punjab

Pakistan’s Sikh-Muslim duo want to fight religious intolerance by reviving Punjabi culture

With religious intolerance on the rise in Pakistan, two men have taken it upon themselves to unite people around common cultural roots. Every other weekend, Nasir Dhillon and his friend Bhupinder Singh pack up their bags and travel across the dirt roads of rural Punjab for one purpose, and this to preserve their ancestor’s cultural history by interviewing the ‘displaced generation’. The generation which lived through the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. Partition of British India resulted in the largest mass …

Pakistani Ministers target Ahmadis in Punjab Assembly

Decades of persecution and a full ban on the Ahmadiyya faith has not changed the Government’s attitudes toward Pakistan’s most persecuted faith group. Ministers in Pakistan’s Provincial Assembly of Punjab continue to make sure the Ahmadis are not given any rights or recognition. On August 31st, Minister for School Education, Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan came under fire over the alleged transfer of government schools to the Ahmadiyya community and organizations associated with it. In a fiery speech, Ghiyas-ud-Din said that …

Ahmadi man sentenced to 8 years in prison for selling Books

Abul Shukoor a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Pakistan has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for the crime of keeping Ahmadiyya books. 81-year-old Shukoor and his bookstore manager Mazhar Ahmad were arrested on Dec. 2 by Punjab Police. Both were charged under section 298-C and provision 8 of the anti-terrorism act for the simple act of keeping books of Ahmadiyya Muslim faith. Shukoor has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and fined 150,000 PKR ($1,500) while his …

1974: Opposition in Pakistan presses Government to bar Ahmadiyya sect

The combined Opposition in the Pakistan Parliament has demanded that the Government should declare the Ahmadiyya sect, a non-Muslim minority, remove all its members from influential and sensitive offices, and arrest Mirza Nasir Ahmad, who describes himself as third Caliph of the sect. The demand, which came yesterday, even from parties professing to be secular, followed a week of anti-Ahmadiyya agitation in Punjab. Today Opposition members walked out of the National Assembly after tear gas was used to disperse 2,000 …

Ahmadiyya Muslim killed in apparent sectarian attack in Taunsa, Pakistan

An Ahmadi Muslim man has been shot dead by four attackers on a motorbike in Taunsa, a city in the south of Punjab province of Pakistan. 37 year old Ikramullah was in the pharmacy that he owned when four gunmen on motorbikes stormed the store and opened fire. Ikramullah was shot several times and one of the bullets went through his skull. 

CM Indian Punjab Parkash Singh Badal attends Ahmadiyya Eid Milan Party in Chandigarh

Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Honorable Parkash Singh Badal attended an Eid Milan party organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Chandigarh on July 29, 2015 at Hotel Ashok View. After the recitation of the Holy Quran, Maulana Mohammad Hameed Kausar of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at introduced the teachings of Islam Ahmadiyya and explained the aim of the Eid Milan Party.

Pakistan’s 15-year-old record-breaker struggles to find university place

The brightest 15-year-old in the world can’t find a place at university because she’s too young. Sitara Brooj Akbar moved from Rabwah, Pakistan to the UAE last year after breaking international records in passing examinations. She is the youngest pupil to reach the top level, Band 9, in the International English Language Testing System. IELTS Band 9 qualifies her as an “expert user” of English, with “full operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding”.

Shahbaz Sharif avoids Ahmadiyya relief camp as flood surge reaches Rabwah

The super flood tormenting central and north-eastern Punjab has reached outskirts of Rabwah after causing widespread devastation & inundating over 1,400 villages. The last flood of this enormity occurring back in 1992. Neighbourhoods that have been worst-hit by the flood include Factory Area, Darul Nusrat, Darul Sadar, Darul Aloom, Darul Shukr, Naseerabad and Ahmad Nagar where almost 600 residential homes have been flooded. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Rabwah has setup a relief camp for flood-stricken people and MKA Rabwah (Majlis Khuddam ul …

Quran’s Punjabi translation top seller at the Chandigarh Book Fair

CHANDIGARH: A Punjabi translation of the Quran turned out to be one of the top selling books at the Book Fair in Sector 17, Chandigarh. It became the centre of attraction for many readers at the stall set up by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Chandigarh, which sold more than 50 copies in just two days. “We are selling the translated books at the minimum possible cost of Rs350. We have translations in three languages – Hindi, English, and Punjabi. …

Ahmadi man forced to leave business & home in Gujranwala

A man was forced to abandon his woodworking business and flee Gujranwala with his family after his erstwhile friends and neighbours discovered that he was an Ahmadi. Imran Ahmed, 35, started out as a daily wager at a woodwork shop in Gujranwala. He saved up money for three years, then invested Rs100,000 in machinery and setting up his own workshop. As his business grew, he hired two carpenters to work for him. “Things were going really well, but nobody knew …

Origin of Romani traced to India

Ancient roots of modern day European gypsies traced back to India. According to the analysis, the Romani likely came from what is now the Punjab state in northwestern India. Romani, also known as Roma or Gypsies, are an ethnic group numbering 11 million people, They are distributed widely within Europe including the Balkans and Scandinavia where they are still shunned and victimized. During the Holocaust, somewhere between 200,000 and 1.5 million Romani were killed by Hitler’s Nazis. After World War …

Rabwah – Basketball a Love Story

Since the 50’s from the time when Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad the 3rd Caliph of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was the principal of now Nationalized Talim ul Islam College Rabwah has been a breeding ground for top sportsmen. From volleyball, rowing, hockey, Tent Pegging to basketball the city has had one of the best Sports records in Pakistan. Rabwah also had one of the best boating clubs in the country and boating at the riverside was a popular past time for …