity to spend some days in a Pakistan Army guest house in Rawalpindi. It was adjacent to the 'Artillary Mess' which offered lounging and dining for the officers. Here I met Major Anthony. He must have been in his late 60s then. He told me the stories of his younger days, when he used to study at Gordon College, run by the Christian missionaries in Rawalpindi. He used to be a long distance runner in his college days. The college was famous for its sporting and academic excellence. He remembered fondly how the students finally persuaded an ageing professor to get married. They found him a match, another teacher from Lahore. They celebrated the marriage in style. The whole college went to Lahore and brought Mrs Professor back in the best wedding precession he Anthony ever took part in.
 

'Those were the good old days'. He used to say.

 

He never mentioned the nationalization of the college in the 70s and its inevitable decline. Anthony also remembered vividly his great luck, when as a young officer in the Army, he was appointed as the protocol officer to the visiting Queen Elizabeth during the Ayub Khan dictatorship.

 

'Those were the good old days', he would say.

 

Then his conversation would move to how he lives his retired life in peace and how his wife is still enamoured with the Royal family and collects all the memorabilia she can get her hands on.
 

I remember him well, because I never met anyone like him since. I met other Pakistani Christians, mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds. And I felt ashamed to see their plight. Post-Islamization era Pakistan is no place for minorities. No respect, no life.


In the same Army mess, I once saw two young men. Confident, educated and civilians. One day, they dropped by for a cup of tea with a friend, and they found me in the sitting room watching TV. Greetings were exchanged. They wore shalwar qameez and waist-coats and had beards. I knew the type from my personal experience. Middle class, religious types. 'Jamaat-e-Islami' types. I sat with them while they chatted away with their friend. One of them mentioned the conspiracies being hatched against the Ummah by the Jews. It was a common excuse for all the misfortunes of Pakistan.

One of the bearded gentlemen mentioned the Protocol of the elders of Zion. 'They (Jews)  buy out all the copies of the book as soon as it is published'. I had heard of the book and must have read about its content by that age, but never took it too seriously. But this man was making his argument with such force that I still remember the whole meeting. Both of the visitors believed in a global conspiracy, Pakistan being its prime target. They left after tea. Their friend who remained behind mentioned that both his friends were in ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence agency.
 

There was a Pakistan where Major Anthony thrived, made a life and retired with honour and dignity. And then there was a Pakistan of conspiracy theorists, religious zealots who fantasized themselves to be playing a great game.

And these middle-class Jamaatia types had now a foothold in Pakistani deep state. ISI was swamped by such ideological zealots, both uniformed and civilians. Zia era Islamization had a profound impact on the composition of the ranks in Pakistan Army. Megalomaniacs like ISI's DG, Gen. Hameed Gull inherited the hubris of Afghan 'Jihad' victory and created a monster which no one could tame, even the ISI.

As a college and university student, I witnessed the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and its slow creep into Pakistan from the frontier region. Like a damp patch on a wall, it keeps growing, gathering mould. Taliban  were now accepted as genuine and rightful rulers of Afghanistan. ISI had its allies providing the much needed strategic depth against India, while they kept mutilating and maiming the minds of a whole generation of Afghans and Pakistanis.

The generals who resisted a coup during the successive, spineless democratic governments had kept a strong control on all the things that mattered to them. They nurtured a poisoned generation which fought a proxy war in Kashmir. I knew another middle-class Jamaatia-type in university who trained for Jihad over the summer holiday and was killed while crossing the line of control in Kashmir. I knew many more who didn't want to go, but were happy to glorify those 'brothers' who went and became martyrs.

There are Jamaatia types and then there are the Taliban types. Jamaatias are middle-class, educated, from the urban centers of Punjab and KPK. They are happy to facilitate the lesser classes to pick up the gun and fight for whichever Jihad is underway at the time, the Taliban types; from the tribal belt or rural Punjab. They are the side product of a village welfare system, where the Madrassah takes on the surplus child from a poor family. The child eats leftovers, gets abused and radicalized.

The same abused, radicalized children grew up, and in the name of a fantasy cause, murdered over a hundred middle-class children in cold blood in Peshawar yesterday.

Pakistan seems to have woken up after this massacre. Only a year ago, the same city saw over 120 Christian worshippers killed in a similar attack on All Saints Church. But no one cares for them. No revenge for the Christians. Almost 100 Ahmadis perished in Lahore in 2010, and it went unpunished even when one of the assailants was handed over to the police.

There will be revenge for the children, for right or wrong reason. This will bring an end to the Taliban fundamentalist at least in the tribal areas for now.

But who will punish the middle-class Jamaati types who have caused this mess in the first place?

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My faith, My crime.

I remember clearly the moment when I realized for the first time that I was a criminal.

It was the autumn of 1993 in Rawalpindi, where I went to college. It was the living room of a friend of mine. We must have been having our usual contests of who can impress the other with the best trivia and unusual facts as teenager do, when my friend triumphantly stated

'If an Ahmadi says Azan (the Muslim call to prayers) he can be jailed for three years'.

I must have left a long gap between his trivia and whatever astonishing fact he expected me to return.

