MUI Denies Ahmadiyah Attacks a Result of Its Fatwa

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MUI Denies Ahmadiyah Attacks a Result of Its Fatwa

Dessy Sagita & Camelia Pasandaran | February 21, 2011

Police officers inspecting the damaged house of an Ahmadi after it was attacked by a Muslim mob in Pandeglang, Banten, earlier this month. (AP Photo)

Two weeks after a deadly attack on Ahmadiyah followers in Banten, the Indonesian Council of Ulema has called on the government to investigate cases of religious violence.

The group, known as the MUI, also defended itself against critics who say its edict denouncing Ahmadiyah has contributed to the violence against the minority sect.

“There’s not one religion in this world that teaches violence,” Amidhan, chairman of the MUI, said on Sunday.

He said many people had misunderstood the council’s 2005 fatwa labeling Ahmadiyah a deviant Muslim sect and its followers as apostates.

“Indeed, point No. 1 of that edict calls for a ban on Ahmadiyah,” he said, “but point No. 3 clearly states that any violence against Ahmadiyah followers is strictly prohibited.”

He said the misinterpretation had damaged the MUI’s reputation, making it a target for critics who claim the organization has incited hatred and encouraged attacks on the sect.

“No belief, whether it is heretical or not, deserves to be treated violently, and we are fully aware of that fact,” he said. “Therefore, I don’t understand why the MUI is linked to these violent acts.”

On Friday, hard-line Muslim groups rallied in Jakarta to demand the government disband Ahmadiyah. The chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Habib Riziq, said that “Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia” and should be dismantled at all costs.

He warned of a revolution if the president failed to disband the sect, going as far as to call for the government to be toppled.

Amidhan dismissed such threats and said the Feb. 6 attack in Banten, which left three Ahmadis dead, and the government’s response, had led some groups to believe they were above the law. He urged the government to punish those responsible.

“The government and the police need to act fast to find the real culprits and provocateurs behind the incident . They must investigate both the attackers and the Ahmadiyah members who were at the scene,” he said, adding that the only way to properly resolve the issue was through the courts.

Meanwhile, in response to an outpouring of criticism over its slow response to a spate of attacks on minority groups, the government plans to revise the Law on Mass Organizations to make it easier to disband groups that advocate violence.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the revision would be part of this year’s national legislative program.

“The new law is expected to be more strict and shorten the time it takes to disband an organization,” he told the Jakarta Globe in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, on Saturday.

The law currently requires a lengthy process of collecting evidence of illegal behavior, followed by a freezing of the organization, before it can be disbanded.

Gamawan said the law made it difficult to disband organizations, even ones like the FPI that have openly called for revolution.

“We need evidence, because if we did it without evidence, the government would be accused of breaking the law,” he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Feb. 9, three days after the Banten attack, called for organizations that advocate violence to be shut down.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/mui...its-fatwa/423827

Government to Simplify Disbanding Mass Organizations

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Government to Simplify Disbanding Mass Organizations

Camelia Pasandaran | February 19, 2011

Little boy sells “Suara Islam” (“Islamic Voice”) tabloid during the FPI rally at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Friday. (Beritasatu Photo/Ulin Yusron)

Mamuju, West Sulawesi. In response to concerns over attacks on minority religious groups, the government is drafting a law that will make it easier to disband violent mass organizations, according to Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi.

“We’re revising the law, and this year it will be part of the national legislation program,” Gamawan told the Jakarta Globe on Saturday. “The new law is expected to be more strict and to shorten the time it takes to disband an organization.”

Under the current Mass Organization Law, there is a lengthy process required of collecting evidence of illegal behavior, followed by freezing the organization before disbanding it.

In increasingly harsh language, groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) have issued ultimatums to the government demanding the disbanding of the minority Ahmadiyah sect and a halt to the building of Christian churches in many areas. Critics have said the FPI and others incite their followers to violence.

On Friday, FPI chairman Habib Riziq sadi in his weekly sermon that “Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia.” He warned that unless the president forces Ahmadiyah out of existence there would be “revolution.”

Gamawan said that under the current law the government cannot not easily disband an organization, including ones like the FPI that plan to oust the president.

“It needs evidence, because if we did it without evidence, the government would be blamed for violating the law,” Gamawan said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently called for the disbanding of violent organization following the deadly Feb. 6 attack on Ahmadiyah in West Java and a mob attack two days later in Central Java that burned churches.

Gamawan said the new law would give the government more authority to disband violent organizations quickly.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/government.../423637

Blasphemy Law Review Demanded Amid Strife

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Blasphemy Law Review Demanded Amid Strife

Ulma Haryanto | February 19, 2011

The Constitutional Court should now consider the consequences of upholding the 1965 Blasphemy Law, a top human rights watchdog has said, arguing that it should go, based on the recent evidence of the law’s complete failure to protect social harmony.

The Human Rights Working Group pointed out that recent nationwide displays of religious intolerance in the form of attacks and demonstrations since the start of the year alone were enough to once again review whether or not the Blasphemy Law was actually serving its purpose of keeping peace among Indonesians.

Last year, the Constitutional Court rejected a motion to revise or annul the 1965 law, saying the request had “no legal basis.”

The ruling was made by the nine-member panel of judges with one dissenting opinion.

