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Jhelum Riots: Army called in after mob sets fire to Ahmadiyya Mosque

A mob torched the homes of several Ahmadiyya families and an Ahmadiyya Mosque in Pakistan’s Jhelum district on Saturday. The incident came just a day after a mob burnt down a factory owned by Ahmadiyya Muslims in the same area. The Mosque which is located in Kala Gujran area of Jhelum was being guarded by local police when the mob broke through the security cordon, which was established to safeguard the Mosque, following Friday night’s unrest.

Factory owned by Ahmadiyya Muslims attacked over Blasphemy allegations

An angry mob set ablaze a factory owned by members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Jhelum on Friday. Around 2,000 people surrounded Pakistan Chipboard Factory on GT Road in Jhelum city on Friday night after announcements were made on loudspeakers in nearby mosques that a factory employee had allegedly desecrated the Quran. Following the announcements people from not immediate vicinity but even from nearby villages gathered as a mob and set ablaze the chipboard factory. The owner’s residence, adjoining …

Is Pakistan’s Islamic Council trying to incite genocide of Ahmadiyya Muslims?

Sitara was a special kid from the start. Questioning everything around her, she was a difficult student to be satisfied. At the young age of 9, she passed her O Levels exams to become the youngest child in the world to achieve the feat. In an ideal world, she would have been praised and supported by the government of Pakistan and civil society alike. But Sitara Brooj Akbar belongs to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. She wouldn’t go out of her …

Pakistani documentary highlights plight of Ahmadiyya Muslim minority in the country

A documentary featuring testimonials and stories of minorities was screened at the Jinnah Institute (JI) on Friday. Titled ‘Strangers in their own land’ and ‘اپنی زمین پر اجنبی’ for English and Urdu segments respectively, the documentary is an initiative of the institute. It was screened at a closed-door event and was attended by its filmmaker Ali Aftab Saeed, human rights activists, and researchers, who opened the floor for discussion and encouraged feedback post-screening.

Human Rights Commission holds meeting to discuss rising discrimination against Ahmadiyya in Pakistan

The state is not a silent spectator, but an active participant in the persecution of Ahmadis, accused members of the Ahmadi community at a meeting organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). The meeting was titled, ‘Ahmadi Citizens: dealing with discrimination, exclusion’ and was held at the Regent Plaza on Sunday. “The persecution, these days, has taken a new trend as door-to-door conversions of people belonging to the faith are taking place where a cleric accompanies the area’s …

Petition in Pakistan court seeks ban on Eid sacrifice by Ahmadiyya Muslims

A petition seeking directives for Chiniot police to prevent the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from offering ritual sacrifice on Eid ul Adha was disposed of by Lahore High Court with a directive for the DPO to proceed in the matter in accordance with law. On receiving the order a few days before Eid, the DPO sought guidance from the inspector general of Punjab police. The DPO has yet to receive a response from the office of the IGP.

Pakistani politican wants to add anti-Ahmadiyya chapter in school syllabus

Speaking to a KhatmeNabuwat conference in Mardan, speaker of Pakistan’s KP (Khyper Pakhtunkhawa) Provincial Assembly Asad Qaiser said that “Provincial government will soon add a chapter on the belief of KhatmeNabuwat in the syllabus.” Asad Qasier is a politician from Swabi District of KP Province and is affiliated with PTI (Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf) which is considered to be a “liberal nationalist party”, lead by former cricketer Imran Khan.

Pakistani politician arrested for hate speech released on bail

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Mufti Kifayat ullah who was arrested on September 10th under hate speech charges has been released on bail.He was released from Faisalabad Central Jail on Tuesday. Mufti Kifayatullah, a former JUI-F provincial assembly member from Mansehra district, was arrested in Chiniot for making an objectionable and provocative speech at an “Ishtekam-i-Pakistan Conference” which was organized by another politician Ilyas Chinioti (PML-N) who is a member of Punjab Assembly.

1974: More humiliations in store for Ahmadis of Pakistan

The Times, September 25, 1974 The adoption earlier this month by Pakistan’s national assembly of a Bill conferring non-Muslim status on the Ahmadiyya sect, was a depressing victory for religious bigotry. The assembly’s decision must greatly strengthen the hand of the more rigidly orthodox “Ulema” (professional theologians) and the Muslim fundamentalists of Maulana Maudoodi’s politically active Jamaat-i-Islami a group Mr Bhutto once described to me as ” antediluvian and obscurantist “.

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 …