'Its in a book in my father's library'. He said. Obviously thinking that I didn't believe him. 'Its in the Pakistan Penal Code.'

I changed the subject. I must have thought of something to say. I can't remember much from that day, apart from a sense of anxiety that I usually felt in certain situations.

My friend did not know that I was an Ahmadi.

I told him about my faith a few months later. Surprisingly enough, he was OK with it. He was one of the rare few who remained my friends after knowing about my faith.

Such situations came way too often in my life. My family had to move from town to town due to my father's job. And each new move brought with it new classmates, new neighbours and new friends. All of whom would start wondering why I don't go to the nearest mosque for prayers. I suppose the grown-ups soon figured out the reason. It was however far too tricky for us children.

Most of my friend found out about my faith through gossip. I seldom had to volunteer the information and not many asked me directly. Being an Ahmadi in the post-Islamization Pakistan was dangerous. You could get beaten up or bullied in schools, by both the teachers and your classmates. I remember a classmate who would just casually walk up to me and punch me in the back saying that it was an act of 'sawab' (to be rewarded by God) to hit a 'kafir' (infidel). It was of course done as a crude joke, so I did my best to avoid him.

In another school, our science teacher would spend a whole hour explaining to us that Qadianis (Ahmadis) are kafirs. He knew fully well that there was a Qadiani 12 year old in his class. Fortunately, not many in my class knew that it was me. Funny thing is, that I liked that teacher because I like science and he was good at teaching it.

I knew that the dictator, General Zia had passed laws against us Ahmadis, and due to these laws, our 'Huzoor', the Khalifatul Masih had to leave Pakistan. We used to listen to his sermons through audio-tapes which were played at various prayer centers and Mosques that we used to attend for our Friday prayers.

But I was not aware of the real implications of these laws until I heard my friend pronounce the three year jail term for reciting the Azan.

I must have recited the call to prayers hundreds of times in my childhood. It is one of the first things we Ahmadis are taught as children. A Muslim must know the words as without the Azan, a congregation cannot offer any of their five daily prayers. I also learnt how to read the Quran, even memorizing some long passages. I offered my prayers in the manner no different to my Sunni friends. I went to the Ahmadiyya Mosque which looked no different than the Sunni Mosques. Our Imams read the same Arabic prayers before and after their sermons. We had two Eid celebrations, a month of fasting which started and finished with all the other Muslim sects.

But according to the Pakistan Penal Code, I was a criminal since April, 1984. I was a non-Muslim for the purposes of the Constitution by birth, thanks to Bhutto's 2nd amendment in 1974.

It would only require one police report to ensure I was thrown in Jail. At 17 years of age, I was a habitual criminal. I broke the Pakistani law on a daily basis. This realization dawned upon me on an autumn day while I was having a cup of tea in my friend's living room. This realization did not leave my mind for the next decade or so. I finally got free of its burden by leaving Pakistan.

You can understand that I was never a fan of General Zia, The architect of Afghan 'jihad' and the benefactor of the monstrosity that we now call the Taliban. He took it upon himself to rid the country of this 'cancer' of Qadianiyat which was a threat to both his version of Islam and his idea of Pakistan. The 2nd amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan had already paved the way for his ordinance XX. His aim was to decapitate the Ahmadiyya organization by going after the office of the Khalifatul Masih, the worldwide spiritual leader of the Ahmadi Muslims. The verbage used in the law was obviously aimed to target the Khalifatul Masih. His plans were foiled when Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IV, Mirza Tahir Ahmad left the country before a reason could be created for his arrest.

Zia died in a plane crash in 1988. But his laws survived the plane crash and the democracy which followed. No one dared touch any Islamic laws that Zia had enacted, including the notorious blasphemy and the Hudood laws. Even the liberal dictator, General Musharraf left these laws well alone. A dictator can suspend the constitution as many times as he likes, but its Islamic clauses remain valid at all times.




Some so-called liberal Pakistanis think that these laws have no real impact on the majority of the Ahmadis living in Pakistan. How wrong they are!





Since 1984, no new Mosques have been allowed to be built by the Ahmadis, hundreds of criminal cases brought against them for using the Islamic greetings or other Quranic texts in speech or in writing. Many more cases have been registered against Ahmadis for 'hurting the feelings' of the Muslims. Hundreds of Ahmadis have been murdered and their murderers walk free in most cases. These laws have made it impossible for Ahmadis to seek or even expect Justice in the courts of law.



In addition to this, Ahmadis are fair game for the notorious blasphemy laws too. An Ahmadi, just by being an Ahmadi is automatically guilty of blasphemy. How dare they believe in a prophet after the Last Prophet? How dare they believe in revelation after the Quran?

 Ordinance XX bars me from defending myself when such allegations were thrown at me. Any attempt to explain my beliefs were to be taken as proselytisation, which is a crime.

We cannot print books or sell and distribute them to non-Ahmadis. We cannot hold debates or seminars to share our ideas with others. We cannot print advertisements in newspapers or even expect them to print unbiased news regarding us. Even when we are massacred in our hundreds, the press struggles to report it as a human tragedy. But all care is taken to ensure that our mosques are not referred to as mosques in their reports.

Ahmadis have been relegated to a sub-human category of creatures in Pakistan.

