Asia

Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community In Pakistan – A Historical Perspective

Summary The paper analyses, through Pakistan’s history, a State sponsored persecution of the Ahmadiyaa community in Pakistan focusing on its discriminatory anti-Ahmadi laws that have made this religious minority sect the most vulnerable and oppressed community of Pakistan. Background; Ahmadis in Pakistan and the beginning of discrimination The calls for declaring Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority began since 1948 when a Muslim group called ‘Ahrar’ demanded removal of Ahmadi officials from their government posts including Pakistan’s Ahmadi Foreign Minister Zafarullah Khan.Jamaat …

Silence of the lambs: waiting for justice in the Land of the Pure

They only came to pray. They paid with their lives. Friday Prayers on 28th May 2010 for the Ahmadis of Lahore will always be remembered in blood and tears. It was supposed to be a day like any other. The Friday congregation of the community gathered as usual to offer their devotion. Immaculately dressed, heads bowed before God, serenity in the air. Then terror struck. Armed men with suicide vests and grenades descended like demons on two of the major …

Saudi Arabia to its women: Drop dead

Attention all Saudi women: If you need assistance of any kind, you are on your own. The government of Saudi Arabia made this clear to all women residing in their country when, late last month, it chose to arrest a 75-year-old widowed woman for being in the company of unrelated males who were simply helping her. In an embarrassing display of law enforcement, the Saudi government convicted and sentenced the widow to 40 lashes and four months imprisonment for mingling …

Ahmadi women being harassed for ‘violating constitution’

LAHORE – Two female faculty member of Post-Graduate College of Nursing, Birdwood Road, are getting life threats for being “members of the Ahmadiya community”, with religious elements inside the college alleging that the two were preaching their faith inside the college, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday. Sources said some elements inside the college were also coming with weapons to “teach a lesson” to these female teachers, while the teachers in question are seeking the government’s help. Sources said that it …

HRW urges Pakistan to Prosecute Ahmadi Massacre Suspects

New York – Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments should bring to justice those responsible for the May 2010 attacks on Ahmadiyya mosques that killed 94 worshipers, Human Rights Watch said today. On May 28, 2010, militants attacked two Ahmadiyya places of worship in the city of Lahore with guns, grenades, and suicide bombs, killing 94 people and wounding well over 100. The Punjabi Taliban, a local affiliate of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistani Taliban or TTP), claimed responsibility. Two men were …

Pakistan: Human Rights Report for 2011

The U.S. Department of State has released the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011,  The report by U.S. Department of State is submitted to the U.S. Congress. This years report again highlights the plight of minorities including Ahmadis in Pakistan. The report makes the following statements about Ahmadis : Disturbing trends include an increase in anti-Semitism, and continued persecution of other religious minorities, including Ahmadis, Baha’is, Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and others. Minority prisoners generally were afforded …

MKA Muqami headquarters renamed to Ewan-e-Qudoos

On 30th April 2012 the local headquarters of the local Ahmadiyya youth organization MKA Rabwah were renamed to Ewan-e-Qudoos after a prominent Ahmadi Muslim Master Abdul Qudoos who was the President of the Nusrat Abad chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Rabwah. The 43 year old Master died on 30th March 2012 after being brutally tortured by the local police in Rabwah. The office was renamed as per the instructions of His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad the worldwide head …

Police Torture Ahmadi teacher to death in Pakistan

Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad (43) a government school teacher in education department and the president of local chapter of Rabwah named Nusrat Abad died after falling victim to brutal police torture in Rabwah. Mr Qudoos was taken into custody on 10th February 2012 and was kept in a private torture cell run by  Chenab Nagar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Khadim Hussain on suspicion of murdering a local stamp paper dealer Ahmad Yousaf of Nusrat Abad. The illegal custody …

Ahmadi murdered in Nawab Shah, Sindh

An 80 year old Ahmadi, Chaudhary Muhammad Akram was murdered in an attack in Nawab Shah, Sindh. His 18 year old grandson Muneeb Ahmad was also victim of this fatal attack and is in hospital undergoing life saving surgery. Mr Chaudhary Muhammad Akram was coming back from his son in law’s shop to his home when unknown assailants opened fire on him. He died on the spot while his grandson Muneeb Ahmad was taken to hospital in critical condition. Mr …

Ahmadis travel to India for the annual convention

Thousands of Ahmadis from Pakistan are making their way to India to take part in the 120th annual convention of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Qadian (Punjab, India). The three day convention which will take place from 26th to 28th December 2011 will be attended by tens of thousands of Ahmadi delegates from India as well as from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. To make the journey easy for the delegates a major transport operation is underway. Over …

Aqsa Road taken over by illegal cart vendors

Rabwah’s central most road Aqsa Road that connects the Sargodha Road bus stop and Fazle Omar hospital to Aqsa Roundabout has seen a huge increase in the number of illegal card vendors occupying public space in the past year or so. Rabwah’s main bazar has been practically over run by street vendors who come in from adjoining townships to sell their goods, from push carts to donkey carts every single inch of public space has been snatched up, with barely …