Persistent persecution

threat

Persistent persecution

Ahmadi community in Faisalabad keeps carrying the tag of ‘liable to be killed’ with no security

By Aoun Sahi

September 18, 2010

Naseem Ahmad Butt, 55, father of four daughters and a son and a follower of Ahmadi school of thought, was sleeping in the courtyard of his house in Muzaffar Colony in Faisalabad on the night of September 4, 2011 when four unidentified attackers broke into his house and attacked him. He received one bullet in his chest while the second one ruptured his kidney.

The firing woke up his wife whose cries forced the attackers to flee. “My brother was lying in a pool of blood when I saw him. He told me that the attackers were between 20 and 25 years old. One of them kicked him and when he woke up, they shot him. He died in a local hospital seven hours after the attack,” Khalid Pervez Butt, younger brother of Naseem Butt, tells TNS.

Naseem used to work as a technician in a local powerloom and had no enmity. “The attackers did not steal anything from his house. Being Ahmadi seems to be his only ‘sin’ that made him liable to be killed,” says Khalid Butt. His first cousin Naseer Butt was also killed in a similar fashion on September 8, 2010. “Police has made no effort to trace his killers. However, in a hope of assistance, I have got a case registered with police under section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code,” he tells TNS, adding that it is the fourth murder in his family.

“In 1994, one of my younger brothers and one of my first cousins (younger brother of Naseer Butt) were killed by religious fanatics. Police had arrested the assailants. Local activists of religious parties held protest rallies against the arrests of culprits and one of the assailants had been released just a few months back,” he says.

Three days after this incident on September 7, 2011, another Ahmadi, Chaudhry Basheer Ahmad, was attacked in Rachna Town in Sheikhupura district. He received three bullets and is still in hospital in a critical condition.

September has always been a tough month for Ahmadis in Pakistan as on September 7, 1974, the Parliament of Pakistan declared them non-Muslims. Almost all religious parties hold rallies and gatherings in the first week of September every year against Ahmadis. Majlis-e Tahffuz-e Khatm-e Nubuwwat takes the lead and arranges an annual gathering to celebrate victory against Ahmadis every year in Rabwah — the Jama’at Ahmadiya’s headquarters in Pakistan.

“Faisalabad has become one of the toughest cities in Pakistan for Ahmadis to live in,” Syed Mahmood Ahmad, secretary of the Faisalabad chapter of Jama’at Ahmadiya, tells TNS. “Naseem Butt was neither an active member of our Jama’at nor was an influential person. He was killed only because of his religious beliefs. Within days after his killing, unidentified people have written slogans like ‘slaves of the companions of Prophet (PBUH) and ‘down with Qadyaniat’ on the walls of Muzaffar Colony.

In May this year, a pamphlet terming Ahmadis ‘liable to be killed’ was distributed in Faisalabad. “It also carried names and addresses of prominent Ahmadis in Faisalabad. We have time and again contacted the Faisalabad police that a group of fanatics is threatening Ahmadis in the area. But no action has ever been taken,” says Ahmad. “On June 2, 2011, I sent an email to the home secretary and the police chief of Punjab as well as Faisalabad’s regional police officer, but nothing has been done to help us.”

Over the past two years, as many as six Ahmadis have been killed in Faisalabad, but no killer has been brought to book. “Religious fanatics are being encouraged by a lack of action on the part of the government agencies. It has even become too tough for Ahmadi youth to get education in public sector universities. A few months back, four girls belonging to our community were expelled from National Textile University. The 2010 annual magazine of that university carried three articles against Ahmadis,” says Mahmood Ahmad.

Police officials in Faisalabad do not seem to have taken the issue seriously. “We have no resources to provide special security for Ahmadis,” Shakir Hussain Dawar, senior police official in Faisalabad, tells TNS. “As far as Naseem Butt’s murder is concerned, we are investigating it from all angles. We have not ruled out the possibility of religious factor,” he says.

