Khatam-e-Nabuwat Conference: Ahmadis accused of working against Pakistan

Pakistan Punjab

Khatam-e-Nabuwat Conference: Ahmadis accused of working against Pakistan

By Shamsul Islam
Published: September 10, 2011

Three-day meeting ‘celebrates’ declaration of Ahmadis as minorities. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

MULTAN: “Ahmadis are part of a Jewish conspiracy against Islam and Pakistan and are responsible for sectarianism and terrorism in the country,” claimed religious leaders at the conclusion of a three-day-long Khatme Nabuwwat conference in Chiniot.

Over 450 processions and gatherings were organised in Punjab to mark the Khatme Nabuwat declaration by the Supreme Court that declared Ahmadis as ‘non-Muslims’ in 1974.

“The option available for Ahmadis is to accept Islam and abandon conspiracies against Muslims and Pakistan,” speakers at the conference said.

The government should keep a check on Ahmadis purchasing property in Pakistan, they suggested, stressing on “the need to declare Ahmadis as terrorists.”

Heralding the “sacrifices of the right-wing parties to define Islam and declare Ahmadis as minorities,” speakers at the conference vowed to “protect the religious identity of Pakistan in the world.”

In a “message” to the Ahmadis, the speakers said they should either “accept Islam” or their legal status as minorities in Pakistan and “obey” the constitution of Pakistan.

On an ending note, the speakers vowed to “continue [their] struggle against Ahmadis across the world.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/249286/khatam-e-nabuwat...pakistan/

Ahmadis criticise govt inaction over targeted killings

Pakistan Punjab

Ahmadis criticise govt inaction over targeted killings

By Shamsul Islam
Published: September 10, 2011

Ahmadis say their community is facing dire threat. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

FAISALABAD: Ahmadis are completely at the mercy of assassins who are targeting and killing them with impunity and police and other law-enforcement agencies were doing nothing to thwart their actions, the secretary of the Faisalabad chapter of the Jama’at Ahmadiyya said in a letter sent to foreign missions and top government functionaries.

Syed M Mahmood, the secretary of the organisation’s general affairs, said that he had “sent a letter (containing) forewarnings regarding the plight of the Ahmadiyya community in Faisalabad”, but no action was taken on it.

The letter was dispatched to the Human Rights Watch, the Asian Human Rights Commission, US embassy in Islamabad, the British High Commission and the embassies of France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, Islamabad.

He said that several victims, including Laeeq Ahmed, who was a member of the local chapter of the Jama’at Ahmadiyya, were brutally murdered in public, but police was trying to look the other way.

Citing the example of Laeeq Ahmed’s murder, he said: “It is shocking to know that neither the empties in the car were taken into the possession by the police nor the car was examined.”

According to him, another Ahmadi, Naseem Ahmad Butt became the victim of a targeted killing, but his killers were “roaming free” and asking about the whereabouts of his brother.

He reminded that “both the killings (occurred) in the constituency of the controversial Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, who sides with the extremist groups”.

Expressing his frustration, he said: “We cannot continue to see our dear ones murdered with impunity. I have no option but to send this report also to world organisations on human rights, to different embassies, to show them the disintegration and complete collapse of law and order in Punjab. We (fear) that this (city) might become a second Karachi.”

This letter was also sent to the governor of Punjab, the provincial home secretary, additional secretary (home), IG police, additional IG, RPO Faisalabad, CPO Faisalabad, SSP (Operations) Faisalabad and DCO Faisalabad,

In another letter sent to foreign missions in Islamabad and law-enforcement authorities, the Ahmadiyya community also protested over what they termed forced rustication of three female students from the National Textile University (NTU) in Faisalabad because of their faith.

It was pointed out, “NTU Faisalabad has become the hub of…extremist and militant groups”.

“There has been a planned subversion of all the decent norms of an educational institution. The target has been the Ahmadiyya Community and the weaker Ahmadi female students”.

“So much so, that all the female students had to leave the NTU Faisalabad. Their educational careers were abandoned midway. Moulvis were imported (to the campus) who harangued the students against the Ahmadiyya Community in such an abusive language which defies definition”.

The letter pointed out, “The parents of the students have been approaching the rector of the NTU Faisalabad, but he showed his inability to control the situation”.

“Even the magazine of the NTU, Faisalabad, exhorts that all Ahmadis should be killed.

“This is not a textile university, this is the killing factory of the Taliban.”

“This university, hotbed of extremism, should have no affiliation with any other educational institutions in the world. Otherwise, the name of other decent educational institution will be sullied.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/249311/extremist-groups...killings/

Communal violence: Police clueless in attack on Ahmadi man

Pakistan Punjab

Communal violence: Police clueless in attack on Ahmadi man

By Rana Tanveer
Published: September 9, 2011

Ferozewala police have registered a FIR against three assailants.

LAHORE: The police said on Thursday it had no clue about the attackers who shot and injured an Ahmadi man in an attack which carried communal overtones on Wednesday.

Ferozewala police have, however, registered an FIR against three assailants for attacking Basheer Ahmed. No one has so far been arrested.

