September 11, 2002	Wednesday	Rajab 3, 1423

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KARACHI, Sept 10: Ahmadis of Pakistan have decided to stay away from voting in October elections because they have serious reservations to the transfer of their names to the list designated for non-Muslims.

In a letter addressed to the President, Malik Khalid Masood, Nazir of Umoor-i-Amma, Anjuman Ahmadiyya Pakistan, has said the government has all of a sudden and without any valid reason, revised its correct and truly democratic decision of having only one common list of voters.

As a consequence of this revision only Ahmadis have been excluded from the common list and their names have been transferred to a list designated as a non-Muslim list, he claimed.

The community feels that “this strange measure has resulted in a ridiculous situation in which there is a common list of voters which contains the names of all the Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhist voters and a second list termed as non-Muslim list, comprising Ahmadis only.”

The letter added that it is their contention that this procedure adopted by the Election Commission is directed against the community alone and is flagrantly discriminatory and against all principles of justice and democracy.

He claimed that there has been no change in the electoral system to justify a change in the position taken by the Ahmadis in the last elections.

The community finds it “against their conscience to participate in an election which is not on joint electorate system and which negates fundamental principles of democracy and is detrimental to national integration and harmony.”