The demand for a judicial review was filed by several human rights organizations, who had argued that the state should not restrict people’s right to freedom of worship.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali had publicly opposed the petitioners at the time, and warned that the law was needed to “maintain social harmony and prevent an explosion of new religions.”

The law was used in 2008 to force followers of the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect to go underground and has regularly been cited by minority groups as a justification for discrimination and intimidation.

“We want to appeal to the consciences of the Constitutional Court judges, who at one time said in their ruling that the law was necessary to keep the peace,” HRWG deputy chairperson Choirul Anam told the Jakarta Globe. “Look what’s happened. Attacks on religious minorities have instead increased, and continue to rise.”

Under the Constitution, six religions are officially recognized and protected by the state — Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism. The 1965 Blasphemy Law makes it illegal to “publicize, recommend or organize public support” for unorthodox versions of those six religions or other faiths.

Almost a year after the court’s ruling, representatives from a number of human rights organizations on Friday invited the public to discuss the impact of the ruling and the future of Indonesia’s struggle to express religious freedom.

Speaking alongside Choirul were Islamic scholar Azyumardi Azra, Rumadi from the Wahid Institute, Mansyur Zaini from the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) and Zainal Abidin of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam).

“It’s difficult to have unbiased public officers serving the public for the nation’s interests, and not their own religious beliefs, Choirul said.

“Even the Constitutional Court judges could not remain impartial during the hearing. Some judges referred to Koranic verses and hadiths [words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad] at the time, which should not have been allowed since it was a discourse in the Constitutional Court, not [a recital of] religious scriptures,” Choirul said.

There have been a number of attacks against religious minorities in recent weeks. Most notably the killing of three Ahmadiyah followers in Banten, West Java, and attacks on churches in the Temanggung area of Central Java.

Azyumardi pointed to a recent dialog held between leaders of the Ahmadiyah community with House of Representatives VIII, which oversees religious affairs.

“I could see that a lot of political party members who claim to be secular turned out to be religiously biased,” Azyumardi said, adding that through those sessions alone he could see that not just major bodies like the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) had been infiltrated by hard-liners but also political parties.

Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation director Nurkholis Hidayat told of when he was attacked in March by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), following one of the Constitutional Court hearings.

“We were chased off. They asked us what our religion was. Even though I am a Muslim, they kept on shouting that we were infidels,” he said.

The gloomy outlook however, would not stop the organizations from advocating religious freedom at various levels, Choirul said.

“The next step will be to push the government and the legislative to draft a law on religious freedom, not religious harmony as has been discussed until now,” he said.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/blasphemy...strife/423571

Disband Ahmadiyah or Else, Hard-Liners Warn

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Disband Ahmadiyah or Else, Hard-Liners Warn

Elisabeth Oktofani, Ronna Nirmala & Rahmat | February 19, 2011

A protester shouts slogans as he holds a placard reading “Ban Ahmadiyah or Revolution” during a rally against the minority Muslim Ahmadiyah sect in Jakarta on Friday. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

More than 1,000 Islamic hard-liners gathered at an anti-Ahmadiyah rally in Jakarta on Friday, issuing fresh threats to topple the government if officials did not disband the minority Muslim sect.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which organized the rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, claimed Ahmadis wanted all other Muslims dead, “so they must be eliminated first.”

The protesters also called President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a banci , or transvestite, saying he was a coward for not dissolving the sect, which has been deemed deviant by mainstream Muslims for its divergent views on Islamic prophets.

Awid Mashuri, deputy secretary general of the FPI, demanded that the government “stand for us instead of for Ahmadiyah.”

“[The president] should act faster on this,” he said. “If he keeps silent, we’ll assume that he supports the existence of Ahmadiyah in Indonesia, and that’s a humiliation to Islam, so if it happens, we demand [he] resign.”

His call prompted the crowd to shout: “We want an Islamic revolution!”

In Makassar, FPI chairman Habib Riziq in his Friday sermon said he would exhaust all means to dismantle Ahmadiyah.

“In the name of Allah, I swear that until the last drop of my blood, whatever the risks, Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia,” he said.

In Jakarta, protesters marched to the office of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which they accused of “violating Islam” by calling for the protection of Ahmadis.

Misbakhul Hanan, an FPI member, said a much bigger rally would be held on March 1.

“All Muslims will join us, we’ll stay all night in front of the State Palace until [Yudhoyono] issues the order to disband Ahmadiyah,” he said. “That’s his deadline. If he misses it, the revolution that took place in Egypt will happen in Indonesia too.”

However, the government brushed off the threats, with Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi saying he had built a rapport with the FPI.

“I feel this brotherly bond with Habib and [FPI spokesman] Munarman,” he said. “I’ve been good acquaintances with Munarman since I was at the LBH [Legal Aid Foundation] with him.”

But Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party did not take the threats lightly, with lawmaker Ramadhan Pohan accusing the FPI of abusing freedom of speech.

He called on the police to respond to the threats seriously and said the FPI was damaging the authority of the state.

Additional reporting by Camelia Pasandaran & Markus Sihaloho

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/disband...warn/423579

FPI Vows to Disband Ahmadiyah ‘Whatever It Takes’

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FPI Vows to Disband Ahmadiyah ‘Whatever It Takes’

Rahmat & Markus Junianto Sihaloho | February 18, 2011

Makassar. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is threatening to disband Ahmadiyah, regardless of the risks, if the government does not take action against the Islamic sect.

