Pakistani TV show host, Orya Maqbool Jan has reportedly been stopped from traveling to Norway after his videos against Ahmadiyya & Jewish community went viral in the country. Jan was supposed to fly out to Oslo for an Islamic event.
The claim has been made by Orya Maqbool Jan’s very own TV Show ‘Harf e Raz’ which airs weekly on Pakistan’s NEO TV Network. The report which aired on October 24th claimed that:
“The right to free expression, freedom to travel and the right to meet friends and family has been stripped from Pakistani citizen Orya Maqbool Jan.”
The Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad refused to comment on the matter and in an email statement said:
The embassy is prohibited from sharing information with third parties without explicit authorization.
Jan was traveling to Norway to headline an Islamic event planned for Saturday, October 27th in Lillestrøm, a small town 11 miles north of Oslo. The event venue was the town’s public school and Jan was supposed to share the stage with Lillestrøm’s Deputy Mayor Boye Bjerkholt. However, those plans might not materialize as the school has refused to lease space to Zohra Manzoor Welfare Society, the organizer.
In a statement to Rabwah Times, Principal of Bråtejordet school, Sandra Hansen said:
“The Zohra Manzoor Welfare Society had an arrangement with Bråtejordet school regarding renting space to hold an event. Yesterday, the school was made aware of the content of this event and the organizer behind the event was informed that due to the views and statements of the speaker invited, the school’s facilities were no longer available. Neither our school or the community can support the types of extreme views fronted by Mr. Jan.”
Similarly, Deputy Mayor Boye Bjerkholt also issued a statement distancing himself from the event, he said:
“I was invited to a celebration of Data Ganj Baksh, organized by the Zohra Manzoor Welfare Society. I accepted the invitation, as I normally do when I am invited to take part in cultural events in the local community, and didn’t think more of it until I was told by outsiders that a Pakistani extremist by the name of Orya Maqbool Jan would also participate. Upon hearing of this, I immediately did an Internet research, and found a number of articles and deeply disturbing videos in which Jan spews out his hatred, to the point of inciting the murder of Ahmadiyya muslims. I condemn these views as completely unacceptable and incompatible with the basic values of our society.”
The ban comes just months after the Pakistani authorities stopped him from boarding a flight to the U.S., allegedly upon the request of U.S. authorities. Jan a former Pakistani bureaucrat has made headlines for his extreme views against the country’s minority Ahmadiyya Muslims. In October 2017 he went as far as to say that “people with such claims or beliefs should be killed”. A year earlier in October 2016 he along with a mob of over 100 people stormed the office of Pakistan’s Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA) after a hate speech complaint was filed against his program.