Ahmadis Receive Promise of Protection From Central Sulawesi Police

NEWS

Ahmadis Receive Promise of Protection From Central Sulawesi Police

February 21, 2011

Palu. Central Sulawesi Police on Monday pledged to monitor the conditions of Ahmadiyah followers in the province and protect them from violence.

“We’re keeping a close eye on the Ahmadis and we are asking the people [of Central Sulawesi] not to resort to anarchy,” Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana said after a meeting with the local Ahmadiyah officials, representatives of Islamic organizations and government officials in Palu.

Dewa promised to protect Ahmadi followers from the threats of violence.

“All citizens have the right to be protected,” he said.

There are around 100 Ahmadi followers in Central Sulawesi, according to Ahmad Nadjamuddin, a representative of Palu’s Ahmadiyah community.

“We can only pray for the safety of our brothers,” Nadjamuddin said.

Over in Cianjur, West Java, however, the local chapter of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) reiterated that the only way for attacks against the minority sect’s followers to stop was for them to leave Islam and declare a new religion.

“Ahmadiyah is deviant and deviating,” said the head of Cianjur’s MUI office, Abdul Halim. “If they keep insisting to be a part of Islam, conflicts will keep on happening. Why aren’t they brave enough to stand up for what they believe in and declare themselves a religion outside of Islam?” he said.

MUI has a 2005 fatwa labeling Ahmadiyah a deviant Muslim sect and its followers as apostates.

On Sunday, MUI defended itself against critics who say the fatwa 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.

Antara, JG

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

Serious problems in Pak on religious freedom: US

November 18, 2010

Serious problems in Pak on religious freedom: US

Updated on Thursday, November 18, 2010, 10:04

Washington: Noting that serious problems remain in Pakistan with regard to religious freedom, the Obama administration has expressed its concern over the existence of laws that are “discriminatory” against religious minorities.

“There have been attacks against Christians, against the Ahmadis. There’s still discriminatory laws on the books, blasphemy laws, anti-Ahmadi laws.”

“We’re raising these issues with the government of Pakistan,” Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Michael Posner, said.

Posner was responding to questions after the release of the annual State Department Report on Global Religious Freedom by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“The (Pak) government is taking steps. It’s a very tense situation now, and there are tensions within the society. So it’s a mixed picture, honestly.”

“We give the government credit for steps it has taken, but also recognise that more needs to be done. And it’s part of our diplomacy with them,” Posner said in response to a question.

One of the things this report does is identify, in Pakistan and elsewhere, government actions that contribute to the problem, he said.

The annual State Department Report said despite the government’s steps to protect religious minorities, the number and severity of reported high-profile cases against minorities increased during the reporting period.

“Organised violence against minorities increased; for example, there was violence against Christians in Gojra, Punjab, and a terrorist attack on Ahmadis in Lahore, Punjab.”

“There were instances in which law enforcement personnel abused religious minorities in custody,” it said.

Security forces and other government agencies did not adequately prevent or address societal abuse against minorities.

Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure or delay in addressing religious hostility by societal actors fostered religious intolerance, acts of violence, and intimidation against religious minorities, it said.

“Specific laws that discriminated against religious minorities included the anti-Ahmadi provisions of the penal code and the blasphemy laws which provided the death penalty for defiling Islam or its prophets,” said the report.

The Ahmadiyya community continued to face governmental and societal discrimination and legal bars to the practice of its religious beliefs. Members of other Islamic sects, Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus also reported governmental and societal discrimination, it said.

Noting that relations between religious communities remained tense, the State Department Report said societal discrimination against religious minorities was widespread, and societal violence against such groups occurred.

Non-governmental actors, including terrorist and extremist groups and individuals, targeted religious congregations, it said, adding that a domestic insurgency led by religious militants increased acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities and exacerbated existing sectarian tensions.

“Extremists target violence against Muslims advocating for tolerance and pluralism, including followers of Sufism,” the report said.

During the reporting period, US embassy officials closely monitored the treatment of religious minorities, worked to eliminate the teaching of religious intolerance, and encouraged the amendment or repeal of the blasphemy laws, it added.

PTI

URL www.zeenews.com/news668802.html

Opinion: How can Pakistan turn over a new leaf?