Speaking in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Friday, FPI leader Habib Riziq said that Ahmadiyah was deviant and “must be disbanded.”

“On that basis, the government must know which one is freedom of religion and which one is desecration [of religion]. In the name of Allah, I swear that until the last drop of my blood, whatever the risks, Ahmadiyah must not exist in Indonesia,” Riziq said while giving a sermon before Friday prayers at the Al Markaz Al Islam mosque.

Riziq said he was not afraid of anyone who supported or defended Ahmadiyah, be it the police, the military, nongovernmental organizations, ministers or the government.

“We are not afraid of them,” he claimed.

Riziq said Ahmadiyah was a form of desecration of Islam and the government had to know the difference.

Ahmadiyah, he said, did not admit that Muhammad was the last prophet. That alone was enough reason to disband the sect and guide its followers to return to Islam, he said.

“If fake money is destroyed, if fake policemen are arrested, why shouldn’t we destroy fake religion?” he said, adding that Islam accepted plurality but not pluralism.

“Ahmadiyah copied Islam and changed its teachings. Don’t forget that no matter how similar, Ahmadiyah is not Islam just like apes and men are similar but do not push the similarities too far,” he said.

Lawmakers said the FPI’s actions were an outrageous abuse of the principle of freedom of expression.

Democratic Party Secretary General Ramadhan Pohan said the government recognized freedom of expression and political freedom as mandated by the Constitution.

“But the principle has been excessively used by FPI, which tends to abuse it,” he said.

He called for security agencies to defend the president, stressing they should not left the FPI injure the president’s dignity.

National Mandate Party (PAN) official Teguh Juwarno said the FPI’s claim that it would oust the president was unacceptable.

“It’s true that the president has many weaknesses, but ousting him is not a solution,” he said.

He said a culture of violence was flourishing because the government had failed to ensure fair enforcement of the law.

Most people believed the government only strictly enforced the law when it dealt with the weak and poor.

It had sparked beliefs in many people’s minds that they must seek there own justice together in numbers, Teguh said.

“That’s what happened with the FPI. So we need firmness from the government to stand up for law enforcement. So, the people know what can or cannot be donet, including with FPI and Ahmadiyah matters,” Teguh said.

Priyo Budi Santoso, a senior official from the Golkar Party, said any threat against the president breached the Constitution.

Such threats were a threat to democracy at the same time, he said.

“If we followed such threats, then the political cost and the social cost are too expensive for us. We don’t agree with it,” Priyo said.

But a senior official from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Andreas Pareira, said the government should not take the FPI’s threat seriously.

Rather than taking excessive actions against it, Andreas said it was better for the government to ensure security agencies carried out their responsibilities fairly and firmly.

“FPI is not that big to get so much attention. Just do the legal enforcement,” Andreas said.

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/fpi...takes/423477

FPI Threatens to Oust SBY if He Doesn’t Disband Ahmadiyah

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FPI Threatens to Oust SBY if He Doesn’t Disband Ahmadiyah

February 18, 2011

Hundreds of people from the Islamic Community Forum or FUI, rallying for the disbandment of Ahmadiyah sect at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in May 2009. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

About 500 people at an anti-Ahmadiyah rally led by the Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Friday demanded the government disband the controversial sect, or else they will attempt to oust the president.

FPI clerics at the rally called on Indonesian Muslims to join their ranks against the Ahmadis.

“Ahmadiyah teachings say that non-Ahmadis must be killed, so they must be eliminated first,” Mishabhul Anam from FPI told the crowd.

Another orator accused the Ahmadis of being the cause of riots. “Therefore, to stop the riots they must be disbanded,” he said.

Awid Mashuri, the deputy secretary general of FPI, said there was no other option but for the government to disband Ahmadiyah.

A man sells books titled ‘Mengapa Saya Keluar dari Ahmadiyah’ (‘Why I Left Ahmadiyah’) during FPI rally in Jakarta on Friday. (Beritasatu Photo/Ulin Yusron)

“There is no other choice,” he said. “Government officials, most of whom are Muslim, must stand for us instead of for the Ahmadiyah. There is already a joint ministerial decree on the Ahmadiyah, the president only needs to turn it into a presidential decree.”

The protesters called President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono “banci,” which literally translates to transvestite, saying he was a coward for not disbanding Ahmadiyah.

Therefore, Awid said if the government does not disband the sect right away, they will force the president to step down.

“Ahmadiyah is a Western representation in Indonesia, which is our enemy,” Awid said.

Little boy sells “Suara Islam” (“Islamic Voice”) tabloid during the FPI rally at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Friday. (Beritasatu Photo/Ulin Yusron)

He also accused the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) of “violating Islam” for protecting the Ahmadiyah.

The Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) leader, Muhammad Al Khaththat, said he demanded the government to take a number of actions.

“The first and foremost is SBY (Yudhoyono) must issue a decree to disband Ahmadiyah and arrest Abdul Basith, the leader of Ahmadiyah followers in Indonesia,” he said.

The rally was also seen as opportunity by some people to make money by selling books and tabloids related to Ahmadiyah.

A man was seen carrying a stack of books titled “Why I Left Ahmadiyah,” and it was sold for Rp 65,000 a piece.

