Actually it is a historic day in Pakistan's history and also the history of Ahmadiyya Jama'at. We all should reflect upon it and ask ourselves different questions. For example;
The purpose of the declaration was to call Ahmadis as Non-Muslims and then limit their activities! Has this been accomplished?! (1) After declaring them Non-Muslims the idea was to ban all their preaching, because according to the "Islamic" law as understood by the pious government of Pakistan, no Non-Muslim can preach in a Muslim land. But contrary to that the conversion rate of Ahmadis since then in Pakistan and around the world has only increased, in some cases exponentially! And now a days millions of people participate in the annual ba'iat initiation every year! (2)A ban on any kind of gathering of Ahmadis in their home town of Rabwah was proposed, & that was accomplished! Instead, Ahmadis now gather in all the different cities of Pakistan and around the world. This years Jalsa Salana (Annual Convention) of U.K had around 25 thousand people and Germany around 30 thousand. The one in Ghana reported to have 50 thousand participants. (3) Then, knowing the importance of Khilafa'at in Ahmadiyya jama'at, that particular institution was targeted by it's opponents. The publication that published the Friday sermon were banned. As a result Ahmadies resorted to audio tapes. Then the Audio tapes were banned, so the Ahmadis resorted to listen to the speech of their Khalifa by phone. Then all such phone sermons were banned and Allah SWT, opened a new way of communication between the jama'at & their Khalifa through world-wide seattleite channel, which is Mash'Allah working 24/7 through volunteers. (4) Despite all the efforts, that institution of Khalifa'at is as strong as ever among the Ahmadis! In April this year, as the fourth Khalifa passed away, many opponent of the jama'at believed that it is the end of the movement. Instead, in the utmost organized fashion Ahmadi Members of the Khila'fat committee from all over the world gathered in the Fazal Mosque London, on a very short notice. And according to the guidelines already prescribed, they chose their next Khalifa! Reportedly, 25 thousand people were present at the occasion who had come from all over the world to pay their respect to Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad & attend his janazza and wanted to be among the first to take ba'iat on the hands of the new Khalifa.
And the examples of Ahmadiyya jama'at progress go on and on .. so has declaring Ahmadis as Non-Muslims accomplished anything as far as their progress is concerned?
Second question Pakistanis might ask themselves is that, has this measure made any effect on Islam & it's unity or understanding? Forget about it's effect on Islam & it's understanding globally, just in Pakistan .. what significant positive change has this measure made? Are more people in Pakistan now religious? Had the decision turned them towards religion and have the mosques now filled with the followers of faith? Are more people say their 5 daily prayers? Are the other sects of Islam joined their hands & have united? Maybe united against persecuting Ahmadis but other than that they haven't changed even an iota! The fact of the matter is that sectarian violence is on the rise, people are killed in mosques every other day, they are preached to hate from the places that are suppose to teach them to love their fellow man ...
Another question one might ask is what effect has it on the civil life of Ahmadis from Pakistan. The first ever Anti-Ahmadiyya riots began in 1954, and up till the 70s, the Ahmadis were persecuted on individual basis but not on a systemized manner in public through the aide of the government. So, we see that Ahmadis contributed to the public life of Pakistan with people like Zafarullah Khan Sahib, Dr. Abdus Salam, great economist & administrator like M. M. Ahmad etc. And even after the 70s, these great souls continued to serve their country. With Dr. Abdus Salam going to take up his Nobel prize as a Pakistani, regardless of his differences with the state's policies and the repeated discouragement of his initiatives. ZafarUllah Khan sahib, an international celebrity, chose to be buried in the great land of his, Pakistan. But unfortunately the Ahmadi generation that followed them & were brought up in 70s & 80s were so disheartened that they started to leave the country. And it hurts to say that when the next Abdus Salam will come, some might cheer on his Pakistani origin, but most probably he will belong to another country.
Lastly, how is Pakistan doing since the 70s when they declared Ahmadis as Non-Muslims. If this is such a big event of celebration, Pakistan must have benefited from it, right? So, where is the progress? Contrary to that, most people, be it democracy lovers or the ones who like the military, be it religious or secular, agree that the country has gone down the tubes! So, if Allah had blessed the nation with such a significant decision, He sure doesn't seem to be happy about it.