The complainant, on whose behalf the FIR was lodged, is the victim’s nephew, Zahid, who is not an Ahmadi. Local Ahmadis expressed reservations over the matter, saying that he ‘will favour the probable suspect’ in view of his beliefs.

Investigation officer, Assistant Sub Inspector Ishrat, talking to The Express Tribune also said that the complainant “is not cooperating with the investigation”.

A local Ahmadi questioned the complainant’s sincerity and said: “How can a Barelvi man take action against an accused of the same faith?”

He said that two witnesses identified in the FIR were also not Ahmadis.

The complainant, Zahid, told The Express Tribune that at this stage, he was trying to save his uncle’s life and he would take care of the assailants.

He said it was obvious his uncle was attacked for his beliefs, adding that he would take action against the attackers.

Talking about the FIR, he said he had clearly mentioned in the application that his uncle was an active member of the Jamat-e-Ahmadia and the local operatives of Khatam-e-Nabuwat organisation had attacked him with intent to kill.

He said that two years ago, an accused had confessed before the Shafiqabad police that a local office bearer of the Khatam-e-Nabuwat organisation, Qari Muhammad Ahmed Fareedi, had paid him to kill his uncle.

He said he had not mentioned this in the FIR. He added he wanted to offer “a reasonable cash prize to the person who will tell him about the real attackers”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/248262/communal...ahmadi-man/

Ahmadi shot, injured on ‘Khatam-e-Nabuwat Day’

Pakistan Punjab

Ahmadi shot, injured on ‘Khatam-e-Nabuwat Day’

By Rana Tanveer
Published: September 8, 2011

Relatives allege he was targeted for his religious beliefs. NEFER SEHGAL/FILE

LAHORE: A man, who was later identified to be an Ahmadi, was critically injured after being shot three times in Ferozewala of Sheikhupura district on Wednesday just as religious parties observed the ‘Tahafuz Khatam-e-Nabuwat Day’.

Relatives of the victim, Chaudhry Basheer Ahmed, alleged that he was targeted because of his religious beliefs as a result of the intensification of a hate campaign against Ahmadis in the area.

Tahafuz Khatam-e-Nabuwat Day marks the anniversary of the day in 1974, when Pakistan’s parliament declared Ahmadis to be a non-Muslim minority.

Basheer Ahmed was shot once in his abdomen and twice in his neck with a 30-bore pistol at close range.

Naseer Ahmed, one of Basheer’s relatives who witnessed the attack, said that they were “sure the attacker was one of the local activists of Khatam-e-Nabuwat”, adding that the murder attempt was made near the local chapter of the Khatam-e-Nabuwat office. He said that the assailant was a bearded man between 18 to 20 years of age.

Two armed men had attacked and killed a 70-year-old man in his shop in the presence of his sons in the same area. According to the prosecution, he was killed for his beliefs.

Naseer Ahmed said Ahmadis in Ferozewala and elsewhere are under constant threat because of an ongoing hate campaign.

SHO Ferozewala police station Faisal Abbas Chadhar said that relatives of the victim had “neither given an application, nor did they want to take legal action”.

He said that the attackers and their motive were still unknown.

He said that further legal action would be taken once an application for an FIR was filed.

Spokesperson of the Jamat-e-Ahmadia, Pakistan, Saleemudin criticised the government for supporting such events, and said that the government should, instead, take steps to stop such hostile campaigns.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/247482/ahmedi-shot...day/

A most dangerous place

Opinion Editorial

A most dangerous place

By Editorial
Published: September 5, 2011

Ahmadis may be killed with impunity because their persecution by a significant segment of society is ignored by the state and the government of the day. PHOTO: REUTERS

The All-Pakistan Students Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Federation has killed another Ahmadi in Faisalabad, the city where the Barelvi school of thought has been allowing itself to become dangerously aggressive. Naseem Ahmad Butt was shot to death by four youths calling him wajibul qatl (worthy of being killed). The wajibul qatl verdict was given in a pamphlet distributed in the city earlier by the authoritative-sounding Aalmi Majlis Tahaffuz Khatam-e-Nabuwwat and the All-Pakistan Students Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Federation, Faisalabad. The police were informed but they did nothing, feeling safe behind their routine categorisation of the crime as ‘blind murder’.

The state of Pakistan must look carefully at this pattern of behaviour. Ahmadis may be killed with impunity because their persecution by a significant segment of society is ignored by the state and the government of the day. Then comes the turn of the Shias and other sects who are not considered outside the pale of faith but who are still, nonetheless, target by extremist fellow Muslims who consider their views heretical. Faisalabad has been dominated for a long time by the Ahle Hadith and Deobandi schools of thought but the the Barelvis are also gaining in influence, and they are not to be left behind in their persecution of the Ahmadi community. This is ironic since the Deobandis, for instance, don’t see eye-to-eye at all with the Barelvis on most faith-related matters and both hurl invective, and sometimes much more, at one another.

