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Asia

5 times when PTI didn’t consider religion a personal matter

A video went viral on Thursday showing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan visiting the shrine of Baba Fariduddin GanjShakar in Pakpattan where he stopped just outside the shrine and bowed before the grave of the 13th century Sufi saint. The social media went wild with immediate takfeers and counter-takfeers as Imran’s opponents believed the gesture to be a Sajda before the grave, which is haram according to orthodox Islam, while the PTI supporters sprang to the defence of their …

Pakistan legislators refuse resolution condemning mob attack on Ahmadi Mosque

On Friday Pakistan’s provincial assembly of Sindh refused submission of a resolution denouncing the mob attack on a historic Ahmadiyya Mosque. The resolution was tabled by Irum Azeem Farooque, an Independent member of the provincial legislature. Farooque claimed that no political party wanted to sign the resolution which called on the House to “Strongly condemn the attack on the Ahmadi prayer place”. In a tweet she said: Where are we heading? I wasn’t allowed to submit my condemnation Resolution in …

Pakistani mob attack against Ahmadi Mosque prompts global condemnation

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 …

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, …