Ahmedi community slams govt over killing of minority member

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Ahmedi community slams govt over killing of minority member

Staff Report

LAHORE: Representatives of the Ahmedi community and human rights activists have slammed the government over religiously motivated killing of an Ahmedi advocate, Malik Mabroor Ahmad, while demanding immediate action against the culprits.

Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson Saleem ud Din stated on Tuesday that the well-known Ahmedi lawyer was assassinated in a religiously motivated attack on the night of July 11 in Nawabshah (Sindh) as he arrived outside his office for work.

He was shot point blank by an unidentified assailant who managed to escape from the crime scene. Upon hearing the noise of gunfire, his brother, Malik Waseem Ahmad, rushed to the scene only to discover that the victim had already succumbed to his injuries.

Malik Mabroor Ahmad was a peaceful and law-abiding citizen and a renowned lawyer. He was 50 at the time of his death and is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters. Saleem ud Din said that such violence results from the continuing hatred that is being spread throughout Pakistan against Jama’at Ahmadiyya.

“We cannot condemn this enough. I call upon the government to dispense swift justice against the perpetrators of this crime,” he added. He said that Malik Mabroor Ahmad had survived another bid on his life in 2008 but no action was taken by the local authorities to protect him from the extremists.

He added that district chief of Jama’at Ahmadiyya Nawabshah, Muhammad Yousaf was also assassinated in 2008 while a well known Ahmedi doctor Abdul Manan Siddique also fell prey to the target killers in Mirpur Khas. But it is unfortunate that not a single killer has been arrested so far.

The spokesperson stated that violent assaults against Ahmedis that are carried out in the name of religion are all too often premeditated and well organized. These attacks serve only to blemish the name of Islam and spread discord and strife amongst the general population.

He said that it was most unfortunate that all possible means of mass communication are being used in order to incite the sentiments of people against Ahmedis and inflame the already raging fire of sectarianism in the country. Leading rights activist and director of Centre for Human Rights Education Samson Salamat has strongly condemned the brutal killing of Malik Mabroor Ahmed in Nawabshah. He said that another killing in the name of religion is the failure of the state machinery and has raised the threat for the persecuted religious minorities in the country.

Samson demanded the state should take its responsibility as a guardian of the security of its people seriously and undertake strong measures to curb violence in the name of religion, which has taken the lives of renowned leaders like Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti. The perpetrators involved in the killing of the senior lawyer and others should be exposed and brought to justice. “We also demand that all stakeholders including the state, political parties, elected public representatives, citizens and civil society should stop compromising with the religiously motivated violence and should raise their voices,” Samson concluded.

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\07\13\story_13-7-2011_pg13_2

PPP Officially Supports Ahmadiyah Ban

NEWS

PPP Officially Supports Ahmadiyah Ban

Heru Andriyanto | April 4, 2011

The United Development Party rejects Ahmadiyah teachings as blasphemous, a party official said about the minority Islamic sect on Sunday.

“Our party officially requested the government to forbid and disband Ahmadiyah in Indonesia. The reason is that Ahmadiyah, in our opinion, created a religion inside a religion, as well as insulting the teachings of Islam,” Chozin Chumaidy, the deputy chairman of the party, also known as the PPP, said at its regional congress in Mamuju, West Sulawesi.

In addition, Ahmadiyah followers often cause unrest among Muslims, he said, adding that the PPP’s stance serves to “protect the interests of Muslims in Indonesia.” Members of the PPP are ready to assist Ahmadiyah followers willing to “return to the true path of Islam,” he said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ppp-officially...

Republic of Fear and Bigotry

OINION

Republic of Fear and Bigotry

By Nasim Zehra
Published: February 5, 2011

The writer is director current affairs at Dunya TV and a former fellow at Asia Center, Harvard University nasim.zehra@tribune.com.pk

Last week in our Senate, two revealing incidents took place. One, the refusal of a senator to lead the fateha for the assassinated Governor Salmaan Taseer. Second, a privilege motion moved by Senator Mandokhel, calling upon the deputy chairman of the Senate to declare a Pakistani woman a blasphemer because, in a text message, she had referred to the late governor as shaheed. Mandokhel sahib’s contention is that since Salmaan Taseer was a blasphemer, anyone calling him shaheed is also a blasphemer. On February 3, responding to the senator’s insistence that the chairman Senate give a ruling on the matter, the chairman said he would do so later. The Senate session was then prorogued.

