In Pakistan Ahmadi Mulsims have been denied the right to vote

Pakistan’s election laws have created a separate electoral register for Ahmadis. 

In order to vote Ahmadis are required to either deny their belief in the founder of their community as a Muslim reformer, or deny their Islamic beliefs and self-identify as a non-Muslim minority in Pakistan.  

This has acted as an effective block on Ahmadis voting and has led to their disenfranchisement from the democratic process in Pakistan for nearly 40 years – including the forthcoming 2018 elections.

 Background 

The discrimination flows from the 1974 amendment to the Pakistan Constitution that declares Ahmadis as non-Muslims.  Then, as part of President Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamisation process, a separate electorate and electoral roll was created for all non-Muslims (following the above constitutional definition of non-Muslims) under ‘President’s Order No. 14 of 1985’, Schedule 11(3). Under this system, blocks of non-Muslims were made to vote for only 5% of the seats in the National Assembly allocated to their specific block and were barred from voting in the general elections for their districts, which were confined to Muslim candidates and the Muslim electorate. 

This system was partly abolished in 2002, when President Musharraf introduced a ‘joint electorate’, which lifted the requirement to declare religion when choosing to vote (The Conduct of General Elections Order (2002)) and allowed the electorate to vote for any candidate. However, this was quickly followed by Executive Order Number 15 of 2002, which reinstated the subordinate position of Ahmadi Muslims and required that Ahmadis to be placed on a separate electoral register (as non-Muslims).  

In 2007, the Election Commission ordered via its letter No. F.1(6)/2001-Cord dated 17 January, 2007 that separate supplementary lists for Ahmadis be prepared and published.  This was also the case in 2011 in advance of the 2013 elections.

Therefore, despite the use of a joint electoral register for all other communities (whether Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or Christian) Ahmadi Muslims continue to be singled out and marginalised on the basis of their beliefs. The use of a separate (non-Muslim) electoral register for Ahmadis was again used in Pakistan’s local elections in 2015 and remains in place to this day.

 Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan may therefore vote only after either signing a declaration that they do not belong to the Ahmadi Community, or acquiescing to their status as ‘non-Muslims’.

The separate electoral list comprising solely of Ahmadis is published and publicly available (with names and addresses of registered voters). This makes it very easy for extremists to target, harass, intimidate and kill Ahmadis. This is of great concern for those Ahmadis who live in more remote areas where they are more vulnerable as they may live in fewer numbers.

 Corroboration of marginalization by EU Observer Missions

The issue of Ahmadi voting rights has been highlighted in the last two EU Electoral Observer Missions to Pakistan. Most recently in 2013, the EU Electoral Observer Mission found that: 

In contradiction of article two of the ICCPR, the Ahmadi community continues to be discriminated against as, unlike other minority groups, Ahmadis are registered on a separate ER [Electoral Register]. While the Constitution foresees Pakistani citizenship and an age of 18 as the requirements for the right to vote, and the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002 establishes a unified ER, subsequent amendments… discriminate against Ahmadis.

 The Observer mission concluded as one of its key recommendations:

The separate list for Ahmadi voters be abolished, so that all voters are on one unified electoral roll, according to requirements for age and Pakistani citizenship.

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

This Cookie Policy explains how Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK (AMA UK)  Limited (“company”, “we”, “us”, and “ours”) use cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites, including without limitation www.ahmadiyyauk.org and its mobile or localized versions and related domains / sub-domains (“Websites”) and/or our mobile application (“App”). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

What are cookies?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or mobile application. Cookies are then sent back to the originating site on each subsequent visit, or to another site that recognizes that cookies. You can find out more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies are widely used in order to make sites work or to work more efficiently.

We use cookies to enhance the online experience of our visitors (for example, by remembering your visits and/or page preferences) and to better understand how our site is used. Cookies may tell us, for example, whether you have visited our site before or whether you are a new visitor.

Cookies can remain on your computer or mobile device for different periods of time. Some cookies are ‘session cookies’, meaning that they exist only while your browser is open. These are deleted automatically once you close your browser. Other cookies are ‘permanent cookies,’ meaning that they survive after your browser is closed. They can be used by the site to recognize your computer or mobile device when you open your browser and browse the Internet again.

Why do we use cookies?

We use cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites and/or App to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Websites and/or App. Third parties serve cookies through our Websites and/or App for analytics and other purposes such as Google Analytics. In particular, we use forms related cookies which when you submit data through a form such as those found on contact pages or comment forms cookies may be set to remember your user details for future correspondence.

How can you control cookies?

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies and we have explained how you can exercise this right below. However, please note that if you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of our site.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.

How often will we update this Cookie Policy?

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please, therefore, re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.