Opinion Home / Worldview

Opinion: How can Pakistan turn over a new leaf?

The only chance to cleanse the state is to return to a secular identity.

By Sonya Fatah — Special to GlobalPost
Published: July 18, 2010 10:35 ET in Worldview

Pigeons fly over the Wazir Khan Mosque in the walled city of Old Lahore on July 9, 2010 in Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

NEW DELHI, India — It isn’t a topic that’s making headlines in Pakistan. But it’s a debate that’s been raised countless times since the country’s birth in August 1947: Should Pakistan be secular?

Dogged by internal crises, the rise of a growing intolerant extremist segment and a deliberately apathetic state and military response, Pakistan’s future seems bleak.

Imagine a reinvention. Get rid of the “Islamic” part of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Shred all copies and records of the 1973 constitution and repeal a series of self-serving amendments to the constitution as well as bigoted anti-minority and anti-women laws. What you may be left with is the skeleton for a secular democracy.

A spate of recent terror attacks suggests this might be Pakistan’s only way of battling its inner demons. On May 28, armed militants attacked two mosques of the Ahmadiya community in Lahore. Ninety-seven people died and dozens were wounded.

Then on July 1 there were twin suicide attacks on Data Darbar also in Lahore, one of the largest and most visited Sufi shrines in Pakistan. The attack on the shrine was extraordinarily bold because it was an attack on Pakistan’s majority of Sunni barelvi believers. Some 43 people died.

In Faisalabad, on July 2, two Christian brothers were arrested for violating the Blasphemy Law. They’ve been accused of writing a pamphlet with derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad. [Both of them were killed on 19th by an unknown gunmen in fron of City Court, while in Police custody.] In Waris Pura, a locality of some 100,000 Christians, Muslim mobs have been threatening to burn homes and kill Christians if both brothers are not executed.

The simple fact is that the state has, especially over the last 40 years, allowed for the persecution of its minorities. It has rewarded its majority to discriminate against them.

Sound harsh? A little exaggerated? Here are the facts.

Lets start with the Ahmadiyas. In 1974, under the supposedly liberal leadership of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, parliament passed a law declaring Ahmadiyas non-Muslims. This was a reward to the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Pakistan for spreading virulent anti-Ahmadiya hate speech and demanding their removal from the esteemed list of Pakistan-approved Muslim identities.

As if that wasn’t enough, Pakistan’s favorite general, General Zia ul Haq — whose arched eyebrows would have given Jack Nicholson some sleepless nights — presided over Ordinance XX in 1984. The ordinance spelt out the following: Ahmadiyas were not allowed to call themselves Muslims, to pray in regular mosques, to read out Quranic verses, or to “pose as Muslims.”

Move now to Faisalabad where street protests against two Christian brothers are mounting. No one has witnessed the brothers writing the pamphlet. As members of a tiny minority they’re unlikely to have wanted to defile anything Muslim in public or in private.

But the problem for Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel is something called the Blasphemy Law. Another gift of Zia ul Haq, the 1986 law carries the penalty of death for anyone who desecrates the Quran or defiles the name of Prophet Muhammad.

Many dubious claims invoking blasphemy have been made against innocent Muslims, Hindus and Christians alike since the law was first passed. Surrounded by a volatile public whose religious sensitivity is beyond reason, the accused often gets his or her death sentence before the matter even reaches the court.

Pakistan has always struggled to define itself. In the absence of a concrete identity, Islam has been used and manipulated for political ends. In 1958 the official tag of “Islamic” Republic was added to its name.

Pakistan’s founder, the barrister Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had no such plan for Pakistan. On Aug. 11, 1947, when addressing the first constituent assembly, he told Pakistanis, “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State.

“You will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.”

That was not Jinnah’s singular speech on secularism.

Sadly, he died in 1948 and what has happened since then is a sad and dangerous tale.

As the 2010 report of the United States commission on International Religious Freedom puts it: “Religiously discriminatory legislation has fostered an atmosphere of intolerance” in Pakistan.

Over the years Pakistanis have watched as minority groups and women have been targeted. Yet with the exception of a few activist groups and human rights organizations, the majority of Pakistanis have maintained a condemnable silence.

The difference was palpable in national reactions to the two, separate attacks on religious communities in Lahore.