In the last few weeks, new blasphemy cases have been filed, one of them against a first-year student. The 17-year-old, reported to the police for writing something blasphemous on his examination paper, is now in prison. Also, last week a sessions court handed down a death sentence, along with a Rs200,000 fine, to a man of Jalalpur Peerwala for committing blasphemy. The accused was reportedly mentally challenged.

Against the backdrop of these incidents, a factual review of the developments that took place after PPP MNA Sherry Rehman proposed the initial bill, alongside initial government moves to review Article 295, is essential. Of course, the current outcome of this move has been that the prime minister has announced the withdrawal of Ms Rehman’s bill.

The new aspect to the prime minister’s February 3 announcement was that he had consulted Ms Rehman and that she had agreed to withdraw her bill. Her statement, however, indicates that it was more or less a unilateral move by the prime minister but that she would abide by it because of party discipline. More importantly, as she explained, the withdrawal announcement was unnecessary since the bill had not even been tabled. What is truly ironic is that in the same statement in which the prime minister announced the withdrawal of the bill, he invited various political parties to come forward and discuss ways on how to prevent misuse of the existing law — which is precisely what Ms Rehman’s proposed amendment bill was seeking to address.

Meanwhile, of the many developments that took place after the sessions court’s judgment against Aasia Bibi, six are especially noteworthy.

The first is that while human rights groups have been working on the issue of misuse of the blasphemy law for years, it was when the PPP-led government announced a committee to amend the laws that Ms Rehman tabled her bill. She shared it with all party leaders and made it a point to inform the chief whip of the government of her plans — and he did not ask her to hold off for a while. She consulted with several lawyers about the bill and did not submit it in secret. The proposed amendment created a wave of awareness that has finally led everyone (including the Council of Islamic Ideology) to concede that changes are required to end the existing law’s misuse. Even the religious parties have taken this position of reform repeatedly in various forums. All this contradicts the claims of those who now hold the view that the introduction of this bill was an ill-timed move.

Two, the government blundered along, making contradictory moves and statements on the issue of amending the blasphemy law ever since Aasia Bibi’s conviction. They set up a committee to review it and created a parliamentary subcommittee headed by MNA Nafisa Shah. But at the first whiff of criticism by other groups, the law minister announced that the amendment will take place “over my dead body”.

On one hand, the Punjab governor, when he was alive, criticised the law and lobbied for Aasia’s presidential pardon while on the other, the same government’s law and interior ministers were saying quite the opposite. Instead of ironing out these stark contradictions, the departure of the JUI from the coalition convinced the government that backtracking on the amendment would buy it survival security. Hence, Sherry Rehman’s bill was not a victim of bad timing but, in fact, a victim of the PPP’s bad politics.

Three, every backtracking move by the government emboldened those who equated amendment of the man-made law with blasphemy. Parties like the PTI, the PML-N and the PML-Q have become actively engaged in street protests organised by the ‘religious right’ that are shadow-boxing with imaginary blasphemers.

Four, in pursuit of what the government believes to be survival-mode politics, the government and the PPP have practically abandoned Sherry Rehman. She has been provided some security outside her house but no government ministers have spoken in parliament against the death threats that she has been receiving. Almost no one has spoken for her at other public forums either. The government has not opted to be part of her defence in the Lahore High Court where there is a case demanding that she be disbarred from parliament. She is also involved, again unsupported by the PPP, in a blasphemy case in Multan.

Five, the big names of the legal community who led the lawyers’ movement seem to have opted for selective commitment to rule of law by not taking a clear-cut position to stand by Sherry Rehman — barring exceptions like Salman Akram Raja and Hina Jilani. Six, against the backdrop of increasing cases of blasphemy being registered — against a student, a doctor and a Dera Ghazi Khan imam and his son — Ms Rehman stands vindicated on both the call for amending the existing law and on the timing of such a proposed amendment.

The government’s blundering over amending Article 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code will qualify as a textbook example of how expedient politics can take nations down a path of disaster. Clearly, in the Senate, the chairman has found it difficult to give a ruling against Senator Mandokhel’s incredible demand that an activist be denounced as a blasphemer. Equally incredible is the imprisonment of a 17-year-old on blasphemy charges. And, not least of all, the news that no one is representing the prosecution in the court as the case of Governor Salmaan Taseer’s murder proceeds is shocking.

