Canadian High Commission shuts down anti-Ahmadiyya Twitter troll

The High Commission of Canada to Pakistan fired back after receiving a message calling Ahmadis “non-Muslims” on social media. On 23rd August 2016 the twitter account of the Canadian High Commission shared a picture and wrote: “Acting High Commissioner Stuart Savage delighted to visit Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.” The picture of the acting High Commissioner was followed by another tweet in which the HC compared the area of Faisal Mosque, Islamabad to that of the Bait-un-Nur Mosque, Calgary. The Bait-un-Nur …

Twitter bans extremist accounts, Supports ‘True Islam’ campaign

This week Twitter announced that it has removed an additional 235,000 twitter accounts, “in order to maintain a safe environment for users on Twitter”. The company said that the accounts were banned for their links to terrorism, while some were suspended for violating twitters policies on supporting extremism. In total the San Francisco-based firm has banned over 360,000 accounts, saying the rate has gone up to 80 percent since last year. Twitter also highlighted it’s own efforts to counter violent …

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau sends Independence Day greetings to Pakistanis

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement in recognition of Pakistan’s Independence Day: “Today, we join the Pakistani community – here in Canada, in Pakistan, and around the world – in celebrating Pakistan’s 70th Independence Day. “I look forward to working with Prime Minister Sharif to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries, and to working together on global issues including, peace, security, and development cooperation. “On this day, I invite all Canadians to recognize the …

U.S. criticizes Pakistan’s treatment of Ahmadis

The U.S. State Department has criticized Pakistan’s treatment of Ahmadiyya Muslims in its annual international religious freedom report. During the report launch on Wednesday Deputy Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken said “When a government denies religious liberty, it turns citizens who have done nothing wrong into criminals, igniting tension that breeds contempt, hopelessness, alienation.” While speaking at the reports’ launch, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein said: In Pakistan, the government continued to enforce blasphemy laws, for …

UK Home Office to deport Ahmadi asylum seeker

Britain will deport a man its immigration services believe his life would be threatened if he returned to his home in Pakistan. The UK Home Office is to deport an Ahmadi Muslim, Ali Adnan Munir from the United Kingdom next week despite his outstanding application for asylum in the UK. Munir has been in detention at the Verne Immigration Removal Centre in Dorset since 29th July, he’s now been informed that he’ll be deported to Pakistan on 9th August, unless …

Am I not Australian enough ?

I like to think that I’m just as Australian as the kids that I went to school with, as the teachers that gave me my education and as the students I share my lecture theatres with. I come from a different country, so I guess it sounds strange to call myself an Australian. My skin is different to yours, the way I talk isn’t exactly how you do, I speak a different language at home and the biggest of distinctions, …

Ahmadis fleeing Pakistan and seeking asylum in Thailand

Bangkok is a city celebrated for its beauty and tradition, and also one notorious for a nefarious underbelly, driven largely by the same tourist market that buttresses the Thai economy. It’s an unfair reputation that has ignored or quickly forgotten the human lives that stay there, beneath the gloss and grit filtered into movies and documentaries, among the outskirts. The first part of this series covered the lives of Christians, who fled persecution in Pakistan, and are staying in Thailand …

Palestinian court declares Ahmadiyya marriage invalid

A Palestinian Shariah court in the West Bank city of Nablus has decided to invalidate a marriage after the wife converted to Ahmadiyya branch of Islam. On 20th June 2016, The Palestinian Sharia court made the final decision to dissolve the marriage of woman named “Sahar Abdul Jalil” to her husband “R.O” after evidence of her conversion to Islam Ahmadiyya was presented to the court. The court declared the conversion to be “apostasy”. National President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Palestine, …

Rabwah – No, it’s not safe

‘No, it’s not safe,’ my mother used to tell me when I asked to join her as she taught the Holy Qur’an to small children in remote areas of Rabwah, Pakistan. I wondered what exactly was not safe. Innocently, I believed it was just an excuse so she would not have to take me with her. One particular evening I begged my mother to take me with her, and she finally submitted to my request. I recall sitting in a …

Ahmadi man shot dead in Karachi

A Man from the minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has been shot dead in Pakistan’s seaport city of Karachi. 49-year-old Chaudhry Khaliq Ahmad was a doctor of Homeopathy and was was tending to his patients at his clinic in Gulzar Hijri area of Karachi when unknown gunmen opened fire. Two bullets hit him in the head and he died on the way to the hospital. The assailants managed to escape. Karachi has seen a rise of violence against Ahmadis, 55-year-old Dawood Ahmad …

کھوتے پہ بیٹھ کےنیزہ بازی کا شوق

بچپن میں بہار کے موسم میں ہمارے گاوں کے ساتھ سیدھی سیم نالے کی پٹڑی پہ گھڑ سواری اور نیزہ بازی کی مشقیں شروع ہو جاتیں اور ہم دس گیارہ سالہ لڑکوں کو دیکھنے کے بعد کرنے کا جنون سوار ہو جاتا تھا۔ اب نیزہ بازی کے لئے شوق اور فن کے ساتھ گھوڑا، عمر و تجربہ نیزہ اور دیگر لوازمات بھی درکار تھے جن کا حل میرے ایک چچا زاد نے یہ نکالا کہ کمہاروں کا کھوتا پکڑ کے …

Channel 5: Inside Britain’s Biggest Mosque and the Ahmadiyya Muslims who run it

Meera Syal narrates a documentary going behind the scenes at the Baitul Futuh mosque in Morden, south London, home to Britain’s 30,000-strong Ahmadiyya Muslim community. The film reveals the defining moments of life at the mosque, from finding love to committing to faith as well as looking at international celebrations and a tragedy that devastates the entire community.