Saleemuddin, the Jama’at spokesperson, says that Ahmadis are being threatened all across the country, adding that Faisalabad has become the most hostile city towards the Ahmadis. “Most hate material is being generated and funded there. Eleven Ahmadis have been killed in Faisalabad since 1984.” In May last year, more than 88 people were killed in Lahore when gunmen opened fire at two separate places of worship of Ahmadis. “One year has passed, but no progress has been made in the case.”

Human rights activists have termed the situation deplorable. They are worried about the situation and have been writing constantly to the government about the security of Ahmadis. “Faisalabad has become a test case for the government to check the persecution of Ahmadis. The opponents of Ahmadis have even published their addresses and phone numbers on the pamphlets distributed in Faisalabad around three months back. No action has been taken against the culprits. It seems that the persecution will continue,” says HRCP Director IA Rehman.

URL: www.jang.com.pk/thenews/.../dia.htm#4

Morden man fears for brother named on Ahmadiyya Muslim murder list in Pakistan

News

Morden man fears for brother named on Ahmadiyya Muslim murder list in Pakistan

12:25pm Friday 5th August 2011

By Omar Oakes »

Fears: Chaudhary Nawaz shows a list of names of people, including his brother, who are “liable to be murdered” in Pakistan

The brother of a Pakistani man whose name was published on a religious murder list by Muslim fanatics has said he is distraught with worry.

Chaudhary Nawaz, from Hillcross Avenue in Morden, said his brother Dr Muhammad Nawaz, a technology college academic in Pakistan, had gone into hiding for fear of being murdered for being an Ahmadi Muslim.

Ahmadi Muslims are not considered Islamic in Pakistan under the Government’s strict blasphemy laws and this list of prominent Ahmadis is being widely distributed in Faisalabad, a textile hub in the Punjab province.

The list is published on a pamphlet given out widely in shopping areas and claims: “To shoot such people is an act of jihad [struggle of faith] and to kill such people is an act of sawab [reward].”

Mr Nawaz, 48, said: “I can’t tell you how worried I am. Sometimes I try not to think about it because I am so frightened about what could happen.

“My brother is a good man, an educator. He doesn’t deserve to be targeted like this.

“I feel helpless because he is thousands of miles away and I can’t help him.”

Mr Nawaz, a senior member of the Morden district of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said his brother cannot leave Faisalabad because he has to care for their mother, an 82-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer.

A similar list of Ahmadis was published two years ago in Faisalabad. Three people on that list were murdered by militants in a crowded market bazaar in April 2010.

Nearly two months later, 94 Ahmadis were murdered in mosques in Lahore.

Last October, the Wimbledon Guardian revealed how religious hatred by hardline Muslims towards Ahmadis was being demonstrated on a much smaller scale in south London, which is home to their UK headquarters, the massive Bait-ul-Futuh mosque in London Road, Morden.

Our investigation revealed Sheikh Suliman Gani, imam at the Tooting Islamic Centre (TIC), had told worshippers to boycott Ahmadi businesses, leading to financial hardship for shop owners and the sacking of a worker who would not renounce his religion.

The Khatme Nabuwwat Academy, an East London-based religious group affiliated to the Pakistan-based Khatme Nabuwwat, was invited to talk at the TIC last year.

The Khatme Nabuwwat’s Pakistani-based website describes Ahmadis as “nothing but a gang of traitors, apostates and infidels”.

Copyright 2001-2010 Wimbledon Guardian, UK. All rights reserved.
URL: www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/9180679.Man_fears.../

Writing on the pamphlet

minorities

Writing on the pamphlet

Dreaded messages have reappeared in Faisalabad to haunt the threatened Ahmadi community

By Aoun Sahi

June 19, 2010

Two brothers, Sheikh Ashraf Parvez and Sheikh Masood Jawed, owners of Murad Cloth House and Murad Jewellers, in Faisalabad’s Rail Bazaar, refused to leave the country after a mob destroyed their shops back in 1974 during the anti-Ahmadi riots. Luckily, in only a few months, they were able to establish their businesses again and, in the coming years, Sheikh Ashraf Parvez became the senior vice-president of Rail Bazaar traders’ association.

