Punjab annual congregation: MHA clears visa for 1,800 Pak Ahmadiyyas for event

The community is estimated to have more than 170 million followers across the world and about 1,25,000 of them stay in India. In 2016, more than 14,000 Ahmadiyyas from 32 countries attended the three-day conference, said ministry officials. A senior government official said, “The security clearance for the first batch of visas was given after consultation with the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of External Affairs. We are expected to give more visas to Ahmadiyya community from Pakistan and elsewhere to encourage them to participate in the event.”

Widely perceived to be different from mainstream Islam, Ahmadi thought believes that the advent of a prophesied redeemer, as promised by certain Islamic teachings, has already happened. They believe, unlike followers of mainstream Islam, that the messiah incarnated in 1835 in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ahmadiyyas face persecution in Pakistan as mainstream Islam does not recognise them as Muslims. The community was constitutionally declared non-Muslim in 1974 during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s prime ministership.
Following this, most Ahmadiyyas from Pakistan moved to England.

Sources said the Home Ministry will urge the Punjab government to provide full-proof security at Qadian following reports that several Muslim groups in India and abroad have declared the Ahmadiyyas as heretics. In 2014, officials said, 2013 Bodh Gaya blasts accused Mohd Mojibullah Ansari, who was arrested by the NIA and allegedly owed allegiance to Indian Mujahideen and Students of Islamic Movement of India, had spoken of a plan to target places associated with Ahmadiyyas in India.