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Asia

Census shows Ahmadi population on the decline in Pakistan

According to 2017 Census numbers released by Pakistan, the total population of Ahmadis declined by 35% in 19 years. The Census numbers show that, from 1998 to 2017, Pakistan lost about 104,000 Ahmadis. During the 1998 census, Ahmadis made up 0.22% of the total population, with 291,175 residents. Meanwhile, in the recent 2017 census, that number dropped to 186,916, making them just 0.09% of the total population of 207.68 million. The sharp deterioration in the Ahmadi population signals mass migration …

Pakistani mob attacks funeral of Ahmadi woman

A mob led by right-wing Muslim clerics attacked the funeral of an Ahmadi woman in Pakistan’s northwestern region on Sunday. The minority Ahmadis were gathered in Chak 79 in the northwestern state of Punjab for a funeral service of an Ahmadi woman. As the Ahmadis entered the local cemetery, a mob of locals burst into the burial grounds, pelted stones at mourners, and beat them with sticks. However, the Ahmadis stood their ground and completed the burial. The whole incident …

Pakistani Minister says life in danger after being called ‘Qadiani’

A Pakistani Minister who was called a “Qadiani” by a fellow politician has filed a Police case saying his life is in danger. During media appearances on May 19th and May 26th Nazir Chohan had claimed that Minister Shazad Akbar belonged to the “Qadiani group” and was not a Muslim. Reacting to the claims, Akbar, who serves as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability, lodged a Police complaint against Chohan on Sunday. In the police report, Akbar …

Pakistan police demolish minarets of Ahmadi Mosque

Pakistan police demolished minarets of an Ahmadi mosque on the outskirts of Gujranwala after local Muslims complained that the Islamic inscription on the Mosque hurt their feelings. The complaint against the Mosque in Garmula Virkan was filed earlier this year on January 25th by a resident named Sajad Virk. Virk complained that the Ahmadis had put up Islamic verses on their worship place which were offensive towards Muslims, and this act of the Ahmadis could cause a riot. In his …

Pakistan dismisses report on Ahmadi persecution as ‘baseless’

Pakistan’s on Wednesday dismissed a report by a British-Parliamentary group that said persecution of Ahmadis and other minorities was on the rise in the country. The report by the 36 members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) said that denial of freedom of religion for Ahmadi Muslims has led to the denial of religious freedom for Shia Muslims, Christians, and Hindus. The APPG said the persecution had created a refugee crisis with 6,000 Ahmadis stranded in camps in Thailand, Malaysia, …

Pakistan arrests two ‘non-Muslim’ men for marrying Muslim women

A Pakistan Highcourt judge on Monday denied bail to two Ahmadi brothers accused of marrying Muslim women. Justice Syed Arshad Ali rejected the bail applications of Zaid, Zahid, and their father Sajid, accused of marrying Muslim women while being non-Muslim. The brothers who adhere to the minority Ahmadiyya faith were detained with their father in September last year. According to First Information Report filed with the police, brothers Zaid and Zahid from Sheikh Muhammadi area of Peshawar had married Sobia …

Minority Ahmadi man killed in Pakistan

A Gunman shot and killed a 65-year-old Ahmadi man in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday. On February 2nd, at around 2PM, a lone gunman opened fire at a doctor’s clinic in Bazid Khel area of Peshawar and ended up killing Abdul Qadir, who was employed at the clinic. Qadir who belonged to the minority Ahmadiyya sect of Islam had recently relocated his family from Peshawar to a different city, citing threats to Ahmadis in Peshawar. However Qadir himself …

Christian Nurse charged with Blasphemy after mob surrounds Police station

A 30-year-old Christian woman, known for singing Gospel hymns in Urdu, has been charged with blasphemy after a mob surrounded the Police station. On January 28, Tabitha Nazir Gill was beaten up by staff at Sobhraj Maternity Hospital in Karachi where she had been working as a nurse for the past nine years. According to International Christian Concern, the head nurse at Sobhraj Maternity Hospital issued orders that medical staff may not receive tips or deal with money from patients. …

U.N. urges Pakistan to include Ahmadis in National Commission for Minorities

The U.N. High Commissioner for human rights has called on the Pakistan government to include the minority Ahmadi Muslims in the National Commission for Minorities. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the country’s recently established National Commission for Minorities did not to meet the standards set out for national human rights institutions. The U.N. experts recommended Pakistan undertake a serious review of the current structure and membership of the commission and establish clear procedures for …

Pakistan orders Google & Wikipedia to remove ‘blasphemous content’ by Ahmadis

Pakistan has ordered tech giant Google and the world’s largest wiki portal Wikipedia to remove ‘blasphemous content’ by the minority Ahmadiyya community, which the Islamic republic deems as a heretic sect. In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said Friday that it took the step after receiving complaints against misleading search results associated with “Present Khalifa of Islam” and an unauthentic version of the Holy Quran which had been uploaded on Google’s Play Store by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The …

U.S. Lawmakers concerned over increase in violence against Ahmadis in Pakistan

U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern over the increase in violence against Ahmadis in Pakistan. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the lawmakers criticized Pakistan’s colonial-era blasphemy laws and urged the State Department to ensure that justice is served in the killing of Tahir Naseem, an Ahmadi Muslim who was shot dead in July. The letter stated: “We are concerned by a recent increase in violence against members of the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, and the silence …

Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s advisor may have secretly visited Israel

An advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Israel in the last week of November, according to reports published by Israel Hayom and several other Israeli media outlets. The source who is close to the Israeli government said that on the morning of November 20 at 8 a.m., British Airways Flight 165 from London landed at Ben Gurion Airport and on the plane was a senior adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who flew in business class …