Things were going well until early 2010 when a pamphlet was distributed in Faisalabad condemning the Ahmadi community and exhorting the Muslims in the city to boycott the traders and businesses owned by the Ahmadis. Distributors of the pamphlet listed some shops and businesses owned by people belonging to the Ahmadi community. The names of Murad Cloth House and Murad Jewellers featured at number three on the list.

A couple of months later, on April 1, 2010, Sheikh Ashraf, Sheikh Masood and his son Sheikh Asif Masood were killed by ‘unknown people’ on the road at around 10 in the night when they were returning to their homes from their shops. A case was registered. However, no suspect has been arrested so far. “They were killed only because of their faith,” says Sheikh Ashraf’s son, requesting not to be named, who sits at the shop. His worries are not over yet.

Two weeks back, another pamphlet was distributed in Faisalabad that labelled members of the Ahmadi community as “Wajibul Qatl” (liable to be persecuted), and inciting people to publicly attack followers of the faith. “Their punishment is death. Killing these people amounts to jihad,” read the leaflet. The pamphlet contained names and addresses of Ahmadi traders, industrialists and doctors. This time, Murad Cloth House was on top of the list.

“I don’t know how to react; our lives have been disturbed, our sanity badly affected,” says the 28-year-old son of the slain Sheikh Ashraf. “We are very vulnerable. I cannot concentrate on my business. I suspect every customer is a potential attacker!”

“I don’t expect justice,” he goes on.

Talking to TNS, another person on the ‘hit list’ relates how he was forced to move somewhere else after last year’s pamphlet was circulated. “It seems we are being watched all the time. They seem to know everything about us which is obvious from the way they’ve given the latest addresses of our homes and businesses,” he says. “We feel like petty outcasts.”

According to him, as a matter of routine, the situation becomes tense every year in April-May when the annual event of ‘Khatm-e-Nabuwat’ is held in the city. “Every speaker condemns and abuses the Ahmadis. We have put up our complaints before the administration, to no avail.”

He laments the fact that things have gotten to a point where introducing oneself as Ahmadi means inviting trouble and public isolation.

So far, no security has been provided even to those who were mentioned in the pamphlet. On June 2, 2011, Mahmood Ahmad, Jamaat’s secretary in Faisalabad, sent an email to the home secretary and the police chief of Punjab as well as Faisalabad’s regional police officer, but nothing has been done to help the matter.

“Our mouths have been shut, our hands are tied. I am writing this in the hope that somewhere, somehow this letter finds its way to a compassionate and patriotic police official who shall dare to stand up for us, for the sake of Pakistan,” reads the email.

“Distribution of pamphlets against Ahmadis in Faisalabad is a regular practice,” Mahmood Ahmad tells TNS, adding that whereas the tone of these papers was “mild” in the past, their lives were jeopardised.

“Last year, the pamphlet had only asked the ‘Muslims’ to band together against the businesses owned by the Ahmadis which resulted in the persecution of at least five people belonging to our community, apart from instances of dacoity, kidnapping for ransom and expulsion of some of our students in mainstream educational institutions.”

Mahmood fears more violence if proper steps are not taken by the government. He also blames the Punjab government for ignoring the myriad protests lodged by the Ahmadi community in the province. “Religious fanatics are being encouraged by a lack of action on the part of the government agencies,” he says.

Police officials in Faisalabad do not seem to have taken the issue seriously so far. “I have deputed one person from the department to arrest the people whose cell numbers are mentioned on the pamphlet,” says Asmatullah Junenio, Superintendent of Police (SP), Faisalabad, talking to TNS.

He claims that the security of the Ahmadi community has been beefed up. “The number of police officials deputed to safeguard our worship places has been increased.”

Munir Ahmed, whose cell number is given on the pamphlet and who admits to be working for an organisation on the finality of Prophethood, informs TNS that he is in Lahore these days. “I have nothing to do with this [pamphlet] and I firmly believe they [the Ahmadis] are lying. The law should take its due course to punish them and the blasphemers.”

