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Ahmadis release new report on Pakistan’s persecution of the community

Pakistan’s persecuted Ahmadiyya community released an annual report on Saturday that detailed growing hostilities against the minority sect, including indiscriminate arrests and impediments blocking them from voting in general elections. Ahmadis are forbidden from calling themselves Muslims or using Islamic symbols in their religious practices. They face discrimination and violence over accusations their faith insults Islam and community leaders say that open vitriol and calls for violence against the community intensified in 2017. “Under pressure from religious extremists, the Ahmadis …

Pakistan’s Sikh-Muslim duo want to fight religious intolerance by reviving Punjabi culture

With religious intolerance on the rise in Pakistan, two men have taken it upon themselves to unite people around common cultural roots. Every other weekend, Nasir Dhillon and his friend Bhupinder Singh pack up their bags and travel across the dirt roads of rural Punjab for one purpose, and this to preserve their ancestor’s cultural history by interviewing the ‘displaced generation’. The generation which lived through the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. Partition of British India resulted in the largest mass …

Pashtun demands are genuine, military ready for talks: Pakistani Commander

PESHAWAR: Corps Commander Peshawar Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt has said on Tuesday that some of the demands of Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) are genuine and revealed that an apex committee formed in a high-powered jirga, comprising politicians and local elders, will hold talks with the movement leaders. Talking to media at the Corps Headquarters Peshawar, Lt General Nazir Ahmad Butt said that the decision was taken in light of PTM’s five-point demand. He said that demands of the PTM …

U.S. slams Pakistan’s Human Rights record

The U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has expressed concern over Pakistan’s human right record over the past year. In its annual country report on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. pointed out significant human rights issues which included targeted killings and forced disappearances. It also condemned Pakistan Government’s restrictions on freedom of religion and discrimination against religious minorities. According to the Bureau, Pakistan’s “Security forces reportedly committed extrajudicial killings in connection with conflicts in Punjab, Balochistan, FATA, Sindh, …

Counselor from German Embassy in Pakistan visits Rabwah

On Monday the German Embassy in Pakistan shared details about their counselor’s visit to the town of Rabwah, home to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan. The visit was lead by the press and cultural counselor of the German Embassy. During the tour, the counselor paid a visit to the Tahir Heart Center, which is considered amongst the top cardiac hospitals in Pakistan. In a Facebook post, the Embassy described the visit as “Interesting” and said: Our counselor for the …

UK Minister of State, Lord Tariq Ahmad visits Israel

Lord Tariq Ahmad, Britain’s Minister of State for the Commonwealth has just completed his first official visit to Israel and Palestinian Territories. During his visit to Israel, Lord Ahmad attend the State Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem. He also met with Israeli ministers Tzachi Hanegbi and Ayelet Shaked and reassured them of “UK’s commitment to our bilateral relationship with Israel”. Lord Ahmad, also met with Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National …

London’s Pakistan High Commission to meet with Ahmadis after pressure from British MP

British MP Tom Brake has secured a commitment from the Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner that he will meet representatives of the Ahmadiyya Community – who have a very strong presence in South West London – to discuss abuses and persecution against the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. On Tuesday 6th February, Tom Brake MP and Siobhain McDonagh MP, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, met with the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri and …

Christians attacked in Pakistani city of Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say gunmen have opened fire on worshippers coming out of a church in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing two people and wounding five others. Police officer Javed Ahmed says two gunmen riding on a motorcycle targeted churchgoers as they were leaving after the Sunday evening service in the Eisa Nagri neighborhood of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. Ahmed says a young girl was among the wounded and that two others were in …

Indian Sikhs travel to Pakistan for Vaisakhi celebrations

The smell of fried bread, sweets and curries wafted from the community kitchen of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in the north Indian state of Punjab, as a group of around a hundred Sikhs waited for breakfast on Thursday before traveling to Pakistan for an annual pilgrimage. After breakfast, the pilgrims sat with their suitcases and duffel bags outside the office of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which oversees Sikh temples in the country, as they waited to board buses …

Pregnant Pakistani singer shot dead during performance

A pregnant Pakistani singer was shot dead while performing at a wedding in Southern Pakistan. Samina Sindhu, a local folk singer was shot dead Tuesday night in a village near Larkana. According to reports, Tariq Jatoi shot Sindhu after she refused to dance during her performance. “Samina declined to dance because she was pregnant,” her husband, Aashiq Ali, said. “Her refusal enraged the accused who killed her.” Sidhu was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead on …

Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtuns protest extrajudicial killings and forced abductions

PESHAWAR: Thousands gathered on Sunday at Peshawar’s Ring Road for the gathering organised by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). Women, children and students have reached the venue with photographs of their ‘missing’ loved ones. PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen will soon address the crowd. A birds eye view of the PTM Rally in #Peshawar. Official sources say roughly 15 thousand people have gathered. Participants claim much more. pic.twitter.com/hV65nqzvIj — Iftikhar Firdous (@IftikharFirdous) April 8, 2018 The PTM, which shot to fame …