The Punjab government has to answer for the deaths that have happened under its rule and this includes not just Ahmadis, but also others, including several Christians, all killed by sectarian and jihadi outfits, primarily in Lahore last year. In the public eye, the view that the Punjab government may perhaps have a soft spot for jihadis is reinforced when its law minister meets and campaigns, prior to a by-election, with the leader of a banned sectarian outfit. This could be part of its strategy to gain a foothold in southern Punjab, since long a PPP stronghold, but such a tactic could be lethal for the province’s population of vulnerable people. In the process, Pakistan and its social contract are dying a slow death. The pamphlet mentioned above lists 50 Ahmadis who have to be killed in order to “achieve entry into Paradise”. It says the killers will be given a place under the flag of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the chosen place of luxury in the hereafter. The youths of Faisalabad, blighted by loadshedding and religious hatred, will now betake themselves seriously to the transaction of achieving precisely this, while the state sits by and does nothing. Quite shockingly, the Faisalabad police chief says he has no information about the pamphlets which brazenly name the threatening organisation. The fact of the matter is that the Punjab police is but a reflection of society in general, and is filled with people who have nothing but hatred for those from minority communities, or even for those who stand up in support of them. In Karachi, there is the Sunni Tehreek which is far more aggressive.

In June this year, an Ahmadi place of worship was threatened with assault from a nearby mosque. The threat came from a cleric who knew that his outfit was weaponised and could kill just as easily and with as much impunity as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The Barelvis were never taken to jihad by the Pakistani state but they have made up in virulence by embracing two laws that have brought infamy to Pakistan: the Second Amendment apostatising the Ahmadis; and the Blasphemy laws.

The state of Pakistan, after having declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslims, has to protect them the way it is committed, under law and religion, to protecting minority communities. Its failure in Faisalabad to come to the help of the targeted Ahmadis is symptomatic of the terminal phase of its existence. Hatred and extremism are becoming the hallmarks of the sociology of the state.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/245319/a-most-dangerous-place/

Suspected hate crime: Ahmadi man shot dead in Faisalabad

Pakistan

Suspected hate crime: Ahmadi man shot dead in Faisalabad

By Shamsul Islam
Published: September 5, 2011

The minority has been under constant attack even though it keeps a low profile. DESIGN: SAMAD SIDDIQUI

FAISALABAD: In a suspected incident of hate crime against minorities, unidentified attackers killed an Ahmadi man in Faisalabad late Saturday night.

Naseem Ahmad Butt, 55, was shot dead by four men as he lay sleeping inside his house in Muzaffar Colony. According to his brother Khalid Pervez Butt, at about 1am on Saturday, the attackers entered by climbing over the walls.

“The boys were between 20 and 25 years old. Three of them kept a watch on the door as one kicked my brother. When he was awake, the killer said ‘you are Ahmadi and liable to be killed’,” Khalid told The Express Tribune.

The attacker then shot Naseem in the chest while another bullet ruptured his kidney, Khalid said. “My brother was lying in a pool of blood when we saw him. The sound of him crying woke us up.”

A car and a bicycle were used in the attack, Khalid said, and the assailants fled from the main gate of the house.

The family rushed an unconscious Naseem to the Divisional Headquarter Hospital, where he succumbed to his bullet wounds at 8.30am on Sunday.

Naseem, who worked at a power loom factory, leaves behind his widow, four daughters and a son.

Constant threat

According to Khalid, Naseem and other members of their family were under constant threat by a group of extremists who had repeatedly threatened to kill them for their faith.

(Read: Ahmadis in Karachi – Pulpit pounding, barricades, prayers but no peace)

“My first cousin Naseer Butt was also killed in a similar fashion last year. Police has made no effort to trace his killers and the case has been swept under the carpet by being declared ‘blind murder’,” Khalid said.

However, in hope of assistance, Khalid has registered a case with the Samanabad Police for the murder of Naseem. A FIR under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code has been filed.

‘Hate crime’

An advocacy group based in Faisalabad has called Naseem’s murder hate crime and says it has contacted provincial and local police officials but in vain.

Over the past two years, as many as six Ahmadis have been killed in Faisalabad but no killer has been brought to book, said secretary of the secretary of the Faisalabad chapter of the Umoor-e-Aama Jama’at Ahmadiyya Mahmood Ahmad Shah.

“We have time and again contacted the Faisalabad police chief and other senior police officials throughout Punjab that a group of fanatics are threatening Ahmadis in the area.

A list of these names is being publicly circulated,” he said.

In June, Ahmad wrote an email to the province’s home secretary and police chief and Faisalabad’s regional police officer, following the distribution of pamphlets in the city that not only called Ahmadis wajibul qatl (liable to be killed) but also exhorted people to kill them to achieve martyrdom.

(Read: Targeting minorities – No friend to Ahmadis in Faisalabad)

The Punjab government’s record of protecting Ahmadis has been dismal.

In May last year, more than 88 people were killed in provincial capital Lahore when gunmen opened fire at two separate places of worship and, one year on, little progress has been made by investigators.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/245094/suspected...faisalabad/