I often think what will it take for Pakistanis to take a decisive step in correcting this grave injustice in their name? I think of all my non-Ahmadi friends I left behind in Pakistan and wonder what they thought about these laws really. Not many had the courage to condemn these laws. They thought that this was a religious matter and should never be discussed between good friends.

But this is not a religious matter at all. These laws were the menifestation of demagoguery of the clergy and arrogance of a ruthless dictator. If anything, these laws are an insult to the religion of Islam.


To help repeal these unjust laws, I urge you to sign this petition.

Tony Blair, Middle East and the Doomsday Cults

Tony Blair says that we should get ready for a battle between the open-minded West and the closed-minded Middle East. Its the same-old modern day cursades narrative which has claimed millions of lives so far and counting. Not long ago, he participated in the worst military adventure the west has ever embarked upon in its history. Thanks to a misguided, malicious and greed-driven war in the Middle East, we are on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. But, Mr. Blair refuses to learn a lesson. He wants more!


He says that the Muslim societies have been over-run by a supremicist ideology which have put them in direct conflict with the West. But it takes two to tango, so there must be a supremicist mindset at work in the West too which encourages the hubris of military conquest of the Middle East.


Blair must be very aware of his role in psychologically mauling a whole generation of young Muslims who grew up in the post 9/11 world. Social media has awakened this generation to the horrific attrocities of war. Those images and video clips, real or fakes, are constantly making the rounds on the internet, adding fuel to fire already lit by their local hate preachers.


You simply cannot force this genie back in the bottle by more war. This will not only compromise the already struggling moderate voices in the Muslim countries but also embolden the extremists even more.


There is a growing network of various groups, increasingly inter-connecting and unifying across the Islamic world calling for a global caliphate/Khilafah. Some groups are more open about the idea of a global Jihad to bring about this revolution. Many agree with each other on principle and are increasing their influence among the young Sunni men and women living in the west. The traditional strands of Sufi, riualistic Islam focused on persoanl piety have been sidelined as weak and unambitious.


Although various Khilafah movements may pose a threat to the Arab royals, the transition from a non-political Sunni/Wahabi to a political one seems to be very easy and frequent. It is very difficult to contain or control this phenomenon through policing, even if you are Saudi Arabia.



Doomsday cults are thought to be fringe groups of conspiracy theorists, but think again. The state of Israel and its Zionist zealots are a doomsday cult. There are countless Christians who believe that the US and its allies must protect the Holy Land as it is the promised site for the return of Jesus. Sunni preachers have been warming up their congregations for the imminent appearance of the Mahdi, and the latest interpretations of hadith literature promises Syria to be of vital import in this respect. Then there are those skeptics who feel that Mahdi has to be created through war and consensus of Muslims, and to add to the mix, there seems to be unlimited hatred for the Shia by thousands of Jihadis converging in Syria. Shia Muslims themselves are being told about the re-emergence of the Mahdi is a certainty and the present day conflict was foretold in many prophecies before.


This may sound far-fetched for some of you. But American diplomats were advising their government not to enter into any negotiations with a 'Messianic' regime in Iran, a leaked diplomatic cable (via Wikileaks) reveals. How come eschatological beliefs of some are causing so much suffering in this day and age? This is after all, the age of reason and science. Many clergymen, Christians, Jewish and Muslims alike, seem to have resigned to the fact that Messiah's do not float down from the heavens. But consider how Ahmedinijad started his speech at the UN General Assembly a few years ago. He prayed for the immediate appearance of the Mahdi, a warrior leader who will rid the world of all evil. Think again about why Bush and Blair consulted God before launching an attack on Iraq and Afghanistan. Behind the seemingly secular political rhetoric, humanitarian concerns and an agenda for democracy, the west is turning a blind eye to the absurdities of literalistic religious zealots in all camps.


Mr. Blair has said one thing that I agree with. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are nurturing a venomous generation of violent preachers which needs to be checked. While Saudi royals are happy to preach peaceful interpretations of Islam to their own citizens, they are recruiting anti-shia paramilitary forces from Pakistan and Jihadi fighters from other Sunni nations to fight in Syria. Saudi puritanical influence of the Muslim youth living in the UK is also increasingly visible.


Exclusion of the moderates and the reformists through 'Takfir' (Edicts of heresy) is the most potent instrument in the hands of these hate preachers. Takfir means exclusion, and according to some puritans, loss of right to life. This is exactly what is driving the Jihadi machine in Syria at the moment. Bashar and his allies are kafirs, worthy of death. Glimpses of this takfir are also visible in the UK, which only shows how easy it can be to recruit fighters from this country. Muslims have to combat this menace themselves first.



It is also essential for the Muslims living in the UK to create their own identity, free of the burdens and strains of dictatorships and theocracies of their ancestral countries. In fact, Muslims in the West are closer to the real Islamic ideals of logic, reason and sciences then their brethren in the Middle East. We must export our new, enlightened and rational worldview to them instead of importing antiquated, literalistic and medievalist ideas to us. Currently we are only exporting gap-year Jihadis and openly partisan statesmanship in the form of Tony Blair.



