Widespread condemnation followed the mob attack against an Ahmadiyya Mosque in the Pakistani city of Sialkot. U.S. joined lawmakers from Canada and UK to condemn the attack which resulted in the destruction of a historic 100-year-old Mosque. The attack which was led by Hafiz Hamid Raza, a member of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf happened between the night of May 23rd and early morning of the May 24th. During the attack, a mob of around 500 Muslims chanted slogans against the minority Ahmadiyya …
Pakistani mob destroys historic Mosque
A mob of Pakistani Muslims destroyed a historic Mosque in the early hours of Thursday. The Mosque which is located in the city of Sialkot was once attended by Pakistani poet and thinker Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal. The attack started late Wednesday night after a mob of over 600 men gathered in the Kashmiri Mohalla and started chanting slogans against the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, to which the Mosque belongs. The mob was led by Hafiz Hamid Raza, a member …
Oxford University’s Pakistani society refuses to screen film on Dr. Abdus Salam
Oxford University Pakistan Society has come under fire for allegedly refusing to screen a documentary on Dr. Abdus Salam, a renowned scientist who became the first Pakistani to win a Nobel prize. In a statement, organizer Noman Chaudhry claimed that: I contacted Pakistani Society two months ago about the screening. I had numerous chats with the committee members including the President at various events. I was told that they were still discussing the matter and that they had other events …
Bilawal Bhutto deletes tweet endorsing Ahmadi rights
Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto deleted a tweet on Tuesday in which he had endorsed equal rights for the country’s minority Ahmadis. Bhutto posted the original tweet back in 2013 in response to the arrest of an Ahmadi man for reading the Quran. “No greater crime vs. Islam than banning someone from reading Quran, @ijattala: Bail denied to 2 Ahmadi caught reading Quran” The tweet once again caught the attention of rights activists after a renewed campaign …
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 …
UK Minister of State, Lord Tariq Ahmad visits Israel
Lord Tariq Ahmad, Britain’s Minister of State for the Commonwealth has just completed his first official visit to Israel and Palestinian Territories. During his visit to Israel, Lord Ahmad attend the State Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem. He also met with Israeli ministers Tzachi Hanegbi and Ayelet Shaked and reassured them of “UK’s commitment to our bilateral relationship with Israel”. Lord Ahmad, also met with Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National …
Radical Pakistani TV show host barred from entering U.S.
A Pakistani TV show known for his extreme views and hate speech has been barred from entering the U.S. Orya Maqbool Jan who hosts TV Show “Harf-e-Raz” on NEO TV claimed he was stopped from boarding a flight to the U.S. by Pakistan’s airport authorities. Jan claimed the “American narrative in the Muslim world had failed and is closed to its worst defeat in Afghanistan”, he added “if they [U.S.] want to take revenge by stopping me from going to …
Pakistani court orders list of people who left Islam
On Monday a Pakistani court ordered the country’s national citizen database to handover list of individuals who left Islam and requested a change of religion with the department. The High Court court of Pakistani capital Islamabad ordered Pakistan’s Citizen Authority (NADRA) to provide detailed information on an estimated 10,000 Pakistani citizens who are believed to have changed their religion from Islam to Qadiani [Ahmadiyya]. The court also directed the citizen authority to include their age, names of their parents and …
Pakistani Ahmadis travel to India for a week of freedom
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 …
PTI open to supporting an Ahmadi candidate in elections: Asad Umar
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: …
Pakistani-American Muslims call for restrictions against ‘non-Muslims’
Pakistan born Islamic cleric Rafiq Khan defined America as “The land of Infidels” at a fundraiser for his Islamic charity this Saturday. The event which was held at a Holiday Inn in Springfield, Virginia attracted over 100 participants. Speakers included an Islamist from Pakistan as well as radical Imams from the states of Maryland, Virginia, and Texas. The conference revolved around the topics of Jihad, Infidels and what can the American Muslim community do to counter conspiracies against Islam. We went …
Pakistani court orders Trump style database of ‘non-Muslims’
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 …