Pakistan

Princeton University holds academic discussion on religious extremism in Pakistan

n, On October 17, over 130 people, including dozens of professors and students, attended a special academic discussion held in Princeton about religious extremism in Pakistan. The event, moderated by Princeton Professor of Economics Dr. Atif Mian, included two distinguished panelists: Pakistani journalist and commentator Raza Rumi and Pakistani jurist and scholar Mujeeb-ur-Rahman. Rumi, who survived an assassination attempt earlier this year for his outspoken views against religious extremism, discussed the tragic plight of Pakistan’s religious minorities and the state-facilitated …

Pakistan’s Ahmadis Faced with Death or Exile

Two years ago, gunmen shot dead Farooq Kahloun’s newly married son Saad Farooq, 26, in an attack that severely injured Kahloun, his younger son Ummad, and Saad’s father-in-law, Choudhry Nusrat. Saad died on the spot. In Pakistan after travelling from his home in New York for the wedding, Nusrat died in hospital later. Four bullets remain in Kahloun’s chest and arm. A bullet lodged behind the right eye of Ummad, a student in the UK, was surgically removed months later.

Why don’t Ahmadiyya Muslims perform Hajj ?

Only 2 Muslim groups have EVER been denied Hajj. Muhammad (saw) & his Sahaba by Meccan Kuffar & Ahmadi Muslims by the Ummah. “And Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) to the House (Kabah) is a duty that mankind owes to Allah, those who can afford the expenses (for ones conveyance, provision and residence); and whoever disbelieves (i.e. denies Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah), then he is a disbeliever of Allah), then Allah stands not in need of any of the Alameen (mankind …

Ahmadiyya in Rabwah living under constant threat to their Lives

Pakistan’s constitution was amended 40 years ago to declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. Regarded by orthodox Muslims as heretical, Ahmadis are not allowed to refer to their places of worship as mosques or to publicly quote from the Koran – acts punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. Critics of the anti-Ahmadi laws say they have encouraged violence against the community. Residents of the all-Ahmadi town of Rabwah told BBC Urdu’s Nosheen Abbas of their fears for the future. …

Did World’s Top Muslim Scholars just declare Ahmadiyya to be Muslims

Over 120 Islamic scholars from around the world, many of them leading Muslim voices in countries like Egypt & Saudia Arabia have issued an open letter denouncing Islamic State militants and refuting their religious arguments. The 22-page letter, written in Arabic and heavy with quotes from the Quran and other Islamic sources not only denounces Islamic State militants but unintentionally resolves another key issue in the Muslim World.

Ahmadi doctor gunned down in southern Pakistan

Gunmen in southern Pakistan shot dead 50-year-old doctor from Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim minority at his clinic in the latest attack on one of the country’s most persecuted groups. The assailants stormed Mubashar Ahmad Khosa’s clinic in the city of Mirpur Khas on Monday evening and opened fire on him before fleeing the spot on a motorbike. Zafarullah Dharejo, a senior local police official, added that a third attacker kept watch outside.

Al-Fazl: Pakistan’s oldest, and most censored, newspaper

Rabwah, PAKISTAN – This must be the only newspaper office in all of Pakistan that is alive and buzzing at 9:00am. While the country’s other sub-editors, reporters and publishers are still sleeping off last night’s print deadline, these journalists are already hard at work, drafting the next edition of Pakistan’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper. Al-Fazl, the community newspaper of the Ahmadi Muslim sect, was first published in 1913, in the town of Qadian in what is today Indian Punjab. …

Ahmadiyya: Persecuted from birth to death

Rabwah, Pakistan – Seeing her lying in her hospital bed, it’s difficult to tell what Mubashara Jarra has been through. Outwardly, she appears fine. No intravenous tubes snaking into her body, and no bandages covering up her wounds. “I’m feeling much better,” she says, in a low voice. It is, perhaps, only her vacant eyes that betray her ordeal. Jarra, 32, was trapped in a room, along with many of her family members, in her home in the Pakistani city …

Sri Lanka ends visa-free travel for Pakistanis and arrests Refugees

The Sri Lankan government has cancelled the on-arrival visa facility for Pakistanis. The decision was taken in view of the rising number of political asylum cases in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry has informed the Pakistan government about its decision to revoke the facility. According to revised policy, Pakistanis seeking to visit Sri Lanka will now have to obtain visa before departing for the Island. Sri Lankan daily Ceylon Today reported last week that nearly 1,500 Pakistanis, many …

Ahmadiyya Congressional Caucus condemns killing of US doctor

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-California) and Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) released the following statements following the brutal killing of Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar in Pakistan this weekend. Qamar, an American cardiologist from Columbus, Ohio, was gunned down in front of his wife and toddler son. He was reportedly shot 10 times by one of two men on motorbike as he entered a cemetery to visit a family grave. He was an Ahmadiyya Muslim, a religious community that faces severe governmental and …

International Ahmadiyya Conference to be held in Qadian, India from December 27

CHANDIGARH: Around 5,000 Pakistanis will cross over Punjab to participate in a three-day annual International Ahmadiyya Muslim Conference will be held at the Ahmadiyya Muslim headquarters in Qadian, Gurdaspur, beginning December 27. The first batch of 700 delegates arrived from Pakistan via Attari border and were welcomed by residents of Qadians, including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims. One of the delegates said religious expression of Ahmadiya Muslims in Pakistan was banned 35 years ago. “We are not allowed to express …