When, on 17 November, a 'private members' day', the leader of the small opposition, Saeed Manhais, stood up to speak in the majestic colonial building of the Punjab Assembly in Lahore, those in the galleries expected a strong tirade against the government over issues such as rising inflation, rampant lawlessness and a spree of extra-judicial murders by the police. Instead, the honourable member moved a resolution to change the name of Rabwa, a sleepy town of 50,000 located some 150 km south-west of Lahore."In the opinion of this house, the name of Rabwa should be changed to 'Chak Dhaggian' or any other name," went the resolution. And in an unparalleled show of solidarity, the move was unanimously adopted by all 76 legislators present in the House. The only objection came from a minister who said that Chak Dhaggian was not a proper name, so a committee was formed to find another one.
The move came as a rude surprise to residents of Rabwa who came to know of it only the next day through news reports. They had no idea a change was being considered, and indeed the arbitrary decision was intended only to provide sadistic pleasure to the country's small but powerful religious lobby. That is because nearly everyone in Rabwa belong to the Ahmadiya community, the religious sect that was declared a non-Muslim minority by parliamentary act in 1974.
Most of the people of Rabwa migrated from the Indian Punjab town of Qadian during the Partition in 1947. Qadian is the birthplace of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, considered by the Ahmadiyas to be the Messiah promised in many holy books of Islam, including the Qur'an. When Mirza Ahmad proclaimed himself the new prophet of Islam towards the end of the 19th century, many religious scholars had denounced him and his followers for blasphemy, saying that there was no place for a new prophet in Islam. For their part, Ahmadiyas continue to insist that Mirza Ahmad's position is in accordance with the scriptures.
Most Ahmadiyas living in present-day India decided to move to Pakistan after independence. Though they settled in different parts of the country, those coming from Qadian decided to live at one place and create a new centre for the community. For this the Central Ahmadiya Organisation bought some 11,000 acres of barren land and named it Rabwa, a word from the Qur'an which means high and fertile place. As the seat of the community leader, called Khalifa by the Ahmadiyas, Rabwa soon became the new Qadian in Pakistan, a focal point for the Ahmadiya community, which claims a membership of three to four million in Pakistan alone.