Just as I was about to finish my day at work on Friday afternoon, I came across a BBC headline describing he latest terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Two mosques in Pakistan had been attacked leaving at least 56 dead but the final count of bodies was yet to be known. I was stunned to read that the mosques belonged to the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to which half of my family belongs. The attacks were still in progress as one of mosques still contained militants and hostages. Immediately my thoughts were occupied with the plight of those who were still inside the occupied mosque and at the mercy of senseless barbarians who wanted to destroy lives and property in order to fulfil absurd religious fantasies of martyrdom and a place in heaven. I thought of family members that may have been caught in the mess and later found that my wife’s cousin luckily escaped just in time by running out of the mosque as the attacks began. I was sickened and thought that I absolutely hate religion. How much hate, suffering, and violence will we continue to experience in the name of imaginary Gods, blind faith, mythical prophets, and their absurd holy books. How many more lives have to be lost to senseless violence before we all realize that we are following irrational delusions and hallucinations of men who may or may not have lived in a distant past. And therefore this was the start of my weekend. I was overcome with feelings of sadness, sympathy and a furious anger.

I followed the story through the rest of the day. I saw horrific images of victims being carried out of the buildings. I saw videos of militants shooting from minarets. I saw distraught family members in tears. I saw police celebrating after taking over one of the mosques from the hands of the militants. I then turned to coverage in the Pakistani media which sickened me even more. I was irritated to see pundits referring to the event as just another terrorist attack backed by foreign elements that wanted to destabilize Pakistan and destroy the reputation of Islam and Pakistan as if the country needs more destabilization and the religious needs anymore attacks against it’s reputation! One Mullah even went on to say that Israel was supporting attacks that happen within Pakistan. How absurd! When will the Pakistanis realize that these problems are theirs to be owned and dealt with and stop blaming others. It’s infantile to simply blame foreign elements for whatever happens inside Pakistan. It’s the easy and cowardly way out. These terrorists are born, raised, and trained within Pakistan. The authorities know exactly where all this is happening. They know which elements and organizations are behind them. They also know how to catch them but sadly there is no will. We sit and watch attack after attack against Muslims, non-Muslims, Pakistanis, and non-Pakistanis and nothing changes. A few individuals are sometimes caught and a few strikes in some tribal areas are carried out. Ultimately the terrorists continue to operate and even flourish because the authorities are either too afraid to go after the religious organizations or simply in support of them. Therefore nothing changes and nothing will change in the near future.

The Ahmadis have been and still are one of the most persecuted minorities in Pakistan and other Muslim countries. They were declared to be non-Muslims in Pakistan in 1974. They are not allowed to call themselves Muslims. They are not allowed to do anything that may show that they are Muslims to other pious followers of Islam just in case the sensitives of the real followers of Islam are hurt. In Pakistan, an Ahmadi can go to jail for simply greeting another person with Salam - the Islamic greeting. Over the years, they have been tortured, killed, and their mosques have been destroyed. If I were in Pakistan, I wouldn’t be allowed to associate mosque with Ahmadis as they are not allowed to use the word mosque to described the building in which they pray. This was the reason that yesterda all the Pakistani news channels were referring to their mosques as “places of worship”.

This is Pakistan. A country that is overrun with terrorist attacks. A country that has been subdued and hijacked by religious fundamentalists and fanatics. A country where minorities suffer unimaginable hardship at the hands of an intolerant Muslim majority and rulers. Things are so bad that many Pakistanis simply refuse to believe that this is happening to them and by them. They have resorted to delusions of external enemies that lurk in imagined shadows. It’s time for people in Pakistan to stand up and accept that this is their problem. It’s time for them to stop praying to supernatural beings for intervention in their affairs. Only the people themselves can bring about change and make this suffering go away. I hope that things change but these days my hope is desperately fighting to stay alive.

As for the Ahmadis, I know that they will find the resolve to get through this. They have been persecuted for decades making them well familiar with ruthless cruelty. They have suffered and alas they will continue to suffer as long as we have religions and fanatics willing to believe in them. If you would like to know what life for an Ahmadi is like in Pakistan, then read this.