“This act of violence was unanimously — politicos, religiosos and all — vociferously ‘condemned’ and the country saw many protests, demos and city shut-downs,” Amina Gilani wrote, referring to the attacks on Data Darbar, in The Tribune, one of Pakistan’s English-language dailies. “A somewhat different reaction to the event of May 28 … The reaction of the majority — politicos, religiosos and all — was comparatively rather muted. It raised no suggestions for a national get-together.”

How does Pakistan turn over a new leaf? Pakistan’s only salvation to cleanse the state and its mindset is to return to a secular identity.

“[We] will need a revolution of the national mindset and a whole new constitution,” said Ardeshir Cowasjee, a longtime writer and editorialist. “[We] will also need a whole and entire new brand of politicians, or leaders of whatever type. We need to do away with ‘Islamic’ and with the Objectives Resolution before we can even begin to make progress — plus ditch quickly the Hadood Ordinances and the blasphemy laws and all Islamic provisions, which govern this country. So it has to be secularism all the way.”

That’s a lot of work for any country, more so for one in crisis.

Still there are forces moving in that direction. On Christmas Day last year, Haji Adeel, a major political leader of the Awami National Party and a Pakistani senator, advocated a return to secularism. Adeel found himself the target of a host of critics including the Islamic right. But he also found supporters, and set off debate in various circles about the idea.

Now that Saudi-style and Saudi-funded Wahhabi Islam has reached the popular shrine of Data Ganj Baksh, perhaps more Pakistanis will see that the anti-American, anti-Israeli and anti-colonialist body that defines itself as the Taliban, is also anti-them.

Still, even if secularism is Pakistan’s yellow brick road to saving itself, it’s going to take a lot more than changing the constitution and axing a few laws. This is a battle for changing mindsets, and Pakistanis are in it for the long haul.

URL: www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/100714/lahore-pakistan-religion-islam

Six terrorists in Ahmedi worship places’ attacks arrested: CCPO

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Six terrorists in Ahmedi worship places’ attacks arrested: CCPO

LAHORE: The Lahore Police on Monday claimed to have arrested six terrorists involved in the attacks on the worship places of Ahmedis and recovered large quantities of explosives and weapons from their possession.

Addressing a press conference, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore Muhammad Aslam Tareen said that the terrorists identified as Haroon Saeed, Rizwan, Umair, Umer, Javed Alam and Abbas were also involved in different terrorist activities, including the attacks at the Jinnah Hospital and Moon Market. He said that police had recovered 18,000 kgs of explosive material, six kalashnikovs, 21 grenades and 600 bullets, adding that terrorists Haroon Saeed and Rizwan had also been involved in insurgency activities in Afghanistan, while Umair and Umer were acting as facilitators and Javed Alam and Abbas were the owners of the houses where these terrorists were living. APP

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\06\story_6-7-2010_pg13_2

Inquiry into attacks on Ahmedis pulls off vanishing act

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Inquiry into attacks on Ahmedis pulls off vanishing act

*	CM had entrusted committee with determining factors that contributed to attacks
*	Ahmedi leader says compensation for victims was never given

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: The inquiry that was ordered by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to identify the security loopholes and the reasons behind the terrorist attacks on the worship places of Ahmedis has become long overdue and does not seem to be coming out of the works anytime soon.

According to the CM’s orders, the inquiry report was supposed to be filed within five days of the attacks, which left around 90 people dead and around 200 injured after terrorists stormed Ahmedi worship places at Model Town and Garhi Shahu on May 28. Rights activists and civil society members have accused the Punjab government for adopting a “neglectful and discriminatory behavior” towards the victims of the attacks.

The CM had set up a high-level inquiry committee, headed by Punjab Health Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad and consisting of the provincial home secretary and inspector general of police.

The committee was given the task of discovering the factors that had contributed to the attacks. The issue has been put aside by the bureaucracy, as the inquiry report, which was due to be submitted before the CM by June 3, never surfaced and there is no government account on whether the negligence of government officials contributed to the loss of so many innocent lives.

A senior Ahmedi leader, requesting anonymity, told Daily Times that the community members were afraid and had felt exposed to danger a few days before the attack took place, adding that the minority group had made several requests to the government to provide them with Elite Force personnel to tackle any terror attacks, “but the government never listened to any of our demands and only provided a few guards who had no capacity to stand against such an attack”.

