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Asia

Indonesian mob attacks ‘heretical’ Ahmadiyah in East Lombok

An enraged Indonesian mob attacked and destroyed the houses of the ‘heretical’ Ahmadiyya community on Saturday afternoon. The mob sought to expel the Ahmadis from Greneng Village, in East Lombok regency of Indonesia. The mob attacked did not result in any deaths, however, houses and motorcycles belonging to the Ahmadi families were destroyed, Seven families comprising of 24 individuals were forced to seek shelter at the East Lombok Police headquarters. Those affected by the attacks claim that at least one …

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 Army Chief forced to visit Quetta after Hunger Strike by Hazara activist

A four-day long hunger strike by a Hazara activist might be coming to an end after Pakistan’s Army Chief landed in Quetta to meet with “notables of Hazara Community”. Hazara activist and Lawyer Jalila Haider has been on hunger strike since April 28th in order to bring attention to the killing of Shiites in the city of Quetta. In a viral video Haider had challenged the Army Chief to come and “face the widows” of Hazara men who had been …

Ahmadis release new report on Pakistan’s persecution of the community

Pakistan’s persecuted Ahmadiyya community released an annual report on Saturday that detailed growing hostilities against the minority sect, including indiscriminate arrests and impediments blocking them from voting in general elections. Ahmadis are forbidden from calling themselves Muslims or using Islamic symbols in their religious practices. They face discrimination and violence over accusations their faith insults Islam and community leaders say that open vitriol and calls for violence against the community intensified in 2017. “Under pressure from religious extremists, the Ahmadis …

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 …

‘Honor Killing’ of an Italian woman in Pakistan, Father, and uncle arrested

Pakistani police on Tuesday arrested the father and the uncle suspected in an “honor” killing of a 25-year-old Italian citizen, a woman of Pakistani origin who refused to marry the man they chose for her. The two men were charged with the killing of Sana Cheema in the neighborhood of Mangowal in the city of Gujrat in eastern Punjab province, police official Intisar Hussain said, adding that the police were still searching for the woman’s brother. “He is also suspected …

Pashtun demands are genuine, military ready for talks: Pakistani Commander

PESHAWAR: Corps Commander Peshawar Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt has said on Tuesday that some of the demands of Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) are genuine and revealed that an apex committee formed in a high-powered jirga, comprising politicians and local elders, will hold talks with the movement leaders. Talking to media at the Corps Headquarters Peshawar, Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt said that the decision was taken in light of PTM’s five-point demand. He said that demands of the PTM …

U.S. slams Pakistan’s Human Rights record

The U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has expressed concern over Pakistan’s human right record over the past year. In its annual country report on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. pointed out significant human rights issues which included targeted killings and forced disappearances. It also condemned Pakistan Government’s restrictions on freedom of religion and discrimination against religious minorities. According to the Bureau, Pakistan’s “Security forces reportedly committed extrajudicial killings in connection with conflicts in Punjab, Balochistan, FATA, Sindh, …

Christians attacked in Pakistani city of Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say gunmen have opened fire on worshippers coming out of a church in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing two people and wounding five others. Police officer Javed Ahmed says two gunmen riding on a motorcycle targeted churchgoers as they were leaving after the Sunday evening service in the Eisa Nagri neighborhood of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. Ahmed says a young girl was among the wounded and that two others were in …

Indian Sikhs travel to Pakistan for Vaisakhi celebrations

The smell of fried bread, sweets and curries wafted from the community kitchen of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in the north Indian state of Punjab, as a group of around a hundred Sikhs waited for breakfast on Thursday before traveling to Pakistan for an annual pilgrimage. After breakfast, the pilgrims sat with their suitcases and duffel bags outside the office of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which oversees Sikh temples in the country, as they waited to board buses …

Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtuns protest extrajudicial killings and forced abductions

PESHAWAR: Thousands gathered on Sunday at Peshawar’s Ring Road for the gathering organised by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). Women, children and students have reached the venue with photographs of their ‘missing’ loved ones. PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen will soon address the crowd. A birds eye view of the PTM Rally in #Peshawar. Official sources say roughly 15 thousand people have gathered. Participants claim much more. pic.twitter.com/hV65nqzvIj — Iftikhar Firdous (@IftikharFirdous) April 8, 2018 The PTM, which shot to fame …

Christian family shot dead in southwestern Pakistan

Four members of a Christian family were gunned down in southwestern Pakistan on Monday, police said, in the latest attack on the minority community. The family was traveling in a rickshaw when armed men on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire in Quetta city, the capital of Baluchistan province. A woman was rushed to the hospital. Her father and three cousins were killed. “It appears to have been a targeted attack,” provincial police official Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters. …