I suggest that Mr. Blair should seriously consider education, both at home and in the Muslim world as his top priority, not war. I will leave his religious views alone. Afterall, It is a matter between a megalomaniac and his own ego.

1974: In response to Nadeem F. Paracha

Nadeem F. Paracha is a respected columnist of the left-wing variety, a rare species in Pakistan these days. He is a keen observer of the modern history of a nation in the process of self-combusting into oblivion. I understand and share his pain at this hopeless, prolonged and soul destroying state of affairs in Pakistan.



In his attempt to understand and explain the reasons behind Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's 'compromise' over the Ahmadiyya issue in 1974, NFP has made a few factual errors. Errors which almost seem like an attempt to shift some blame for the 2nd constitutional amendment to its victims, the Ahmadi Muslims. NFP calls this a 'theological issue' and excuses himself from giving any opinions on its religious aspects. Ironically, at the same time he blames the myopia and laziness of the secular intelligentsia to blame Bhutto alone for this whole debacle. The matter of deciding on someone's faith is nothing but a theological issue.


It is laziness and myopia indeed if an opinion is given without considering the religious motives which caused it. NFP then gives an opinion which is rather theological in nature:

"The Qadianis claimed that Mirza was a prophet, and accused all Muslims who did not accept him as being non-Muslims"

.


The above opinion is based on the false allegations raised by the Anti-Ahmadiyya clergy which was thoroughly discussed and refuted during the In-Camera proceedings held in 1974. Why was this question even taken to the parliament? A parliament of a secularist, socialist majority should have known better!


Ahmadis DO NOT consider anyone who claims to be a Muslim to be Non-Muslim, even if they reject the claims of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian as the Promised Messiah. In Ahmadiyya theology, this 'Kufr' or rejection of a Divinely appointed Imam (Mamur) is considered a sin, which makes the rejecter answerable in the eyes of God. It has to be understood that Ahmadiyya Muslims interpret the word 'Kufr' in a Quranic context and not as an absolute term of exclusion and hatred commonly used by the Mullahs against each other.


So my dear Nadeem F. Paracha, you have to understand the theology to understand the Ahmadiyya viewpoint. It is nothing but laziness and myopia if you don't even try.


Now to the events of 1974 which culminated in that constitutional amendment. I find it rather amusing that NFP would defend Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) like this. Even if a bunch of hooligans shouting profanities at Rabwah railway station got away with 13 minor injuries (as Samdani commission report confirmed) as a result of a brawl, does that mean that the whole community should be punished for the actions of a few?


And where did you get the idea that some 'Ahmadiyya leaders' were involved in planning a violent response. Ahmadiyya Jamaat's leaders do not resort to violence. Our 130 years history is a witness to that. The fact is, that some Ahmadiyya youths were involved in this brawl which took place on 29th of May because the IJT students, while shouting abuse from the outbound train a week before had also threatened violence on their way back on the 29th. The head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad had condemned the actions of those misguided Ahmadis in his Friday sermon on 31st of May.


I also believe that the Rabwah Railway incident was a pre-planned event, used as a pretext to start a violent street agitation against the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. A year before this incident, in spring 1973, an extraordinary session of Ahmadiyya Jamaat's Majlise Shoora was called in which the Khalifatul Masih (Mirza Nasir Ahmad) had informed delegates from all over Pakistan that a grand conspriacy was being hatched against the Jamaat. He had even outlined the methods likely to be used including using hypocritics within the community. Rabwah railway station incident was not a random event. On the day of the brawl, Faisalabad Mullah rags had published fictitious accounts of mutilations of the innocent 'Muslim youths' at the hands of Qadiani 'goons'. JI leadership was in cahoots with the Petro-Dollar funded Rabita Alam e Islami who had issued an edict to boycott Ahmadis and remove them from key posts only a year ago. It is no surprise that the student wing of the same organization then gets the ball rolling at Rabwah.


Agha Shorish Kashmiri was fawning over King Faisal at the OIC conference and praying for his speedy ascendency to the office of Khalifa for all Muslims. Mr. Bhutto was not blind to the immense wealth and prestige which came with the Saudi patronage. It only made sense for a person of his ambition to sacrifice the Ahmadiyya Muslims to gain popularity among the religious minded masses of Pakistan. Maulana Kausar Niazi wrote in his book “The last days of premier Bhutto”;


"He was referring to the Constitutional Amendment regarding the Ahmadis, which has prompted country wide celebrations. Mr. Bhutto felt that the credit which should have gone to his government had not been accorded. “The maulvis are claiming all credit for the Amendment,” he complained, “we must portray the true picture before the people."


Here is another interesting observation. PPP of early days was branded a communist party by the religious right. With such a toxic label, Mr Bhutto had no hope to win many seats in Punjab in 1971 elections. It was Mirza Tahir Ahmad, who later became the 4th head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who helped PPP leadership to choose the appropriate candidates in Punjab which then ensured a very unlikely PPP victory. Ahmadis were helping the country to follow more progressive path and they supported the only party which was serious in its secular and enlightened vision for the country’s future.


Bhutto then stabbed his benefactors in the back, and while in his jail cell five years later, equated the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to the 'Jewish Lobby' in USA. He had tears in his eyes when he had to insist that he was a Muslim because a high court judge had called him a 'Muslim in name only' during his murder trial.