According to Saleemuddin, the Jamaat spokesperson, Ahmadis are being threatened all across the country. “Anti-Ahmadi wall-chalkings, pamphlets and stickers are a common phenomenon these days,” he says, adding that Faisalabad has become the most hostile towards the Ahmadis. “Most hate material is being generated or funded there.”

Legal experts believe inciting people to kill others is a serious crime as per the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). “According to the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, inciting somebody to kill others falls under the definition of terrorism. 153A, 505 and 506 sections of PPC also address such crime,” says Asad Jamal, advocate High Court.

Jamal, who has been working on human rights issues since long, believes that the police is bound to act against such activities.

Human Rights activists also believe there is no political will to protect the minorities, especially the Ahmadis. “They are indeed the most vulnerable group in Pakistan. Printing and distribution of hate material against them is a grave concern for us. We have already brought such activities by religious fundamentalists into the notice of the authorities, but no action has been taken against the culprits so far,” contends Zohra Yousuf, Chairperson, HRCP.

“Many members of this community have already migrated to other countries. The government will have to assert itself strongly to protect the community.”

aounsahi@gmail.com

URL: www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2011-weekly/nos-19-06-2011/dia.htm#4

CPS criticised for not prosecuting alleged Ahmadiyya Muslim hate crimes in Tooting

News

CPS criticised for not prosecuting alleged Ahmadiyya Muslim hate crimes in Tooting

2:30pm Monday 6th December 2010

By Omar Oakes »

“Not effective”: Lord Eric Avebury on religious hatred laws

A leading human rights expert has called for a change in hate laws after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to bring charges over alleged hate crimes against a Morden-based religious group.

Lord Eric Avebury, vice-chairman of the Government’s Parliamentary Human Rights Group, also called for an investigation into why the CPS had only brought one case against incitement to religious hatred since the law came into being four years ago.

In October, the Wimbledon Guardian exclusively revealed evidence of hate speeches, leaflets, and boycotts against members of the Ahmadiyya community, an Islamic minority sect.

Evidence included video footage from a conference at the Tooting Islamic Centre (TIC), in which scholars called for a boycott of Ahmadi-run businesses and urged attendees not to associate with Ahmadis.

Last month, the Crown prosecutor for Wandsworth, Hilary Ryan, said the allegations fell short of being criminally actionable.

Lord Avebury, an 82-year-old Liberal Democrat peer, said the threshold for prosecution was too high.

He said: “I believe the law on incitement to religious hatred has not been effective, partly because the prosecution has to prove not only that the accused did incite, but that he intended to do so.

“At any rate, there has been only one case brought since the law was enacted, over a four-year period when incitement was becoming more prevalent.

“The reasons for this inactivity by the CPS need to be investigated.”

A CPS spokesman said: “A CPS London prosecutor gave initial advice that the material submitted could not constitute an offence.

“If the police ask for a full review of the material, the file will be passed to the central casework divisions.

“A full review is always carried out by prosecutors who specialise in racial and religious hatred offences and after careful consideration of a number of cases since this legislation was introduced, there has only been one case that reached the threshold for prosecution.”

A spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association (AMA), which is based at the Bait-ul-Futuh mosque in London Road, said it was seeking independent legal advice before thinking about pursing a judicial review of the claims.

Tooting’s MP Sadiq Khan has arranged for a meeting between senior memebrs of the AMA and TIC on Monday, December 13..

Copyright 2001-2010 Wimbledon Guardian, UK. All rights reserved.

URL: http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/87...hate_crimes/

Lord: Hate laws are not effective enough

News

Lord: Hate laws are not effective enough

11:40am Saturday 4th December 2010

Lord Avesbury has called for an investigation into why the CPS had only brought one case against incitement to religious hatred since the law came into being four years ago

A human rights lawyer has called for a change in the law after no charges were brought over alleged hate crimes stemming from a leaflet handed out in Kingston.

Kingston police launched an investigation into suspected hate crime against an Islamic minority sect after leaflets were allegedly distributed in the town centre on July 6.