In the coming days, it is not unlikely that, led by the short-sighted politics of the PPP and of other parliamentary parties, Pakistan’s politics and state will have, in fact, weakened the best Islamic values within Pakistan, undermined parliamentary politics and strengthened the constituency of those who want to see Pakistan turn into the Republic of Fear and Bigotry.

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

URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/114564/republic-of-fear-and-bigotry/

Punjab governor rules out change in blasphemy law

	Friday, January 28, 2011, Safar 23, 1432 A.H.
National
Punjab governor rules out change in blasphemy law

By our correspondent
Friday, January 28, 2011

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa has ruled out an amendment to the blasphemy law and asserted that no such plan is under consideration.

Talking to the media after meeting JI Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan at Mansoorah on Thursday, Khosa dispelled the impression that the PPP was amending the blasphemy law. He said the government had no such plan and asserted that the PPP would defend the Namoos-e-Risalat till the last drop of blood.

He clarified that the fact-finding committee, constituted by President Asif Ali Zardari, was merely aimed at stopping the path of any bill by any member on the private member’s day in the National Assembly.

The governor said he had come to meet the JI leadership in pursuance of the PPP’s policy of national reconciliation, adding that he had also invited Syed Munawwar Hasan to visit the Governor’s House.

Munawwar Hasan demanded the government to take notice of statements by the US government and Pope Benedict XVI on granting pardon to Asia Bibi and the government must dispel ‘misunderstandings’ in this regard.

He also demanded expulsion of representative of the Vatican City from Pakistan. Senior Minister Raja Riaz Ahmed and PPP cabinet members from the Punjab, including Ashraf Khan Sohna, Farooq Yusuf Ghurki and JI leader Liaquat Baloch were also present.

Meanwhile, PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said that the party will participate in the January 30 rally as it does not use the blasphemy issue as a political tool like the PML-N and won’t let anyone change a word in the blasphemy laws.

According to a press statement on Thursday, he said the PML-Q was not afraid of fake cases being registered against its workers and leaders by the Punjab government. He said the PML-Q trusted the judiciary completely and had come out clean from all the politically-motivated cases.

He said the PML-Q would not refrain from taking any step to guard the sanctity of the blasphemy laws. He said the issue of blasphemy was close to the heart of not just the Pakistani people but the Muslim Ummah as a whole and the PML-Q understood the significance and sanctity of the blasphemy law.

URL: www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=28146&Cat=2

JUP threatens Sherry Rehman; to observe protest on 3rd

Wednesday, December 01, 2010 Zilhajj 24, 1431 A.H.

JUP threatens Sherry Rehman; to observe protest on 3rd

Wednesday, December 01, 2010
By Our Correspondent

Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan has announced to stage protest demonstrations across the country on December 3 against the bid to repeal blasphemy law and in this connection a forum - Tahfuz-e-Namoos-e-Risalt - headed by Sahibzada Abul Khair has been formed to monitor the situation with special reference to protecting the blasphemy law.

The announcement was made at an all parties conference (APC) held on Tuesday under the auspices of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan with Sahibzada Abul Khair in the chair. Others who attended the meeting included Syed Munawar Hasan, Ameer Jamat-e-Islami; Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, General Secretary JUI(F); Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, President Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahle Sunnat; Pir Mian Abdul Khaliq of Bhar Chowndi and PML leaders.

The APC resolved that any change in the blasphemy law would not be accepted and PPP MNA Sherry Rehman was particularly warned that if she tried to amend the laws the people of the country would besiege her.

The APC demanded of the government to avoid repealing blasphemy law and the punishment given under section 295-C should not be amended.

The meeting also demanded that PPP should explain its position on the private bills that were formulated by Ms Rehman and condemned Asma Jehangir and other NGOs for their campaign to amend the Islamic law “on the behest of the West”.

It also demanded for suspending all the powers of the President with regard to pardoning the punishment given under blasphemy law and condemned Governor Punjab Salman Taseer for extending “unnecessary” support to Asiya Bibi, saying, if she had any reservations she should appeal in court.