He died believing that maybe his act of declaring Ahmadis Non-Muslims will become the cause of his forgiveness.


Whether he will be forgiven or not, God is the only Judge of that. But Mr. Bhutto left the country firmly in hands of religious bigots for a long time to come. Even people like Nadeem F. Paracha cannot bring themselves to accept that their beloved leader sacrificed the soul of Pakistan 40 years ago.


How can we hope for things to change?
Here is the Ahmadiyya response to the declassified In-Camera proceedings and the historic background to the 2nd amendment.

Wikileaks and 1974 Anti-Ahmadiyya Agitations

 US Diplomatic Cables, now declassified (or released) via wiki leaks, give an interesting insight into the Spring and Summer of 1974. United States has always enjoyed great influence in Pakistani establishment and certain details present in the diplomatic correspondence of that time show a government under threat.

It appears that Bhutto maintained a neutral stance to avoid any embarrassment on the humanitarian front, but hid behind the parliament to make his decisions. Also, the US diplomats reported on the agitations as 'generally under control' and ignored the human cost of the violence. 

Here are a few excerpts I found to be of interest. 

'VIRTUALLY ALL OUR CONTACTS MAINTAIN THAT MILITARY AND CIVIL SERVICES ARE "FULL" OF AHMADIYAS,  WHEN PINNED DOWN, ONLY NAME WHICH GENERALLY COMES TO MIND IS RECENTLY RETIRED AIR MARSHAL CHAUDHRY. ACCORDING TO ONE SENIOR CIVIL SERVANT, GOP HAS LOOKED INTO MATTER AND FOUND THAT SENIOR-MOST AHMADIYA IS (UNNAMED) PROVINCIAL SECRETARY IN SIND.'

(1974 June 7, 12:31 (Friday), Lahore)

 JAMAAT-I-ISLAMI LEADER MIAN TUFAIL MOHAMMAD REPORTEDLY SENT TELEGRAM TO SAUDI ARABIA OVER WEEKEND REQUESTING KING FAISAL'S INTERVENTION TO HELP SOLVE SECTARIAN QUESTION. IN TELEGRAM, MOHAMMAD REPORTEDLY REMINDED MONARCH THAT ISSUES SHOULD BE VIEWED IN LIGHT OF DECISIONS TAKEN DURING RABITA-E-ALAM-E-ISLAMI CONFERENCE HELD LAST APRIL IN JIDDA. (ACCORDING TO LOCAL SOURCE, CONFERENCE DECIDED TO CONDEMN AHMADIYAS AS AGENTS OF ISRAEL AND INTERNATIONAL ZIONISM, AND TO DECLARE AHMADIYAS AS NON-MUSLIMS THROUGHOUT ISLAMIC WORLD.)

1974 June 17, 11:46 (Monday) Lahore)

TEHRIK ISTIQLAL LEADER ASGHAR KHAN HELD PRESS CONFERENCE IN LAYRE JUNE 14, WHICH FOR FIRST TIME IN MONTHS GOT HIM CONSIDERABLE (ADVERSE) PUBLICITY. APPARENTLY, NO JOURNALIST OF ANY PERSUASION WAS SATISFIED WITH AIR MARSHAL'S COMMENT THAT AHMADIYA COMMUNITY WAS "ALREADY A TINY MINORITY," ALTHOUGH HE DID STATE THAT HE FIRMLY BELIEVED IN FINALITY OF PROPHET MOHAMMAD (KHATM-E-NABUWWAT).

1974 June 17, 11:46 (Monday) Lahore)

PRESS CONTINUED TO CARRY INFLAMATORY STORIES DURING WEEK, INCLUDING ONE ARTICLE IN JAMHOOR JUNE 21 DATELINED CHINIOT, IN WHICH CORRESPONDENT CLAIMED HE HAD RECEIVED INFORMATION FROM KARACHI THAT AHMADIYAS WERE PURCHASING GOLD IN LOCAL MARKET WHICH WOULD BE TRANSFERRED TO NEW AHMADIYA HEAD-QUARTERS OUTSIDE PAKISTAN VIA BRITISH OR AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC MISSION.

(1974 June 28, 11:46 (Friday), Lahore)

MAJLIS- E- AHRAR ANNOUNCED INTENTION TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING OUTSIDE LAHORE' S DELHI GATE TO PAY TRIBUTE TO ACTION OF AZAD KASHMIR ASSEMBLY, TO FEATURE NOTED OPPOSITION FIGURES SUCH AS AGHA SHORISH KASHMIRI AND NAWABZADA NASRULLAH KHAN, AS WELL AS SOME PROMINENT LEADERS OF JAMIAT ULEMA, JAMIAT ULSUA PAKISTAN AND JAMIAT ULEMA ISLAM, AND SIMILAR MEETINGS WERE SCHEDULED FOR OTHER PARTS OF THE PUNJAB.

(1973 May 11, 09:15 (Friday), Lahore)

And one strange one. Regarding a Group Captain Sajjad Haider who wanted a diplomatic post in Washington. It is interesting to see him being labelled as anti-Ahmadiyya and his own claims of being one.

