Islamabad; December 2023: Ahmadis face opposition in all walks of life in Pakistan. In the past few years, opposition in the education field has also increased. This includes expulsion of Ahmadi students from educational institutions simply for being Ahmadi, the teaching of the End of Prophethood in schools and colleges and problems created for Ahmadi teachers.
The courses in the Air University Islamabad campus for the year 2021-22 in Islamic Studies & Ethics includes a section against Ahmadis, titled: “Seal of the Prophets: Constitutional Status of Qadiyaniat”. This course covers various topics regarding Ahmadiyya leadership, fatwas (religious edicts) against Ahmadis and other anti-Ahmadiyya matters. Air University is a semi-government university established in 2001-2. Currently, the chairman of the university’s board of governors is Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Babar Sidhu, the current chief of the Pakistan Air Force, while members include Dr. Zarqa Mehmood, a senator, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, former chairman of the Higher Education Commission, etc.
Non-Muslim students and teachers are generally believed to be ‘unequal others’ but all of them are not believed to be equally unequal. Therefore, it is also helpful to have an idea of the subtle differences in discrimination with regard to different communities. Of all “non-Muslims”, the Ahmadiyya community suffers the most from discrimination and oppression, an example of which can be observed in the above-mentioned case.