A teenage Ahmadi girl, who did not want to be named, gave them a statement claiming the leaflet, which was written in Urdu, said: “Kill a Qadiyani [Ahmadiyya] and doors to heaven will be open to you”.

But Kingston police later said it had never been handed the leaflet and had not received any other allegations.

The incident led to complaints of hate speeches, leaflets, and boycotts against members of the Ahmadiyya community, an Islamic minority sect, across south west London.

Evidence included video footage from a conference at the Tooting Islamic Centre (TIC), in which scholars called for a boycott of Ahmadi-run businesses and urged attendees not to associate with Ahmadis.

Last month, the Crown prosecutor for Wandsworth, Hilary Ryan, said the allegations fell short of being criminally actionable.

Lord Eric Avebury, an 82-year-old Liberal Democrat peer, said the threshold for prosecution was too high.

Lord Avebury, vice-chairman of the Government’s Parliamentary Human Rights Group, also called for an investigation into why the CPS had only brought one case against incitement to religious hatred since the law came into being four years ago.

He said: “I believe the law on incitement to religious hatred has not been effective, partly because the prosecution has to prove not only that the accused did incite, but that he intended to do so.

“At any rate, there has been only one case brought since the law was enacted, over a four-year period when incitement was becoming more prevalent.

“The reasons for this inactivity by the CPS need to be investigated.”

A CPS spokesman said: “A CPS London prosecutor gave initial advice that the material submitted could not constitute an offence.

“If the police ask for a full review of the material, the file will be passed to the central casework divisions.”

A spokesman for the Ahmadiyya community, which is based at the Bait-ul-Fatah mosque in London Road, said it was seeking independent legal advice before thinking about pursuing a judicial review of the claims.

Copyright 2001-2010 Kingston Guardian, UK. All rights reserved.

URL: http://www.kingstonguardian.co.uk/news/87188...not_effective_enough/

Mosque linked to hate campaign causes rift in Muslim community

News

Mosque linked to hate campaign causes rift in Muslim community

7:20am Wednesday 3rd November 2010

By Matt Watts »

A mosque has been linked to a hate campaign causing a dangerous rift in south London’s Muslim community.

Evidence shows Ahmadiyya Muslims are being demonised and ostracised by UK Islamic fundamentalist group Khatme Nabuwat, whose hardline clerics have been preaching in south London mosques.

The alleged campaign has seen Ahmadi residents, businessmen and politicians targeted, including inflammatory leaflets being distributed in south London encouraging violence against “Qadiyanis” – a derogatory term for Ahmadis.

The rift has stemmed from some Muslims not accepting members of the Ahmadi community as fellow Muslims.

Ahmadis differ from mainstream Islam in that they state the second coming of the messiah has already happened and is embodied by their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

South London Ahmadis – who built what is believed to be the biggest mosque in western Europe, based in Morden – say their beliefs have made them victims of a hate campaign.

Now Streatham’s mosque has been dragged into the debate after a poster seen on the noticeboard of the South London Islamic Centre in Mitcham Lane stated the meat sold by an Ahmadi-run butcher in Tooting, Lahore Halal, was not halal.

Mumtaz Malik, the mosque’s Iman, said the poster was put up by a member of the Somali community to inform Muslims of the change of ownership of the supermarket to an Ahmadi.

He said as part of Islamic teachings, Muslims are advised to buy their meat from fellow Muslims.

He said the ownership of the shop by a “non-Muslim” raised questions about whether the meat sold was still halal, despite there being no evidence it was not.

But the Ahmadi shopkeeper who owns Lahore Halal, has told the Streatham Guardian “through religious discrimination and harassment” his business had suffered both reputationally and financially, with takings being cut by up to 50 per cent.

An Ahmadi supermarket worker across the street won an employment tribunal against his former boss last month for wrongful dismissal after he had pressure put on him to convert to the Sunni Muslim faith.

Lambeth police promised to talk to Streatham mosque about the poster, while Wandsworth police are investigating wider allegations in the Tooting community of inciting religious hatred against Ahmadis.