ALTHOUGH HAIDER HAS APPARENTLY BEEN REHABILITATED, IT LOOKS AS IF HE IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED FIT FOR FIRST-LINE OPERATIONAL DUTY IN PAKISTAN. HE IS ANTI-AHMADIYA, AND CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN REMOVING FORMER AIR MARSHAL CHAUDHRY.

(1974 July 24, 09:01 (Wednesday), Lahore)


Previous: 1974 VI: Kufr and Islam; Circles and Boundaries
Next: 1974: In response to Nadeem F. Paracha

Pakistan, Shia Genocide and 1974

Muhammad Hanif, a popular novelist and journalist tweeted recently about a discussion he had with a young man at a vigil for the Quetta massacre victims. They disagreed upon the year when the Shia killings started in Pakistan. The young man insisted that it all started in 1997, while Hanif knew it to be 1985. He concluded that the kid was too young to remember and he was old enough to be right.

Majority of the Shia Muslims dying in Pakistan at the hands of takfiri terrorists, and most of those protesting against this ongoing genocide don't know or remember 1974.

It was the first year of official takfir in Pakistan.

An elected parliament which consisted for some very vocal Shia politicians, under the guidance of a Shia prime minister allowed Sunni and Wahabi Mullah's to amend the constitution to declare Ahmadis as non-Muslims. One can read the speech by Syed Abbas Hussain Gardezi in the proceedings which supposedly represented the Shia opinion on the matter. I do not believe Mr. Gardezi was representing the Shia Muslims of Pakistan. He, like most of his colleagues were politicians who ushered in the dark years without realizing it.

On 6th of August 1974, day 2 of the in-camera session, the Head of the Ahmadiyya community, Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad cited numerous examples of fatwas (edicts) of Kufr by various Muslim sects against each other. He argued that Parliament should not behave like a takfiri mullah as those demanding the 2nd amendment call each other kafir too.

During the cross-examination, Attorney General Yahya Bakhtiyar refused to accept that all other edicts of heresy had anything in common with the proposed 2nd amendment. According to him, all Muslim sects were unanimous in declaring Ahmadis as Non-Muslims while the edicts quoted by the Khalifatul Masih were individual opinions of one sect against another.

Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad then quoted Dr. Khalifa Abdul Hakim, a famous religious scholar of Paksitan (Page 284), who wrote that a well known Mullah who was also a reluctant migrant to Pakistan declared a number of sects as Wajibul Qatl, includig Shias. He then quoted another scholar who famously said "We have only started Jihad against one sect (Ahmadis). We will deal with the others once we are done with them first".

On hearing this, Yahya Bakhtiyar tried to dismiss it as an individual opinion. But Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad told him that in future other sects will gang-up against another and the cycle of destruction will go on.

'That will be Hara-Kiri". Yahya Bakhtiyar remarked; probably the only correct conclusion he made during those 17 days.

Hara-Kiri, according to wikipedia is, "The ceremonial disembowelment, which is usually part of a more elaborate ritual and performed in front of spectators, consists of plunging a short blade, traditionally a tantō, into the abdomen and moving the blade from left to right in a slicing motion".

My deepest sympathies to the Shia Muslim brothers and sisters of Pakistan. It appears that they were bound by a Hara-Kiri pact without their consent.

Muhammad Hanif and many other liberal Pakistanis taking part in vigils and sit-ins this week can also mention 1974 to everyone. Those asking the PPP government for protection should be told that in the summer of 1974 a similar massacre happened all over Pakistan, and Bhutto's first Parliament was busy surrendering to Takfiri Mullahs.

1974 - V : Conspiracy Theories

The whole nation of Pakistan, including those who took up arms in exchange of petro-dollars are now eligible targets for collateral damage. In short, those who follow the “kuffar”, or help them, assist them, give them safe passage for military supplies are not worthy of being Muslims, and can be killed. The whole nation is in a state of constant denial.

'No Muslim can commit such attrocities'!

There is a 'foriegn hand', a conspiracy to destroy Islam and Pakistan!

But dear Pakistanis, do have a look at the events of 1974. The so-called fathers of Taliban represented the nation in the Parliament and started the rot which is eating away at the very soul of Pakistan.

Readers of the 1974 in-camera proceedings will find that the members of Parliament were under the impression that the Ahmadiyya delegation chose to be subjected to this cross examination. Fact is, that the delegations had no option but give evidence due to the obscene and slanderous nature of the resolutions presented in the Parliament.

Mufti Mahmood tabled the resolution which clearly states that Ahmadis are conspiring against Islam and the Ummah by pretending to be Muslims (pages 1883-1884);Whereas Mualana Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi echoed the same sentiments and more in his 'Bill' which also contained demands of removing Ahmadis from key posts and effectively evicting them from Rabwah. (page 2587)

It was also the total lack of competence on part of the Government. They had formed a steering committee to obtain witness statements to

'decide the status of a person who does not believe that the Holy Prophet (saw) was the last prophet.'

So the party being accused of the 'crime' had to present the evidence voluntarily or otherwise.

