On Saturday hundreds of Pakistani Ahmadis walked into India to experience a week of religious freedom in the secular republic. The group was part of the 1,800 Ahmadis who have been given visas by the Indian government to attend their annual convention in the Indian Punjab.The three days event will run from 29th to 31st December. The annual event is significant for the Ahmadis from Pakistan who saw their faith outlawed by Pakistan in 1974, while their annual gatherings were …
ISIS’s onslaught against Yazidis has raged on for three and a half years. The rapes, beheadings, and shootings of Yazidis in Iraqi Kurdistan have been documented in front of the world. But Yazidis living abroad are giving their people a voice. Rabwah Times spoke with three prominent Yazidis, including an athlete, artist, and an NGO worker about how they have used their profession to give Yazidis hope. Yurki Mamadov Yurik Mamadov, 27, is a professional boxer of Yazidi origin raised …
The Sikh community in Pakistan’s Northern province has complained of mistreatment after local government officials told them to convert to Islam. Farid Chand Singh alleged that the assistant commissioner of Tall tehsil, Yaqoob Khan told members of the minority Sikh community to convert to Islam if they wanted to get their problems resolved. Singh who represents the Sikh community in the area of Hangu said Khan made the comments when the community members paid him a visit to seek his …
Police in the Pakistani city of Bambaanwala registered a case against six people after their names showed up on a Muslim-only voter list. Police registered the case on the orders of the Lahore High Court after a petition by landlord Mazhar Hameed claimed that the six individuals had claimed to be Muslim during the 2015 local bodies elections and included their names on the Muslim-only voter lists. He also alleged that the men had lied about being Muslims in their …
On December 7th the spiritual head of the Shia Ismaili community, Aga Khan IV arrived in Pakistan to lead the community’s Diamond Jubilee in the country.His arrival in Pakistan coincides with the Islamili community’s commemoration of his Diamond Jubilee. The Diamond Jubilee marks the 60 years of his spiritual leadership of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community. Ismaili spiritual leader #AgaKhan arrives in Pakistan to take part in #DiamondJubilee celebrations of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community – via @TheIsmaili pic.twitter.com/U5oFgDrmpN — Rabwah Times …
A prominent Pakistani politician has said his political party is open to the idea of supporting a candidate from the much hated Ahmadiyya sect of Islam. Asad Umar who is a policy head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and member of Pakistan’s National Assembly made the comments Tuesday at an event in the U.S. state of Virginia. Answering a Rabwah Times reporter’s question about whether PTI would support an Ahmadi candidate in the elections by offering him a ticket, Umar said: …
Muslims celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in the Pakistani city of Sialkot set a new precedent with an exhibit of mock graves which came complete with threatening posters hanging over them. The exhibit which was set up in the market center of the old city was targeted against the Ahmadis, who have once again become the focus of a hate campaign by politicians and Islamists. Posters hung above the mock graves had death threats against Ahmadis written on them, which …
Students from the small Pakistani town of Rabwah swept up top positions in the annual Secondary School (SSC) and Higher Secondary School (HSSC) exams. A ceremony was held on November 15th in Karachi where the top achievers were honored by Aga Khan University Examination Board, the accrediting body for the exams. Girls outnumbered the boys across the board. In SSC exams Samreen Raja from Nusrat Jehan Academy (NJA) Girls High School scored second across Pakistan with 1029 marks. While five other students …
A Pakistani court has ordered the government to create a database of non-Muslims employed by the Government. The order was given in response to a petition filed by an Islamic cleric. In a petition submitted to Islamabad High Court, Islamic cleric Allah Wasaya of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat demanded that the court: Direct the respondent No.3 [Federal Government] to maintain, henceforth, a separate database of individuals belonging to Qadiani group/Lahori group entering in civil service so that in future they may not be posted …
RABWAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – Crammed into buses and mini-vans, more than 10,000 Pakistanis traveled to a mosque on the outskirts of the small Punjabi town of Rabwah, for the sole purpose of denouncing followers of the minority sect based here as “infidels and enemies of the state”. For members of the long persecuted Ahmadi community, who are forbidden to call themselves Muslims and face discrimination and violence over accusations their faith insults Islam, the open vitriol on display at the …
A Pakistani Shia leader has warned that the public and the government should be made aware of the “dangers” posed by Baha’is and Ahmadis. Shia cleric Allama Iqbal Bahishti urged the Government to be watchful of the ‘heretic’ Baha’is & Ahmadis. Allam Iqbal Bahishti who is the provincial secretary-general of Pakistan’s largest Shiite political organization the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) made the comments while speaking to members of the press on November 11. Bahishti said: The Islamic world was split into two …
A Pakistani Minister has been forced to conduct a shake-up of his security detail after threats by Islamists. Pakistan’s provincial law Minister, Rana Sanaullah has ordered that only non-Muslim officers be deployed for his security. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have started conducting background checks on all his security detail and also asked the Minister to restrict his movements. However, sources close to the Minister say that he is not satisfied with the background checks and has already hired a private security firm to take …