Copyright 2001-2010 Wimbledon Guardian, UK. All rights reserved.

URL: www.streathamguardian.co.uk/ne...Muslim_community/

Worshippers told at Tooting Islamic Centre to boycott Ahmadiyya shops

News

Worshippers told at Tooting Islamic Centre to boycott Ahmadiyya shops

1:20pm Thursday 14th October 2010

Exclusive By Omar Oakes »

Boycott plea: Leaflet written in Somali found in
Streatham mosque

Ahmadi shopkeepers face financial ruin after clerics demanded a boycott of their shops.

Imam Suliman Gani, of the TIC, admitted he personally pleaded with the owner of the Lahore Halal Meat in Tooting not to sell his business to an Ahmadi man.

He said: “Since the Qadianis are routinely deceptive about their religion, there was a potential risk of Muslims being offered meat that wasn’t necessarily halal.

“Can you imagine the uproar in the Jewish community if it was found that a shop selling purportedly kosher food was not doing so?

“If there is any deception involved in the provision of halal meat, naturally, we will prefer to err on the side of caution.”

Imam Suliman Gani: Pleaded with Tooting businessman

Mr Gani offered no evidence to support claims the meat might be non-halal and later admitted if the meat came from the same supplier as before [which it did] “there would be no issue”.

One leaflet, the origin of which is not known but was posted on the wall of the Streatham Mosque, called for a boycott on Lahore Halal.

Another Ahmadi butcher, who came to London in 2001 after fleeing Pakistan, won an employment tribunal last month after being sacked in March.

Employment Judge Baron accepted Azizur Rahman, owner of Haji Halal Meat in Upper Tooting Road, pressured his employee to convert to the Sunni Muslim faith.

The tribunal heard: “Mr Rahman said he had been told that if he continued to employ the claimant then his customers would cease to patronise him.

“Mr Rahman referred specifically to pressure being placed on him by the head of the Sunni sect who had helped Mr Rahman to gain admission for his daughters to single sex school for girls.”

Mr Rahman claimed he had been influenced by a conference held by KN at the TIC on March 28, where worshippers were ordered to boycott Ahmadi-run shops.

During that conference Mr Gani shared a stage with KN Abdul Rehman Bawa. Mr Bawa said: “I don’t know why our sisters or mothers are talking with these Qadiani and making friendships … I know in this road, Tooting high street, all of the shops who are selling to Qadiani.

“Don’t make friends with them… they are trying to deceive you, they are trying to convert you from Islam to Qadianism.”

The owner of one Tooting halal butchers said his trade had fallen by nearly 50 per cent in three months. He said: “We have lost so much business because some people refuse to come here just because I am Ahmadi. They use words against me like ‘Kafir’, which means I am not Muslim.

“I’ve lived here for 13 years and lots of people know me in Tooting, but this situation has become so much worse now.”

A Wandsworth police spokesman said an investigation into the alleged hate crimes was ongoing.

Copyright 2001-2010 Wimbledon Guardian, UK. All rights reserved.

URL: www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/ahmadiyya/8...a_shops/

Tooting election race infected by anti-Ahmadiyya hate campaign

News

Tooting election race infected by anti-Ahmadiyya hate campaign

1:10pm Thursday 14th October 2010

Exclusive By Omar Oakes »

Hatred and threats towards the Ahmadiyya community even infected the general election race in Tooting.

Since being re-elected in May with a slim majority of 2,524 after fierce opposition from Conservative candidate Mark Clarke, Sadiq Khan has gone on to become Shadow Justice Secretary.

But Nasser Butt, who stood against him for the Liberal Democrats and is an Ahmadi, spoke out about a campaign to prevent him being elected because of his religion.

An election hustings at the Tooting Islamic Centre (TIC) on April 14 turned into a dangerous farce after hardliners shut down proceedings.

After arriving at the TIC, mixed-race Tory candidate Mark Clarke had to be locked into a room for his own safety after he was mistaken for Mr Butt by fundametalists.