A boy was also seen selling the “Suara Islam (“Islamic Voice”) tabloid, featuring FPI leader Habib Rizieq on the front page and the quote “Disband Ahmadiyah or SBY Steps Down.” The price of the tabloid is Rp 6,000 a piece but most people who bought it paid Rp 10,000.

“Keep the change, it’s my donation,” they said.

The rally is ongoing.

With reports from Beritasatu

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/fpi...ahmadiyah/423448

MUI Won’t Back Down on Ahmadiyah Fatwa

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MUI Won’t Back Down on Ahmadiyah Fatwa

February 18, 2011

The Indonesian Council of Ulema says it has no intention of backing down from its position outlined in a 2005 fatwa issued against the Ahmadiyah sect.

Ma’ruf Amin, head of the fatwa division at the council, or MUI, said on Thursday that the 2005 edict clearly identified the minority sect as a heretical one, adding that followers of the Ahmadiyah were apostates.

“Ahmadiyah exists outside the correct path of Islam. To all those who have followed this sect, we ask them to return to the right path, as laid out by the Koran and the Hadith [words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad],” Ma’ruf said.

“This sect has made many Muslims feel uneasy. The government must ban the sect and disband the organization,” Ma’ruf said, adding that the Ahmadiyah had previously been banned elsewhere following the 1985 Organization of the Islamic Conference in Jeddah.

Indonesian ministers and a string of lawmakers have insisted that the only way for the violence to end is for the Ahmadiyah to disband themselves.

The outgoing National Defense Agency (Lemhanas) governor, Muladi, said on Thursday that the existence of the Ahmadiyah here would cease to be a problem if followers of the sect declared their faith a new religion separate from Islam.

“They should form a new religion. One outside Islam,” Muladi said, shortly after the swearing-in ceremony of Budi Susilo Soepandji, his successor as the new governor of Lemhanas.

“Disbanding the Ahmadiyah would be a violation of human rights — unless the Ahmadiyah themselves had violated the joint decree [SKB] of three ministers [referring to the 2008 decree banning Ahmadiyah from spreading its faith], in which case the government could lawfully sanction the disbandment.

“But if not, Ahmadiyah should declare that it is not part of Islam, or be declared as being outside Islam,” Muladi added.

But Ahmadiyah leaders insisted on Wednesday night that the sect was a branch of Islam and would not declare itself a new and separate religion.

“Ahmadiyah is still part of Islam and cannot be separated from Islam because Ahmadiyah was born from Islam,” Ahmadiyah leader Ahmad Basij said in a hearing with House Commission VIII, which oversees religious affairs.

He said the sect recognized the core tenet of Islam: that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.

In the aftermath of a recent deadly attack on the Ahmadiyah in Banten province, Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said last week that the group should “leave Islam and declare a new religion” if its followers could not “repent, recognize their mistake and come back to mainstream Islam.”

Mainstream Muslim groups have accused Ahmadiyah members of heresy, saying that they profess their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be the final prophet of Islam — a tenet that runs directly against Islamic beliefs that reserve that claim for Muhammad.

The accusation is disputed by the Ahmadiyah community.

Syamsi Ali, a senior member of Ahmadiyah, said it was wrong to believe that the sect follow any holy book other than the Koran.

“Please understand that our holy book is the Koran, not the Tazkirah,” Syamsi said.

Ahmad Basij further denied claims that Ahmadis were socially insular and exclusive.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would not react to threats made by the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) against his administration, in response to the president’s call that violent groups be disbanded.

“We will monitor the activities of the existing mass organization. There is no direct response or comment [from the president],” Julian Aldrin said.

He said every organization was obliged to adhere to the 1985 Law on Mass Organizations, adding that legal action would be taken against any groups violating the law. Nurfika Osman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho

URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/mui...ahmadiyah-fatwa/423342

PAKISTAN: Blasphemy laws — Stopping the rot

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN: Blasphemy laws — Stopping the rot

FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ETC-040-2010
November 16, 2010

An article by Ms. Beena Sarwar published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: Blasphemy laws — Stopping the rot

Beena Sarwar

The introspection, debate and outrage generated a month ago by the attacks on two villages in Gojra on July 31 and Aug 1 may be out of public sight, as happened all too often in the past, but the nine people murdered and the homes and churches gutted are not out of mind. Neither is Najeeb Zafar, the young factory owner in Sheikhupura, Punjab, killed on August 4 for allegedly desecrating Quranic verses when he removed a calendar from a wall. The following day, police in Sanghar, Sindh, saved a similarly accused 60-year old woman, Akhtari Malkani by taking her in protective custody.

On the surface, these incidents were motivated by passions aroused by allegations of blasphemy or disrespect to the holy Quran. These criminal charges can be punishable by death – but this is a punishment for the state to administer, not private citizens. The real motivation remains settling scores, a pattern identified over twenty years ago when the first ‘blasphemy murder’ took place; that of the Punjabi poet and teacher Naiamat Ahmar in Faisalabad in 1992.

The pattern involves one party targeting another, alleging blasphemy while the real motives are personal enmity or economic rivalry as Zubeida Mustafa noted in a recent column. The accused tend to be poor people who have improved their lot in life, triggering jealousies. Accusations of blasphemy are used to justify the violence. Ms Mustafa also pointed to (mis) education as a factor that makes it easy, when such an allegation is levelled, to rabble-rouse a mob into violence.

