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Asia

Indian Vice President Awards Ahmadi Officer

On Monday the Indian Vice President awarded an officer from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community with a Vigilance Excellence Award. The Vice-President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu awarded Shri Munawar Khursheed, the Former DIG of India’s Railway Protection Force with the Vigilance Innovation award for his “Outstanding contribution in Vigilance Innovation”. Rasheed who currently serves as Chief Vigilance Officer of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was credited for implementing an Integrated Fuel Management System which has brought about 100% transparency in fuelling, …

Pakistani politician who ran ‘Jihadi Camp’ invited to speak at an event in Canada

A Canadian-Pakistani newspaper is set to host a senior Pakistani politician who ran Jihadi camps from his farmhouse. Sheikh Rasheed, President of Awami Muslim League ran a training camp for Kashmiri separatist militants from his farmhouse on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad. Rasheed who is a member of Pakistan’s national parliament is set to speak at Swagat Banquet Hall in Mississauga on October 30th. The event is being hosted by Urdu Times, a weekly Urdu language newspaper which came …

Pakistan, Dr Salam and the Ahmadi Question

On 7 September 1974, the long unfulfilled dream of Pakistan’s religious conservatives finally became a reality with the passing of the second constitutional amendment which declared Ahmadis non-Musim. For the man who spearheaded this movement, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, it was a singular moment of glory and as he left parliament on the day of its enactment he was met by jubilant crowds who hailed him as a hero. A theological dispute sold to the people as a struggle …

U.S. Thanks Pakistan for rescuing American-Canadian family from Taliban

U.S. has thanked Pakistan for helping secure the release of a Canadian man, his American wife, and their three young children. In 2012, the family was taken hostage by the Haqqani network. Their three children were subsequently born in captivity. In a statement, U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said: I applaud the innumerable lines of effort from across the U.S. Government. I’m particularly proud of Ambassador Hale and his Mission Islamabad team for their engagement with Pakistan. These …

Pakistani court sentences three Ahmadis to death for blasphemy

A Pakistani court on Wednesday condemned three Ahmadi men to death on charges of committing blasphemy. The court also fined the men Rs 200,000 (USD 2,000) each, and if they are unable to pay the fine, they would have to undergo six months of rigorous punishment. In his decision, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mian Javed Akram stated that the three individuals, Ehsan Ahmad, Ghulam Ahmad and Mubasher Ahmad from the Ahmadiyya community of Bhoaywal town had committed blasphemy by …

Ahmadi Lawyer, wife and son shot dead in Pakistan

A lawyer, his wife, and 2-year-old son were shot dead by unidentified gunmen who on early Monday stormed their home located in Rehman Garden in Sheikhupura and opened fire. The five-year-old son of Advocate Rauf Ahmad Thakur miraculously survived the attack by hiding under the bed. Thakur who was of Ahmadiyya sect of Islam married Abida Bibi against the wishes of her family around 8 years ago, Ahmadis are considered heretic under Pakistani law and are not considered Muslims. Police suspect …

Rohingya Crisis: UK Minister of State Lord Ahmad meets Bangladesh PM Hasina in London

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has requested help from the UK and the international community, to help resolve the Rohingya crisis. Hasina who was on her way back to Bangladesh from U.S. made a stopover in London where she met Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon who currently serves as the UK Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Briefing media, Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said Hasina told Lord Ahmad that the UK should continue pressing Myanmar government. …

Ahmadi captain leads Indian Air Force Day Parade

Just days after Pakistan Army issued a statement endorsing the laws against minority Ahmadi Muslims, India made a point by having an Ahmadi lead the 85th-anniversary celebrations of the Indian Air Force. During the parade which was held at Hindon air base near Delhi, Group Captain Syed Muzzaffer Yunus accompanied the Indian Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa for inspection. Yunus who belongs to the Ahmadiyya Muslim faith was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) in January 2014 for rescuing more …

Former Malaysian MP wants Ban on peaceful Islamic teachings

Malaysia’s prominent female Islamic scholar and former member of the Cabinet Dr. Mashitah Ibrahim has called for action against “the dissemination of deviant teachings of Qadianis”, a peaceful minority Islamic sect considered heretic by mainstream Muslims. She made the comments on Thursday during a panel discussion on the Islamic school fire which killed 21 children. The Executive Chairman of the Pondok Malaysia Development Foundation said “We do not want Malaysia to be like the neighboring country where freedom of Islam …

Uproar over assault & abduction of Turkish family by Pakistani security forces

The forced abduction and assault of a Turkish couple by Pakistani security forces has sent shockwaves through the human rights community. On September 27, plainclothed officers of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism department raided the house of Mesut Kacmaz, a former director of Pak-Turk schools. An Eyewitnesses reported how Kacmaz, his wife Meral, and two teenage daughters were brutally assaulted by plain-clothed officers and taken to an unknown location. The incident is the latest in Pakistan’s crackdown on Pak-Turk Schools, which the Turkish …

Turkish couple reportedly “kidnapped” by Pakistani security forces for Gulen links

According to reports, a Turkish couple with alleged links to controversial Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen has been “kidnapped” by Pakistan’s security forces. Mesut Kacmaz, the former director of PakTurk school and his wife were picked up during a midnight raid on their rented house in the city of Lahore. Kacmaz and his family had been staying in Wapda Town, Lahore on an asylum seeker certificate issued by United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The couple applied for asylum after Turkey …

Pakistan and Russia launch joint counter-terrorism exercises

Today in the village of Nizhny Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkess Republic (KChR), a solemn ceremony of opening the joint Russian-Pakistani exercise “Friendship-2017” was held. More than 200 servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan took part in the event. The opening ceremony of the exercises began with the raising of state flags and the playing of the national anthems of Russia and Pakistan. Colonel Sergey Dmitriev, commander of the motorized rifle brigade of the …