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Tuesday June 18, 2002

Electoral rolls: Status of Ahmadis to remain unchanged

ISLAMABAD (June 18 2002) : The Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has made and promulgated the Conduct of General Elections (Second Amendment) Order, 2002, which shall come into force at once.

The order states:

In pursuance of the Proclamation of Emergency of the fourteenth day of October 1999, and the Provisional Constitution Order No 1 of 1999, and in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the Chief Executive has promulgated the following Order.

"In the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No 7 of 2002), after Article 7A, the following new Articles shall be inserted, namely:

"7B. Status of Ahmadis etc to remain unchanged.- Notwithstanding anything contained in the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974 (XXI of 1974), the Electoral Rolls Rules, 1974, or any other law for the time being in force, including the Forms prescribed for preparation of electoral rolls on joint electorate basis in pursuance of Article 7 of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 (Chief Executive's Order No 7 of 2002), the status of Qadiani Group or the Lahori Group (who call themselves 'Ahmadis' or by any other name) or a person who does not believe in the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the last of the prophets or claimed or claims to be a Prophet, in any sense of the word or of any description whatsoever, after Muhammad (peace be upon him) or recognises such a claimant as a Prophet or a religious reformer shall remain the same as provided in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973.

"7C.- If a person has got himself enrolled as voter and objection is filed before the Revising Authority notified under the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974, within ten days from issuance of the Conduct of General Elections (Second Amendment) Order, 2002, that such a voter is not a Muslim, the Revising Authority shall issue a notice to him to appear before it within fifteen days and require him to sign a declaration regarding his belief about the absolute and unqualified finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Form-IV prescribed under the Electoral Rolls Rules, 1974.

"In case he refuses to sign the declaration as aforesaid, he shall be deemed to be a non-Muslim and his name shall be deleted from the joint electoral rolls and added to supplementary list of voters in the same electoral area as non-Muslim.

In case the voter does not turn in spite of service of notice, an ex parte order may be passed against him."-PPI

Copyright 2002 PPI (Published under arrangement with Pakistan Press International)

Source: www.brecorder.com/story.php?css=brecord.css&story=0000513046&m=0&s=0