Mr Clarke’s election agent, Andre Walker, said: “We had to be locked in a room for our own security. The mosque committee were embarrassed by it and it was tense for a while…it was clear Nasser’s arrival would have been dangerous and a real problem. There was anger an Ahmadi was running.”

During the incident, Mr Butt said he received a phone call from a committee member who told him it would be best if he did not come to speak as had been arranged.

It has also emerged worshippers were given precise orders at the TIC to urge Muslims not to vote for Ahmadi candidates.

A secret recording of a meeting at the TIC, two days before polling day on May 3, revealed Imam Suliman addressed the meeting alongside Harris Bokhani, speaker from an unknown organisation.

Mr Bokhani is heard to tell the audience: “The majority of Muslims in this area are voting Lib Dem, because they think Nasser Butt is a Muslim.

“If you don’t go in and speak to them, they’re not going to do it. They’re fed up of hearing it from the imams. They want to hear it from you. They need to you go into the community and say ‘Why are you supporting the Qadiani community?’”

Mr Khan told this paper last week he was not aware of the incident until days later and did not know about the pair being locked in a room.

He rejected claims the Muslim vote played an important role in his re-election, claiming he had support from faith leaders across the religious spectrum.

He said: “It’s really important everyone in the community gets along. One of the hallmarks of Tooting is that people with different rules and religions have got along so well for so long.

“If there’s any section of our community that feels vulnerable or discriminated against, there’s a responsibility on the rest of us to reach out and ensure this doesn’t happen.

“There are theological differences but we shouldn’t just tolerate each other, we should respect each other.

“My job as MP is to represent everyone in the community, irrespective of the size of the community and religious beliefs.”

TIC Imam Suliman Gani told us this week: “We never recommend any political candidate on religious grounds.

“Like all organisations, we only recommend political candidates based on how their stated policies affect our community.

“The Ahmadiyya community has been actively distributing leaflets claiming they are the only Muslims who love peace and harmony and thereby maligning the vast Muslim community.

“So, as an example, unless an Ahmadi candidate renounced such maligning of Muslims by the community he belongs to, we would not recommend him as he/she would be antithetical to the perception of our peace-loving community in such delicate times.”

Copyright 2001-2010 Wimbledon Guardian, UK. All rights reserved.

URL: www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/ahmadiyya/845...te_campaign/

News on Sunday - Editorial

Editorial

June 06, 2010

The contrary view has been heard so loud and clear, perhaps, for the first time in the last three decades. It took about 100 odd brutal killings of Ahmadis in Lahore that allowed this to happen. But will it change things? Perhaps, when the contrary view becomes louder still.

It is ironic how we in the media who kept silent each time the Ahmadis were persecuted and discriminated against – which they are on a regular basis – have finally found the courage to acknowledge the persecution and the discrimination. And that’s not where the irony ends. It started when within the first hour, the breaking news about the attack on Ahmadi ‘mosques’ changed to their “places of worship”. It continued when the law enforcers saw the hands of RAW in the attack which could not have been conducted by a Muslim. Nor was the irony lost when the attack was seen as a way to sabotage the country’s right to celebrate its nuclear status on the Yaum-e-Takbeer or how there were no spontaneous crowds against the Lahore attacks the way there were on Facebook issue and the Israeli attack on the aid carrying ship.

Were people scared to come out and speak up? Alongside the reaction and the outcry on the media came whispers about whether it was right to say funeral prayers for the non-Muslim Ahmadis. Once again people affirmed their faith by finding fault with others.

The two reactions set the ball rolling. It has indeed been a history of prejudice but how and why did we come to this point. What were the political compulsions that changed the secular moorings of the state to religious ones? Why did we find it so easy to sign this declaration every time we filled out a form to register for an identity card or a passport that we are not ahmadis? Why couldn’t we have stood up and protested? Why did we allow the state to exercise the right to declare a group of people non-Muslims? Is that why the state still finds itself unable to protect them?

It is ironic how the brutal killing of a hundred citizens of this country has forced us to ask these questions now. It is ironic why we did not raise them in the last thirty six years.

URL: www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2010-week...2010/spr.htm#1