The three recent cases bear out these observations. In Gojra, evidence points to a pre-meditated plan aimed at clearing out the village from the area, while the administration turned a deaf ear to the warnings and pleas of observers. A disgruntled employee accused Najeeb Zafar of disrespecting the Quran; the unarmed police sent to protect him could only watch as the mob set upon him. Akhtari Malkani had a monetary dispute with her accuser but disappeared without registering an FIR. She says she threw a book of accounts on the floor, not the holy Quran.

Last April, there was the horrific case of Jagdish Kumar, the young Hindu factory worker in Karachi, lynched by co-workers for alleged blasphemy. The real reason appears to have been personal enmity based on Kumar’s reported association with a Muslim girl.

Such cases have been taking place since the option of life imprisonment under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (“Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet”), the ‘blasphemy law’, introduced by Gen. Ziaul Haq in 1985 was amended by default in 1992 to make death the mandatory punishment for anyone convicted under this law. Certainly, the law does not provide for these extra-judicial murders. However, it is equally true no such murder took place until death was made the mandatory punishment for 295-C convictions.

People of all faiths, including Muslims (remember the Muslim religious scholar lynched in Gujranwala, 1994?), have been accused and attacked since then. Investigations into blasphemy accusations indicate pre-meditation rather than the heat of passion. Those who commit the violence may be arrested but none has ever been punished. Even the Inquiry Commission Tribunal headed by Justice Tanvir A. Khan of the Lahore High Court examining the destruction of Christian homes and churches in Shantinagar, 1997, was quashed (the Punjab Chief Minister then too was Shahbaz Sharif; will he rise to the occasion this time?).

The public defamation of blasphemy victims is a key tactic preceding such attacks – posters and mosque loudspeakers are routinely used for this.

Naimat Ahmar was killed after posters cropped up warning people that a Christian teacher (Ahmar) was leading their children astray. A handwritten copy in Urdu that I saw at the time warned Muslims that Ahmar was misleading students, telling them that the Prophet (pbuh) ‘stole’ goats – ‘bakriyaN charaya kartey thay’. Replace ‘churaya’ (stole) with ‘charaya’ (grazed) and it’s apparent what Ahmar probably said.

A youngster from the militant outfit Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba (later changed to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan) accosted Ahmar outside the Education Department in Faisalabad and knifed him to death. Investigations revealed that the murderer’s uncle wanted Ahmar’s job in the Education Department. The allegation of blasphemy alone was enough to ‘justify’ the murder. Policemen at the lockup housing the murderer, garlanded by his ASS (sic) mentors, embraced and kissed him. The ASS was, in fact, behind just about every ‘blasphemy case’ during the 1990s – the SSP, now banned, is believed to be behind the Gojra carnage as well.

Blasphemy accused are attacked and murdered even in prisons and police lock-ups, sometimes by the very people who are supposed to protect them. In 2004 a police constable attacked Samuel Masih, 27, a prisoner under trial at Kot Lakhpat jail with a brick-cutter. Samuel had been charged with spitting at the wall of a mosque (Section 295, “defiling a place of worship with the intent of insulting the religion of any class”, maximum sentence up to two years). He succumbed to his injuries the following day. “I wanted to earn a place in heaven by killing him,” Ali reportedly confessed.

The fanatical and misguided mindset cultivated over the past few decades will not disappear by simply repealing 295-C, although this must be done. Embarking on a sensible education policy is also a long-term step that must be taken to stop the rot. What must be an immediate priority is the strict enforcement of law and order.

Those inciting violence and murder from mosque loudspeakers and public accusations, true or false, must be held culpable, charged, tried and punished according to law. This also goes for those who desecrate a holy book or symbol of any religion. There must be accountability for those who allow these murders to take place. The political leadership is responsible for providing police with the training, means and the orders to prevent such violence. Finally, religion cannot be used or allowed to justify murder.

The views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC, and the AHRC takes no responsibility for them.

About the Author:
The writer is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker. Ms. Sarwar’s email address is beena.sarwar@gmail.com

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2937/

Fear and silence

FROM THE PAPER » EDITORIAL

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Fear and silence

   By Mohsin Hamid

   Sunday, 27 Jun, 2010

 .

Why are Ahmadis persecuted so ferociously in Pakistan? — (File Photo)

Why are Ahmadis persecuted so ferociously in Pakistan?

The reason can’t be that their large numbers pose some sort of ‘threat from within’. After all, Ahmadis are a relatively small minority in Pakistan. They make up somewhere between 0.25 per cent (according to the last census) and 2.5 per cent (according to the Economist) of our population.

Nor can the reason be that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. Pakistani Christians and Pakistani Hindus are non-Muslims, and similar in numbers to Pakistani Ahmadis. Yet Christians and Hindus, while undeniably discriminated against, face nothing like the vitriol directed towards Ahmadis in our country.

To understand what the persecution of Ahmadis achieves, we have to see how it works. Its first step is to say that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. And its second is to say that Ahmadis are not just non-Muslims, but apostates: non-Muslims who claim to be Muslims. These two steps are easy to take: any individual Pakistani citizen has the right to believe whatever they want about Ahmadis and their faith.

