•          

Asia

Pakistan’s 15-year-old record-breaker struggles to find university place

The brightest 15-year-old in the world can’t find a place at university because she’s too young. Sitara Brooj Akbar moved from Rabwah, Pakistan to the UAE last year after breaking international records in passing examinations. She is the youngest pupil to reach the top level, Band 9, in the International English Language Testing System. IELTS Band 9 qualifies her as an “expert user” of English, with “full operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding”.

Pakistan arrests Taliban responsible for Ahmadiyya Mosque attack

Taliban militants who attacked a Mosque of the minority Ahmadiyya community last week in Pakistan’s Punjab province have been arrested and arms, suicide jackets were seized from them, police said. Four terrorists had attacked ‘Baitul Salat Mosque’, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Taunsa Sharif, some 350 kilometres from Lahore, on July 11, Dera Ghazi Khan district police officer Ghulam Mubashar Maikin told reporters. During the attack on the Mosque a policeman deployed there was also shot, while the terrorists …

Policeman fatally shot while guarding Ahmadiyya Mosque

Gunmen shot and critically injured a policeman an Ahmadiyya Mosque in Southern Punjab on Saturday, also taking away his gun. The incident took place outside Ahmadiyya Mosque on College Road. The critically injured policeman, Irshad Hussain was taken to Tehsil Hospital Tounsa and then rushed to Nishtar hospital in Multan. “Police have registered a case with clauses of terrorism,” said an official, adding that police have rejected the possibility of any personal feud.

Malaysian Department of Islamic Affairs (JAIS) threatens Ahmadis with arrest

Malaysian State of Selangor’s religious enforcers have threatened several followers of the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community with arrests in order to compel them to appear in the Shariah court to continue a trial that has been postponed twice since last year. According to the Ahmadis, the Selangor Department of Islamic Affairs (JAIS) is preparing arrest warrants to force 39 of its members ― three of them minors ― to appear before the Islamic courts, consequently violating a civil High Court …

Ahmadiyya in Pakistani village fear for their lives

CHAKWAL: On a first visit, one only notices the calm which engulfs the sleepy village of Pichnand, located some 90 kilometres from the district capital, in Talagang tehsil. Most of its 24,000 residents earn their livelihood from agriculture and cattle farming. And walking through the quiet winding streets of the village, it is hard to tell that underneath the calm, simmer religious tensions with extremism on the rise in the Talagang tehsil, 45 kilometres from Chakwal. New blasphemy cases are …

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community condemns attack on Ismaili community in Pakistan

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has condemned the killing of 45 Shia Ismaili Muslims who were shot dead on Wednesday by militants in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi. In a shocking assault, gunmen in police uniforms stormed into a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community – a minority Shiite Muslim sect and shot the passengers. The statement released by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community condemned the attack on the Islamili Community in Karachi, Pakistan. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the …

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community condemns attack on Shia mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan

In a statement released on Friday The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community condemned the attack against a Shia mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan which killed dozens of people. The Press statement by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community read: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and all those affected by this evil and outrageous attack. We would like to offer our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to all those who have been left bereaved and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community stands ready to help those …

Ahmadiyya Religious Persecution and Migration

Waqas Ahmed, 30, from Claremont Meadows. Arrived from Pakistan in 1995 There are laws in Pakistan that make the lives of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan difficult. The older you get, the harder it gets. You live a life of always finding shelter, being very careful about how you choose your words, how you show emotion. We can’t openly defend ourselves. We cannot call ourselves Muslims over there, if we do, we can potentially go to jail. We believe in the …

Pakistan court sentences men to death for 2010 Ahmadiyya Mosque attack

A Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has sentenced two Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) men, Moavia and Abdullah, to death on Saturday for their role in a deadly attack on an Ahmadi place of worship in 2010. Ninety-four people were killed and over 100 others were injured in the May 28, 2010 attack on two Ahmadiyya Mosques in Lahore. The Taliban claimed responsibility. The attacks sparked more than two hours of gun battles with police and commandos. Muaviya and Abdullah were detained at …

Islamist Extremists plan march against Ahmadis in Rabwah

Khatme-Nabuwat Sargodha an anti-Ahmadiyya Islamist group has postponed the staging of a protest demonstration in Rabwah by 15 days after district authorities promised to redress its grievances. The organisation had originally planned to stage the demonstration on December 26th but has decided to postpone the protest by 15 days after receiving assurances from district authorities. A representative of the organization said the organisation would stage nationwide demonstrations if the government did not accept its demands. According to the poster circulated …

Hate speech on Geo TV leads to killing of an Ahmadi man in Gujranwala

Gunmen in a Punjab village shot dead a member of the Ahmadi religious minority on Saturday, five days after a Muslim leader denounced Ahmadis on a popular television show. “Lucman Ahmad- who was in his 20s- left his house for his agriculture farm on Gujranwala-Hafizabad road yesterday morning, when two unidentified motorcyclists intercepted him and opened fire at him, killing him on the spot,” Saleemuddin, spokesperson for Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan, said on Sunday. Kot Ladha SHO Malik Fayyaz Ahmed said …

Geo TV attacks Ahmadiyya Muslim minority, brands them “enemies of Pakistan”

In a morning TV show on Pakistan’s most watched TV channel televangelist Aamir Liaquat Hussain along with panel of Muslim clerics declared Ahmadiyya Muslims “enemies of Pakistan” and “enemies of Islam”. Responding to the broadcast the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community issued the following statement: The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community condemns a recent edition of the programme, ‘Subh e Pakistan’, broadcast in Pakistan on GEO Television on 22 December 2014, hosted by Amir Liaquat Hussein, in which so-called religious scholars made completely false …