These proceedings are also a snapshot of the collective psychology of the nation. A nation recently broken apart, a country recovering from a heavy military defeat; a nation which was introverted, deeply suspicious and paranoid. Mr. Bhutto at times was the architect of this mindset as he proved it by blaming foreign hand for the unrest. No wonder that the committee was churning out conspiracy theories on an industrial scale against Ahmadiyya Muslims.

Members of National Assembly frequently remarked that the record of these proceedings was to become part of history, not only for Pakistan, but for the whole of Muslim Ummah. (page 1028, 2712-2714) Reading the document 38 years later, it makes complete sense; the lies, ignorance and hatred of the 'honorable' members could not be shared with the general public. We are introduced to a group of people who pretended to represent the aspirations of the people of Pakistan; some were Mullahs, some were typical landowners with little interest in welfare of the country and only a few were educated enough to understand the gravity of the situation. If we remove the Ahmadiyya witness statements away, you could easily imagine them as a bunch of schizophrenics believing in every wild theory they were presenting. No wonder that generation of leaders lost half the country and then invited the worst military dictatorship on the country ever in the same decade!

 

Here are a few examples of what was presented as a fact in that committee room:

 

Ahmadis are the enemies of Pakistan:

The original resolution presented by Mufti Mahmood: (Pages 2077-2080)

Ahmadis conspired against Pakistan during partition, which caused Gurdaspur to remain in India. This led to India having access to land routes into Kashmir and so on.

The Attorney General also paid special attention to this issue during is aggressive cross examination. He kept on returning to the issue pretending not to understand the reasons behind Jamaa't's efforts to help Pakistan in gaining Gurdaspur through separate representation by Ahmadis.

Justice Munir who was also a colleague of Sir. Zafrulla Khan observed in his famous enquiry report:

'Apprehensions about the final location of Qadian, therefore, began to be felt, and since they could obviously not ask for its inclusion in India, the only course left for them now was to fight for its inclusion in Pakistan. Vile and unfounded charges have been levelled against the Ahmadis that the district of Gurdaspur was assigned to India by the Award of the Boundary Commission because of the attitude adopted by the Ahmadis and the arguments addressed by Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan who had been selected by the Quaid-i-Azam to present the case of the Muslim League before that Commission. But the President of this Court, who was a Member of that Commission, considers it his duty to record his gratitude to Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan for the valiant fight he put up for Gurdaspur. This is apparent from the record of the Boundary Commission which anyone who is interested may see. For the selfless services rendered by him to the Muslim community, it is shameless ingratitude for anyone to refer to Chaudhri Zafrullah Khan in the manner in which he has been referred to by certain parties before the Court of Inquiry.

One can also find frequent references made to 'akhand bharat' by most of the speakers. Again reflecting the  paranoia and recent humiliation caused by the fall of Dhaka. There was no evidence to support this theory, only a partial statement from Khalifatul Masih II which was taken out of context.

Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi, once an informant for the British CID in Peshawar, and a staunch Congress supporter before Partition, also claimed that Ahmadis spy for India under the guise of visiting Qadian (Page 2835).

Ahmadis are deniers of Jihad:

On Page 2094, Mufti Mahmood said that Ahmadis don't even believe in Jihad, but they started gaining influence in the armed forces. That is why they have always failed to fulfil their responsibilities during Indo-Pak wars. I am sure Pakistani nation would like to know more details -  Such 'facts' have been succesfully hidden for so long that people who used them are now deceased; unaware that a simple google search will prove them liars.

On the same page, the father of Taliban (its still Mufti Mahmood) says that due to 'Mirzai' conspiracies, the nation had to suffer the curse of Martial law. Mufti and his Mullah friends demonstrated this to be a lie by getting rid of Mr. Bhutto in 1977 through another military coup.

The Attorney General questioned Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih III (a.r.) on this topic in detail. (pages 1067-1165). Although it becomes abundantly clear that Ahmadiyya opinion on Jihad of sword (qitaal) is logical and the most reasonable, Mr. Bakhtiyar kept implying that the real Islamic Jihad means revolting against any non-Muslim ruler. Something that none of the Assembly members and their fathers could demonstrate during the British raj.

 

Ahmadis are British/Zionist agents:

The question of British patronage for Jamaa't Ahmadiyya is probably the most common misconception among the mainstream Muslims. Mufti Mahmood's speech had a sizable portion dedicated to this conspiracy theory. Here he quotes an official document 'The Arrival of British Empire in India' which alleges that a delegation of British journalists and clergymen visited India in 1860s and concluded that Muslim unity can only be broken through an 'apostolic prophet'. The Mufti was careful not to provide a direct reference to this document, but quoted Agha Shorish Kashmiri's work 'Ajami Israel'. Kashmiri was not known for speaking the truth and some even found evidence of fabricated interviews that he published to support his right-wing conspiracy theories.

The document 'Arrival of British Empire in India' does not exist in any library or public record. This is obviously a hoax to strengthen a lie.The fact that this was presented as the evidence speaks volumes of the character and truthfulness of the speaker. Also, this question was not raised during the cross-examination, but presented as a fact during concluding speeches to avoid humiliation.