But the process goes further. Step three is to say that because Ahmadis are apostates, they should be victimised, or even killed. We are now beyond the realm of personal opinion. We are in the realm of group punishment and incitement to murder. Nor does it stop here. There is a fourth step. And step four is this: any Muslim who says Ahmadis should not be victimised or killed, should themselves be victimised or killed.

In other words, even if they are not themselves Ahmadi, any policeman, doctor, politician, or passerby who tries to prevent, or just publicly opposes, the killing of an Ahmadi, deserves to die. Why? Because anyone who defends an apostate is themselves an apostate.

Aha.

This is what the persecution of Ahmadis achieves. It allows any Muslim to be declared an apostate. For the logic can be continued endlessly. When an Ahmadi man is wounded in an attack and goes to a hospital for treatment, if the doctor agrees to treat him, she is helping an apostate, and therefore she becomes an apostate and subject to threats. When a policeman is deputed to protect the doctor, since she is an apostate, the policeman is helping an apostate, so he too becomes an apostate. And on and on.

The collective result of this is to silence and impose fear not just on the few per cent of Pakistanis who are Ahmadis, or even on those who are Christians and Hindus, but on all of us. The message is clear. Speaking out against the problem means you are the problem, so you had better be quiet.

Our coerced silence is the weapon that has been sharpened and brought to our throats.

This is why Nawaz Sharif’s statement in defence of Ahmadis met with such an angry response. Because the heart of the issue isn’t whether Ahmadis are non-Muslims or not. The heart of the issue is whether Muslims can be silenced by fear.

Because if we can be silenced when it comes to Ahmadis, then we can be silenced when it comes to Shias, we can be silenced when it comes to women, we can be silenced when it comes to dress, we can be silenced when it comes to entertainment, and we can even be silenced when it comes to sitting by ourselves, alone in a room, afraid to think what we think.

That is the point.

The writer is the author of the novels Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

©2010 DAWN Media Group. All rights reserved

URL: www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-cont...itorial/fear-and-silence-760

I never really cared for Ahmadis

Pakistan Opinion

I never really cared for Ahmadis

By Fasi Zaka
June 15, 2010

The writer is a columnist and TV and radio anchor (fasi.zaka@tribune.com.pk)

I have never really been vocal about rights for Ahmadis, even privately, but my compassion trigger is easily pulled if there are atrocities against Pakistani Hindus and Christians. Part of this can be ascribed to my belief in the prejudice that the Ahmadis are a relatively well-off community, making the Christians and Hindus of Pakistan uniquely guilty of a double crime, first for not being Muslims and second for being poor. These two communities seem especially vulnerable.

I have changed my mind. And it’s not because of the attack in Lahore that killed so many Ahmadis. The whole country, Muslim and non-Muslim, is under attack by the Taliban.

What really helped me see the inhuman treatment of the Ahmadis in Pakistan is the absence of condemnation for it. Nawaz Sharif in his condolence message said Ahmadis were our brothers; it’s been enough to get the Pakistani religious world on his case. While sympathy is not outlawed for Ahmadis, it may as well be.

Those of us with a passport have declared that “I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani to be an impostor prophet and an infidel and also consider his followers, whether belonging to the Lahori, Qadiani or Mirzai groups, to be non-Muslims.” Most of us do not believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani was a prophet, but do we have to rub it in? Imagine if the UK put in that sort of column for a prophet of another faith.

We have declared not just that we don’t believe in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, but added the connotation that he was an imposter. People who follow imposters must be crooks, right? Let’s stop the pretence that they are equal, or human.

But no, we are a peaceful people, right? Of course we are. I read a very poignant anecdote in columnist Mosharraf Zaidi’s article recently; he described how an old friend would never say salaam to him in return. His friend is an Ahmadi, he can go to jail for that. I cringe when I see Pakistanis stumbling over one another to felicitate a white westerner who chooses to say salaam when greeting us in our country. Why not put him in jail too? He could be an atheist, whereas at least the Ahmadis believe in the oneness of God.

But, you see it’s not about that. Ahmadis are a secretive people up to no good. They won’t even tell you they are Ahmadis. But who wouldn’t be secretive if they could go to jail for saying they are Muslim, or responding in kind to a salutation of salaam. Or for that matter having a Quran in their home, the same kind you and I have.

Sunnis don’t believe in the imam of the Shias. What about Barelvis and Bohris? Its time their special treatment ended. If anything we have been too moderate. We need to cut diplomatic relations with Indonesia because they refuse to declare Ahmadis non-Muslim as it may open a Pandora’s Box of declaring other groups the same. Why is the amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Munawar Hassan, silent on this? He could address this diplomatic issue, after all he did want to cut off diplomatic relations with many countries over the Facebook fiasco.

Pakistani Ahmadis aren’t allowed to go for Hajj, but Ahmadis from other countries are. Maybe we should cut off relations with Saudi Arabia too. Also, since we Muslims believe in equality, I would suggest all non-Muslim countries make it mandatory that we wear special collars to identify us as Muslim when we visit. Or is that going too far since we haven’t, obviously, in the case of the Ahmadis?

The truth is the bulk of this country doesn’t like Ahmadis. They are Pakistan’s Palestinians. Their humane treatment and acceptance will decide whether we are a people who can move forward in the future, or if we will become a fragmented warlord state divided on sectarian lines.

