28th May 2010 - It was a beautiful Friday. A nervous and exciting
one for me. Nervous because I had an exam, and exciting because it was my last
one. I come out of the exam hall at 4, a free girl and switch on my cell to let
everyone know that I'm free for any plans for the upcoming summer. And suddenly
my cell is flooded with concerned messages - "Is your family ok? We heard
about the blast", "Call up your family and friends in Lahore, there's
been an explosion", "You're an Ahmadi, right? I think you need to
watch the news".
Seeing these messages, I got even more worried wondering what had
happened. Rushing back home, I switch on the TV to see news channels filled
with blood, torn clothes, debris of what used to be a wall, and injured people.
As it turns out, there have been two major blasts on Ahmadis’ mosques in Garhi
Shahu and Model Town. The attacks had been planned at the Jumma prayer time for
more collateral damage. And the plan was effective. 86 Ahmadis lost their
lives, and more than 150 men and children were injured.
I have quite a few relatives in Lahore, and a couple of them are
quite close ones. I texted one of them, asking whether her dad and brothers
were safe, hoping they had not been injured, or worse, dead. She called me
right up, weeping that they were still at the mosque and there has been no
communication from them. She had tried calling everyone but no one was picking
up and she had no way of knowing. I could not have said anything to her to make
her feel better, so I just said – bus dua kero, Allah sab behtar keray ga.
(Just keep praying, Allah will make things better). And I bowed down to pray
myself, hoping for safety of the Ahmadis insides those mosques.
86 Ahmadis lost their lives that day. 86 people martyred, and so
many more injured. Not one of them protested against the attack. Not one of
them started a protest or a riot. Not one of them came to the streets. Why?
Because the leader of the Ahmaddiyya Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad,
asked them to be patient. And promised them that Allah is all-Rewarding and
all-Watching. All of them were hurting, broken hearted; losing a family member
is not an easy thing to go through, especially when they leave before their
time. But each and every Ahmadi, instead of going out to protest, bowed down in
prayer. It was a wonderful, yet heart breaking sight. Every Ahmadi was united
in their prayer for the ‘shaheed’ and the affected families.
The news went worldwide. There was news about how a minority had
been targeted at such a wide scale, about how nothing had been done to take
preventive measures. The whole world seemed to be talking about it. Even in
Pakistan, where there is a nationwide hatred for the Ahmadis, there was a lot
of talk about Ahmadi rights and how the blasts should not have occurred at all.
And as quickly as it started, it ended. Soon, there was no news about the incident;
there were no talk shows about it. Pakistan and its citizens pretty much forgot
about it. There was no help given from the government. No support was given to
the affected families. For the government, it was just news and an incident
that had happened, and nothing else.
There were so many questions. Why did they die? Why was there an
attack on such a huge scale? Why wasn’t the police guarding a much-threatened
community? Here’s the answer; they were Ahmadis. They are not supposed to die;
it’s apparently a good deed to kill them. According to the 1973 constitution
approved by Bhutto, Ahmadis are by all means non-Muslims. They are not allowed
to pray, or call their places of worship mosques, or recite the Kalima. They
are not even allowed to vote; if they want to, they must declare themselves
non-Muslim publicly on a piece of paper. But since Ahmadis are very devoted and
determined in their religion, they refuse to do so. So, as a last resort, the
extremists have targeted them and killed them to serve their own guilty
conscience. Forget the fact that murder is not allowed, forget to follow
Islamic teachings in all walks of life, but just make sure Ahmadis are dying.
Just make sure that the public is brainwashed into thinking that Ahmadis are ‘wajib-ul-Qatal’
(they deserve to be killed).
It has been 3 years. There has yet no justice been given to the victims
of that tragic day. It has been long forgotten. No one talks about it now. No
one even remembers something so huge happened. But the Ahmadis remember. Not
only the affected ones. Every single Ahmadi remember what happened that day; it’s
not something that will be forgotten easily. The sad part is that no one asks
for justice because asking for justice would just mean more deaths. It would
just mean that Ahmadis become a target for even more people.
To my Ahmadi brothers and sisters, I say, have patience. It’s all
we can have right now, and pray to Allah. Pray to Him for only He can change
this state of affairs, for He is All-Listening and He is the One you need to
turn to. And Allah is the one who is the One who will give rewards and
punishments. Let’s leave it up to Him to punish the oppressor.
To the news and talk show people, I say, don’t use someone else’s
tragedies to make a show. If you want to make it news, then at least consider the
feelings of the affected, before blatantly talking about it.
To the extremists, I say, do whatever you need to. Kill us all but
not one of us will renounce our religion. We will die but we will never say we
are not Muslims. We will stay bonded and united under the flag of Ahmaddiyyat,
and none of your plans and attacks will change that. So, you can either stop
with the attacks and the finger-pointing, or you can keep on adding to your
sins, and we keep getting your virtues (if you have any).
To Pakistan, I say, Ahmadis helped make you independent. Ahmadis
have played a huge role in your politics and government. I just hope you repay
the Ahmaddiyya community some day by giving them their respected rights, their
justice and most importantly, their right to live. You owe it to them, you owe it to us.
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