URL: www.thenews.com.pk/01-12-2010/karachi/18159.htm

Babar Awan says no one can change blasphemy law

	Friday, November 26, 2010, Zilhajj 19, 1431 A.H.
Babar Awan says no one can change blasphemy law

Friday, November 26, 2010
By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Babar Awan has categorically said that no one should think of repealing the blasphemy law. “In my presence as the Law Minister, no one should think of finishing this law,” he said while declaring himself to be a “Shaheen” (eagle). He was talking to a senior member of the Jang Group on Thursday.

The minister came out with these unequivocal remarks in the wake of the latest media debate over the blasphemy laws, which started once again by the recent award of a death sentence to a Christian woman on blasphemy charges.

The categorical stance by Minister Awan, arguably one of the closest aides of President Zardari and one with a role in many controversies, is in direct contradiction to that taken by Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, who while being critical of the same law is all out to secure the release of Aasia Masih, sentenced to death by a district and sessions court of Nankana Sahib in the Punjab. Taseer has already declared that the convict was innocent and according to observers his view is shared by many commentators who in a majority of cases may not even have gone through the details of the evidence and judgment.

While appreciating the comment that any effort to amend or repeal the blasphemy law would lead to chaos, the Babar Awan emphasised that in his presence as law minister no one would be allowed to change or repeal the law.

“In order to remove ambiguity pl (please) also write 2moro (tomorrow) that I told U (The Jang Group) (that) in my presence as Law Minister no one should think of finishing this law,” this is what the law minister precisely said in his written statement. On this, the law minister was asked if he should be quoted, he said, “Sure.” Babar Awan added that he was servant of servants of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

He said, “I’m khadim of khadmaan-e-Rasool.” He prayed that candle of ishq-e-Rasool (love for Prophet (PBUH)) is lit in every heart. The law minister, instead, said that all religious nobles must be respected in order to save world from crisis like the publication of caricature.

It is not clear if the law minister has the blessings of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is under pressure to pardon the convict Aasia Masih but it shows serious cracks within the ruling elite about its policy on the blasphemy law.

Babar Awan claims to be a religious scholar; he gives lectures on Islam but at the time faces serious accusation of corruption in the Harris Steel Mill case of Bank of Punjab scandal. Additionally, he continues to claim to be a PhD and uses the prefix of Dr with his name despite the fact that the Monticello University, which awarded him the fake degree, has already been declared unauthorized both by the American and Pakistani authorities to have been entitled to issue such a degree at any stage.

Babar Awan is also generally believed as the man responsible for the government’s confrontational mode with the judiciary. All controversies notwithstanding, on the issue of blasphemy laws he has opted to detach himself from all those who are demanding the repeal of these laws.

URL: www.thenews.com.pk/26-11-2010/Top-Story/2293.htm

Kalla Seeks Out Parties Irked by SBY’s VP Pick

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

May 14, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Amir Tejo

Kalla Seeks Out Parties Irked by SBY’s VP Pick

The Golkar Party is intensifying efforts to approach parties disgruntled by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s decision to pick Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono as his running mate in the July presidential election.

Agung Laksono, Golkar’s deputy chairman, said his party had opened communications with the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP), and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), all of whom have threatened to leave the coalition led by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party.

However, Agung admitted that communications between those parties have not entered a higher level. “We still don’t know whether they really want to join us or not. The approach is still on the level of political communication,” Agung said.

“As the first party to announce a presidential and vice presidential ticket, we’re hoping many parties join with us. The larger the better,” said Agung, who is also the House of Representatives’ speaker.

Golkar, who came second in the April legislative election with 14.45 percent of the vote, has nominated chairman Jusuf Kalla as its standard bearer in the presidential election, with Wiranto from the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) as his running mate.

Kalla and Wiranto were scheduled to register their candidacy with the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Wednesday, but they failed to show up.

Rully Chairul Azwar, Golkar‘s deputy secretary general, played down the no-show.

“The reason is just because Kalla wants the registration date to be on his birthday on May 15,” Rully claimed.

That date, Friday, is the last day for presidential and vice presidential candidates have to register with the KPU.

Kalla and Wiranto traveled to Surabaya, East Java, on Wednesday to open the Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama’s Social Emergency Response Agency and to visit several Islamic boarding schools.

During the visit, Muslim leaders pledged to support the pair and asked them to disband all deviant Muslim sects, including the heavily- threatened Ahmadiyah.

