Hamza Abbasi says he was wrong to call Ahmadis ‘non-Muslim’

Former Pakistani actor Hamza Ali Abbasi said on Saturday that he was wrong in labeling Ahmadis as non-Muslims. He was backtracking from comments he made in 2016 declaring the minority Ahmadis a religion separate from Islam.

Abbasi said on Twitter: “I was wrong in calling them non-Muslim. I can only say that they are wrong in their belief.” The actor was responding to a barrage of abusive tweets that were part of a Pakistan wide Twitter trend against Ahmadis. ”

Abbasi added that: “If a group or person calls himself a Muslim……then no individual has the authority to declare them non-Muslim.”

The twitter trend was in reaction to the government’s decision to include the Ahmadis in the National Minority Commission, a step rejected by a majority of Pakistanis.