Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Vice President and former federal minister Senator Sherry Rehman has been accused of inciting religious hatred against the persecuted Ahmadiyya sect after a hateful article appeared in an Urdu daily under her name.
The article which was published on April 4th wrongly attributed a hateful statement against Ahmadis to Pakistan People’s Party’s Vice President Sherry Rehman.
Soon after the publication of this article Ms. Rehman personally responded and clarified her stance with the following tweets:
@RabwahTimes pl see several clarifications. This is one thing I do not and did not do. Quite the contrary
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) May 3, 2016
No I saw it today and was shocked. Asked Jang to correct it @Ehzan @theRealYLH @FaheemYounus @RabwahTimes
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) May 2, 2016
I certainly did not say a word about religion.This is Jang’s own addition to the English original they asked for https://t.co/gogSWtrB1G
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) May 2, 2016
Nothing would make me say or write exclusionary words like those attributed to me by Jang. They promised to correct @marvisirmed
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) May 2, 2016
On May 3rd 2016, Daily Jang issued a public apology stating that the anti-Ahmadiyya content in the April 4th article was wrongly attributed to Ms. Rehman due to an editorial mistake.
On Saturday April 29th, another PPP leader and former Prime Minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf also made similar remarks while addressing a political gathering in Kotli, Azad Kashmir.
In 2009, the PPP sponsored an anti-Ahmadiyya conference in Lahore and advertised it by placing banners across the city. In 2010, under the Presidency of Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari, two Ahmadiyya Mosques were attacked which resulted in the death of over 90 Ahmadis.
Founded in 1889, the Ahmadiyya is a sect of Islam which is considered heretics by mainstream Muslims. In 1974, Pakistan’s government lead by then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali amended the constitution to declare the Ahmadiyya Muslims a “non-Muslim” minority. Human Rights organizations have urged the government to repeal the laws which encourage and legalize the persecution of the Ahmadiyya community.