And yes, Ahmadis are worse off in Pakistan than Christians and Hindus. We want to forcibly convert Christians and Hindus. But Ahmadis shouldn’t exist. Period.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 15th, 2010

URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/21267/i-never-really-cared-for-ahmadis/

PAKISTAN: The year 2009 was worst for Ahmedis

---Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN: The year 2009 was worst for Ahmedis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FST-009-2010
February 3, 2010

A Statement from Ahmadiyya Jamaat forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: The year 2009 was worst for Ahmedis

The year 2009 was one of the worst for Ahmadis (a religious minority community) in Pakistan. Eleven Ahmadis were murdered for their faith. Since the promulgation of the anti-Ahmadiyya law in 1984, there has never been a year when less than 11 Ahmadis were killed. Apart from this, numerous attempts have been made on the lives of Ahmadis by their opponents who felt encouraged by the jaundiced attitude of the authorities against Ahmadis.

The federal government maintained its posture as if in continual denial of the human rights and freedom of religion of Ahmadis. The provincial governments, particularly in the Punjab and Azad Kashmir openly supported the Mullas (Muslim fundamentalist leaders) in their anti-Ahmadiyya campaign.

The government of the Punjab sponsored and held an ‘end of the prophet hood conference’ at the Badshahi Mosque in the provincial capital city of Lahore on April 11, 2009. At the occasion they even burnt an effigy of the holy founder of the Ahmadiyya community. Clerics, one after another, unrestrainedly proposed the denial of religious freedom to Ahmadis and indulged in slander and abuse. The conference was paid for with public funds. The federal Minister of Religious Affairs also addressed the conference.

On July 1, 2009 Mr Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of the Punjab province, presided over a meeting of high ranking clerics on the issue of terrorism. At the end of the conference a Declaration was issued and in its clause 2 the conference declared that “Anyone who is guilty, directly or indirectly, openly or by implication, of even minor insolence to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is an infidel (Kafir), apostate (Murtad) and must be put to death (Wajib-ul-Qatl).” They linked this statement in the text to the ‘end of prophethood’. The declaration was given wide publicity through an advertisement campaign in the vernacular press.

The Central Police Office of Azad Kashmir issued an office circular dated March 5, 2009 on the subject of Suppression of Ahmadiyyat. A prominent sectarian leader Mr. Pir Atiqur Rahman has been appointed Minister of Auqaf (Religious Trusts) of Azad Kashmir government.

In District Layyah of Punjab province, five Ahmadis including four school-going children were arrested on a fabricated charge of blasphemy. They suffered in prison for almost six months before they were released on bail.

Thirty two Ahmadis of Lathianwala, Punjab province, were accused of blasphemy in a single case on July 25, 2009 with FIR 486/09 at Police Station Khurarianwala, Punjab. The authorities took four months to drop the fabricated charge of blasphemy. A heavy police contingent raided their mosque and homes on August 10, 2009 and removed all religious and Arabic inscriptions on their walls. YouTube displayed the video of the outrage under title: Acts of Blasphemy by Pakistani Authorities.

Seventy-four Ahmadis were booked during the year under anti-Ahmadiyya and religious laws on spurious grounds. These laws carry penalties of death and long-term imprisonments. A woman school teacher, Ms Bushra Naheed was booked on March 5, 2009 under section PPC 295-A, which is section of law that deals with deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting the religion or religious beliefs. The charge is triable in an anti-terrorist court, and it is punishable by ten years imprisonment. The lady was only accused of speaking harshly to a woman worker.

Ahmadiyya mosques continued to be targeted throughout the year. One mosque in Kalaswala, Punjab, was destroyed by miscreants while another was attacked by a grenade in Sialkot. Freedom of worship was denied to Ahmadis at Chiniot and Tatle Aali by police officials. A police party used chisels, cement and paint to remove all Arabic inscriptions from the Ahmadiyya mosque in Lathianwala, Punjab.

At Pir Mahal, District Toba Tek Singh Mullas agitated, attacked and defiled an Ahmadiyya graveyard in June 2009. The local authorities, rather than taking action against the clerics, proceeded to cancel the allotment order of the graveyard land to Ahmadis.

A Summary of the Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan
From January 1 — December 31, 2009

Ahmadis murdered for their faith

1. Mr. Saeed Ahmad was killed in Kotri on Jan 19, 09.
2. Mr. Mubashir Ahmad was shot dead on Feb 20, 09 in Karachi.
3. Mr. Shiraz Bajwa and his wife Noreen Bajwa both doctors were brutally murdered on Mar 14, 09 in Multan.
4. Mian Laiq Ahmad was killed in Faisalabad on May 29, 09.
5. Two Ahmadis, Mr. Khalid Rasheed and Mr. Zafar Iqbal were shot dead on Jun 24, 09 in Quetta.
6. Rana Ata-ul-Karim was murdered on Jul 06, 09 in Multan.
7. Mr. M. Ahmad Farooqi was shot dead on Sep 26, 09 in Uch Sharif,Bahawalpur.
8. Zulfiquar Mansur was murdered brutally on Sep 11, 09. He had been abducted a month earlier.
9. Rana Saleem Ahmad, the Deputy Amir of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Sanghar was shot dead on Nov 26, 09.