“We will fully support candidates who are committed to disbanding all deviant religious groups, including Ahmadiyah,” NU’s Hilmi Basaiban said.

Kalla responded by saying that the government and religious leaders should work hand in hand to deal with groups considered deviant. “Religious leaders have to deal with them first, and if those groups cannot be rectified, the government will deal with them,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Jakarta, senior Democrat Anas Urbaningrum said his party would not prevent the PKS from joining the Golkar-Hanura coalition.

He said Yudhoyono and his party had given explanations to its coalition friends over the reason why he picked up Budiono as a vice presidential candidate. “But if any of our coalition friends cannot understand and accept the explanations, we have no right to force them [to stick to the coalition with Yudhoyono and the Democrats],” Anas said.

“But we are also sure that our coalition friends have commitments to placing the national interest over personal or group interests,” he added.

Copyright 2009 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/article/19726.html

Ahmadiyah Ploy By Islamic Parties

Ahmadiyah Ploy By Islamic Parties
---Jakarta Globe

April 03, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati

Ahmadiyah Ploy By Islamic Parties

This week’s campaign sorties saw at least two Islamic parties try to boost their sagging popularity by calling for the government to outlaw Ahmadiyah, a controversial Islamic sect.

The Ahmadiyah, which has been in the country since 1920, has become a rallying point for Muslim hardliners since it was declared a deviant sect by the country’s highest authority on Islam, the Indonesian Council of Ulema, in 2008

Suryadharma Ali, the chairman of the United Development Party, or PPP, the country’s fourth largest party, addressing about 10,000 supporters at a party campaign rally here, called on the government to dissolve Ahmadiyah.

The call came as various l surveys showed that PPP’s popularity was on the wane and that Islamic political parties stood no chances against the secular nationalist ones in the April 9 legislative elections.

Another call for the dissolution of the group came from Yusril Ihza Mahendra, chairman of the supervisory council of the Crescent Star Party, or PBB, another party that had been singled out by surveys as facing a tough battle to win votes this year. Yusril, a former state secretary, told thousands of supporters during his party’s campaign rally in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra Province, that the president should disband Ahmadiyah and order it to form a new religion separate from Islam.

Komaruddin Hidayat, rector of the state-run Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said targeting Ahmadiyah as an enemy was not relevant to Indonesian voters at present.

“Campaigning for the elections is about offering ideas, not selling an issue to lure voters,” he said. Syamsuddin Haris, a political researcher for the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI, said the use of Ahmadiyah in the parties’ campaigns was “stupid” and “unsuitable.”

“It will not be productive in attracting voters,” he said.

Copyright 2009 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/article/15184.html

Indonesia: Islamic Party PPP Woos Hard-Liners

--- Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

National

March 29, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati

Islamic Party PPP Woos Hard-Liners

The United Development Party, or PPP, has resorted to calling on the government to dissolve the controversial Islamic sect Ahmadiyah in an effort to appeal to conservative Muslim voters ahead of the April 9 legislative elections.

PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali, who is a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet, asserted during a campaign rally on Sunday that the Ahmadiyah sect had violated Islamic teachings, state-run Antara news agency reported.

“Ahmadiyah must be dissolved because it has disrespected the feelings and honor of Muslims,” he told more than 10,000 party supporters in Jakarta.

Suryadharma said the growing number of cases of insults against religion, be it Islam or the other state-recognized religions, had occurred due to what he called “over-the-line democracy,” where freedoms had been taken too far after the end of the late President Suharto’s authoritarian New Order regime.

“It is fine to be free, but every freedom has its limit,” he said.

An Islamic party set up during the New Order era, PPP has seen its popularity suffer over the last decade. In elections in 1997, shortly before the end of Suharto’s rule, it gained 20 percent of the vote, while in 1999 it secured 11 percent, and in 2004, only 8 percent.

The Ahmadiyah community has become a target in recent years for hard-line Muslims, who consider it “heretical.” Attacks against Ahmadiyah escalated in mid-2008, culminating in the government issuing a joint ministerial decree banning its activities, in particular “spreading interpretations and activities that deviate from the principal teachings of Islam.”

There are approximately 200,000 followers of Ahmadiyah who believe the sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet of Islam — contradicting one of the fundamental doctrines of orthodox Islam.

Copyright 2009 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/national/article/14564.html