refugee

In Malaysia, a 17-year-old Pakistani refugee is helping educate fellow refugees

When 14-year-old Geeti Ara moved to Malaysia from Pakistan as a refugee she dreamed of becoming a teacher. But Geeti’s dream was nearly impossible, as she and her parents belonged to the severely persecuted Ahmadiyya community. Now the 17-year-old Pakistani refugee is fulfilling her dreams by helping educate fellow refugees in Malaysia. Geeti started teaching at the Smart Iqra Education refugee school in 2014, while she was still 14. After her inspirational story came to light she was asked to …

Thousands of Ahmadis fleeing persecution in Pakistan and seeking Asylum overseas

More and more Ahmadis are leaving Pakistan and seeking asylum overseas as persecution in Pakistan increases. Sources within Pakistan and stats released by the U.S. indicate that Ahmadis are the largest asylum seeking group from Pakistan.Newly published statistics by Germany, U.K., and the US revealed that over 10,000 Pakistanis had sought asylum in these three countries over the past year. Data from US Department of State which classified refugees by religion showed that most of the 376 Pakistanis who applied …

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 …

Ahmadiyya Muslim women hold fundraising dinner for Syrian refugees

“It’s one of the biggest disasters in my lifetime,” said Nudrat Mansoor with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association. “I was not here to see World War II, but it’s the biggest displacement after that– we want to help as many human beings as possible.” Mansoor is part of a local group of Muslim women who organized a sold out fundraiser Saturday night at the Baitul Hadi Mosque. The money raised will go toward Humanity First, an organization that privately sponsors …

Muslim leader says Refugee crisis is not just Europe’s problem

The leader of a Muslim community has called for a global solution for the refugee crisis in Europe, saying Arab countries should ‘first and foremost’ provide refuge for migrants.And, he warned the world to be ever vigilant to the threat of terror saying proper checks should be in place to ensure extremists did not pose as refugees. Rafiq Hayat, the Amir (National President) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in UK, said: “The sympathies of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are with …

Persecuted Pakistani Ahmadi Muslims seek refuge in China

Fleeing discrimination and violence, members of a Muslim sect have abandoned their homes in Pakistan to find an unlikely refuge in China. “Every day I heard the sound of guns,” said 37-year-old Saeed, who used to live in Lahore, Pakistan’s second city. “We prayed every day, because we felt something could happen to us at any time.” He is one of hundreds of people who have sought asylum in China in recent years, often from conflict and violence-stricken countries including …

Thailand releases Almost 100 Ahmadi Refugees

BANGKOK: Almost 100 Pakistani refugees have been freed from Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration prison in an initiative spearheaded by Thai human rights activists. The Thai Committee for Refugees said the release on bail of 96 members of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim sect was the first such large-scale release of refugees who Thai authorities locked up merely for being refugees. The group negotiated the release with the state National Human Rights Commission and immigration officials. The detainees, about a third of whom are …