Ahmadis behind bars

1. Mr. Muhammad Iqbal was imprisoned for life in a fabricated case of blasphemy. He was arrested in March 2004, and is currently incarcerated in the Central Jail, Faisalabad. An appeal has been filed with the Lahore High Court against the decision of the Sessions Court. It is registered as Criminal Appeal No. 89/2005. He is now in the sixth year of his imprisonment.
2. Three Ahmadis; Mr. Basharat, Mr. Nasir Ahmad and Mr. Muhammad Idrees along with seven others of Chak Sikandar, Punjab province, were arrested in September 2003 on a false charge of murdering a cleric. The police, after due investigation found no evidence against the accused. Yet they faced a ‘complaint trial’ for a crime they did not commit. They are being held on death row at a prison in Jehlum, while their appeal lies with the Lahore High Court. They are now in the seventh year of their incarceration. Their appeal to the Lahore High Court is registered as Criminal Appeal No. 616/2005 dated 26 April 2005.
3. Dr. Muhammad Asghar was arrested on a fabricated charge of blasphemy in June 2008. The judge rejected his plea for bail. The police investigation found him innocent. Subsequently his plea for bail was rejected by the High Court — and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has directed his expeditious trial which is now in progress. It is learnt that his plea for bail has now been accepted by the Supreme Court, but he was still in prison on December 31.

Ahmadis who were made to face charges

1. Thirty-seven Ahmadis were wrongfully booked under the dreaded blasphemy laws.
2. Fifty-seven Ahmadis were charged under Ahmadi-specific laws.
3. Ms. Bushra Naheed, an Ahmadi school teacher was falsely charged under PPC 295-A, triable in Anti-terrorism court. She is accused only of speaking harshly to a woman worker.
4. An Ahmadiyya mosque was desecrated in Lathianwala; Kalima (Islamic Creed) and Islamic terminology written on the walls of the mosque as well as Ahmadis’ houses was covered with cement and paint by the police. A case was registered against 32 Ahmadis under 295-A, 295-C and 298-C, etc.

Murder Attempts

1. A murder attempt was made on Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Abid, an Ahmadi religious teacher on February 25, 2009 at Vehari.
2. An Ahmadi college lecturer, Mr. Mubashir Ahmad Tahir escaped death from murderers in Chakwal. He received serious injuries when they tried to behead him.
3. An Ahmadi lawyer Mr. Riasat Ali Bajwa was attacked on May 4, 2009.
4. Another Ahmadi Mr. Javed Ahmad escaped a murder attempt on August 12, 2009 in Kunri.
5. Mr. Luqman Ahmad Gondal s/o Mr. Nasir Ahmad Gondal (president of the local Ahmadiyya community) closely escaped an attempt on his life on September 12, 2009.
6. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz, 20-years old son of a former president of the district Ahmadiyya community became the target of an attack on his life on February 7, 2009.
7. Dr Pervaiz Zareef of Bhati Gate, Lahore closely escaped an attempt on his life on November 25, 2009.

Abduction of Ahmadis

1. Qamar Ahmad, an Ahmadi was abducted by two men in the vicinity of his home at about 21:30 on March 16, 2009. He was left unconscious on roadside.
2. Mr. Bashir Ahmad Advocate, President of the local Ahmadiyya community, Achini Payan, near Peshawar was abducted on April 1, 2009. He has not been recovered yet.
3. Mr. Rashid Karim, a well-known Ahmadi in Faisalabad, was abducted on May 9, 2009. He was released 5 months later after payment of heavy ransom.
4. Mr. Zulfiquar Mansur was abducted at Quetta in September 2009. A month later his dead body was recovered from roadside in city’s suburbs.

Miscellaneous

1. Four school-going children of 9th and 10th grade were falsely charged under PPC 295-C in Layyah; they remained incarcerated for about 6 months.
2. An Ahmadiyya mosque was attacked with a grenade in Sialkot.
3. A gang of religious extremists, comprising approximately 50 men attacked an Ahmadiyya mosque in the village of Kalaswala on October 27 and destroyed it.
4. All Ahmadi teachers were fired from Qurban High School in Lahore under the pressure of mullas.
5. Four rockets were launched against an Ahmadi-owned industrial plant in Feb 09.
6. Anti-Ahmadiyya Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Conference was held in the Royal Mosque, Lahore under the auspices of the provincial government in April 2009.
7. An Ahmadiyya graveyard was attacked and desecrated by rioters in Pir Mahal, Toba Tek Singh in June 09. Thereafter the authorities cancelled the land allotment order issued by them to Ahmadis 20 years ago.
8. Two Ahmadis were assaulted for their faith on August 7, 2009 in Nankana.
9. A Khatme Nabuwwat Conference was held in Rabwah by rabid mullas on 15, 16 October 2009. It is worth noting that Ahmadis, who are 95% of the Rabwah population, are not allowed to hold their gatherings and sports competitions in this town, while the authorities allow the fundamentalists to hold conferences in Rabwah, in which they use highly provocative language against Ahmadi residents of Rabwah.
10. SHO Police Station Chiniot City, ordered Ahmadis of Kot Muhammad Yar to stop their weekly Friday worship.
11. Ahmadis of Tatle Aali, District Gujranwala were forbidden by the local police to congregate for prayers.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/2397/