Another member of Parliament Maulana Abdul Hakeem (on behalf of Maulana Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi) spoke on this matter and presented his opinion on Tuhfa-e-Qaisariya (a book of Promised Messiah addressing Queen Victoria). He interpreted the respectful tone of writing as not suitable for 'prophetic majesty'. Maybe he would have preferred his Imam Mahdi to be devoid of the high moral teachings of Islam. e.g., courtesy, loyalty and honesty. What none of the Mullahs mention about Tuhfa-e-Qaisariya is that this book was written as an invitation to Queen Victoria to accept Islam.

Mufti Mahmood also stated that Ahmadis of Qadian celebrated the British victory in Iraq during WW-1. On page 1232, Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad (a.r.) also addressed this during the cross-examination. Mufti sahib forgot to mention the fact that a large majority of Muslims, their elders and leaders celebrated the British victory.

Religious leaders of all major sects ignore the fact that large number of British-Indian Muslims fought in the British Army during both world wars. All major Ahrari leaders supported the British cause and published articles and letters to show their allegiance to the Empire. It was when the Indian National Congress started to openly rebel against the government that their paid Ahraris also participated in those agitations.

The fact is that if the British actively sponsored anyone, it was the Deoband and Ahl-Hadith leaders in India. Please see the video below.

Not only this, Barelvi school of thought was also very close to the British. One can find plenty of evidence on the internet.

1970s was a time of extreme anti-Zionist sentiments everywhere. Arab nations had recently lost a war against Israel and conspiracy theorists were busy finding the reasons for the Arab defeat. Mullahs of Pakistan found an easy target in Ahmadis. Mufti Mahmood collected some random references and tried to weave them in his story on how Ahmadis are the agents of Israel. The only fact in his speech was that some native Arab Ahmadis live in a town called Kababeer which was occupied by Israel in 1948. The Mufti  forgot to mention the fact that apart from these few hundred Arab Ahmadis, many hundreds of thousands of Arab Muslims live in Israel as well.


Mullah Abdul Hakeem (Ghulam Ghaus Hazarvi et al) also made reference to the Arab defeats and Israeli aggression (page 2486-87) and somehow linked it with Ahmadis. A detailed response to these allegations was given by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih III (a.r) during Friday 23rd of August proceedings. (page 1230 onwards).

As a community, Ahmadiyya Jamaa't has always been critical of the state of Israel* and its creation through violence and occupation. Sir. Zafrullah Khan was hailed as a hero of the Arab cause when he defended the Arab nations in United Nations against Israeli aggression.

These are only a few examples from these two speeches which were the Deobandi (JUI) response to Ahmadiyya Muslim Mahzarnama.

 

'Qadiani' Kalima

One MNA, Inayat-ur-Rahman Abbasi spoke about the Kalima written on the entrance of a Mosque in Africa. Due to the poor picture quality and the unusual calligraphy (Kufi), Maulvis found the evidence that Ahmadis read Ahmadur Rusoolullah instead of Muhammadur Rusoolullah.



People have seen better UFO evidnece than this!

When Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih III (ar) was asked about this by Yahya Bakhtiyar,(pages 312-315) he pointed to  'tashdeed' on the letter Ma in the word they wanted to read as Ahmad. There is extra emphasis on the second letter Ma in Muhammad. It was also pointed out to the committee that Rabita-e-Alame-Islami's official publications printed the same picture in an Anti-Ahmadiyya article but did not object to the Kalima. i.e, they understood it to be the same Kalima written on all the mosques around the world. 


After the delegation left for the day, Maulana Zafar Ansari had a look at the magazine handed over to the committee as evidence. He tried his best to prove that the article was critical of 'subversive' Qadiani activities in Africa in the hope that people would also accept the lie about the Kalima (pages 340-345) This was indeed a sign of their frustration on being caught out lying. One of many to come during the proceedings. 

Sir Zafrullah Khan; Jurist, lawyer, statesman, writer, historian, scholar, Judge of ICJ. But still of 'sub-standard intellect' for some.

 

A couple of non-Mullah MNAs exposed their mental state and of that committee on the 2nd of September.

M. Afzal Randhawa wanted the government to investigate the secret funding Ahmadis receive from Israel. He also expressed the opinion that as Ahmadis are not Muslims, they can't even be good Pakistanis. (page 2797-2800)

Chaudhary Mumtaz Ahmad had the decency to accept at least on historic fact that the Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) defeated christian missionaries in debates. (page 2803), but he repeated the same story of British sponsorship and the intent to divide the Muslims.

Makhdoom Noor Muhammad revealed that Sir Zafrulla and M.M. Ahmad both were of inferior intellect; (an opinion that the whole world disagrees with) he then proceeds to quote Shaikh Mujeeb-ur-Rahman who blamed a 'syndicate of Qadiani Generals' behind the East Pakistan situation and threw in a few Tel Aviv references too for good measure. This honorable member also disclosed that Ahmadis also tried to sabotaged the Independence of Indonesia (pages 2820-2822) , something that will even surprise the Indonesian historians.


Next: Kufr and Islam - Circles and boundaries:

* In 1939, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) wrote a tract against the scheme to settle Jews from around the world in Palestine. This was widely published and very well received by many leading Arab newspapers. Reference to this was made by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih III on 1247-1250 of the documents.