“But the thing that has further scared and confused the Ahmedis in the country is the fact that the government changed the station house officers of both the areas’ police stations a few days before the incident. Not only that, a magistrate visited the areas and removed all Ahmedi volunteers with weapons,” he said.

Missing compensation: He said that the compensation announced by the Punjab government was never given to those who had lost their loved ones and those who were severely injured in the attack. Munawar Ali, the spokesman for the minority group, told Daily Times that there were a number of discriminatory acts conducted by the Punjab government against the community, “which further increases the gravity of the tragedy”. He said that the terrorist had managed to kill so many people because of loopholes in security, “but the government downplayed the incident from the start”. He said the minority group was only allowed to depute a few volunteers inside the worship place, but they were not allowed to carry any firearms. None of the Punjab government officers, including government spokesman Pervaiz Rasheed and Senior Adviser to the CM Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, commented on the issue. However, Fawad Hassan Fawad told Daily Times that he apologised for the inquiry not having been completed, adding that he could not complete it since he was busy with his own department’s issues. He said the inquiry should have been assigned to some other officer, “who would have worked on it”.

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\07\06\story_6-7-2010_pg13_4

Since the Second Amendment

Since the Second Amendment    July 2010

By: Husain Naqi

The massacres at two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore is the result of anti-Ahmadi sentiment fanned by religious extremists and allowed by a compromised state and the silent support of political parties.

The 28 May mayhem at two Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore brought into sharp focus the agenda of extremist Islamic groups against Pakistan’s religious minorities. It also exposed the political opportunism of the government, especially in Punjab province. The civil administration’s complacency, despite being tipped off about the entry of extremists aligned with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) into the province, also lays bare its failure to deal sternly with easily identifiable perpetrators and their patrons amongst banned sectarian outfits. In late May, this complacency resulted in the loss of 94 lives and over a hundred injured.

Unfortunately, the twin attacks targeting this religious minority were not unexpected, but merely constitute the latest in a century of Ahmadi discrimination by mainstream Muslims. Ahmadis were declared to be ‘non-Muslim’ through a constitutional amendment in 1974, under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – despite the fact that, at that time, Bhutto’s left-of-centre Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) enjoyed a two-thirds majority in the national legislature. Ahmadis continue to be derogatorily called Qadianis, after the name of the village in Gurdaspur District, in Punjab state, where the sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, lived and established his creed’s headquarters in 1901.

The differences between Ahmadis and other Muslims lie in three main areas: prophethood, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and jihad. The main difference is with regard to the common Muslim belief that the Prophet Muhammad was the last among 124,000 prophets, that there would be no prophet after him, and that anyone claiming otherwise was an apostate whose punishment is death. Ahmadis, on the other hand, believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was the promised messiah. Interestingly, Ahmad had once even described himself as Maseel-i-Krishna (in the likeness of Krishna). While Ahmadiyya communities can today be found in India, Bangladesh and Indonesia (as well as in Europe), the largest, of three million, is in Pakistan, which also has the distinction of being the first country to have officially declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslim.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad began to be targeted and branded as an apostate by the Ahraris, an ultra-orthodox segment of Deobandi/Wahhabi Islam. The history of the Ahrari community too is important in understanding the matter of Ahmadiyya persecution. Initially, the Ahraris’ political views were nationalistic, and they briefly joined the Congress party; even after they separated, they remained close to the Congress. They were bitter opponents of the Pakistani establishment, even referring to the new country as palidistan (dirty place), and were also vociferous critics of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

In contrast, the Ahmadis supported the creation of Pakistan and respected Jinnah. At his request, the head of the community at the time, Mirza Bashir-ud-din Mahmood, the son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, directed all Ahmadis to vote for the Muslim League in the crucial 1946 elections, even declaring that anyone who did not vote for the Muslim League candidate would be considered an outcast. Jinnah reciprocated this gesture when the Muslim League included Zafarullah Khan, a member of a leading Ahmadi family, as Pakistan’s first foreign minister.

At the same time, one of the leading scholars at the Deoband seminary, Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, a virulent critic of the Ahmadis, was also included in the central body of the All Indian Muslim League. It is important to note that Jinnah did not feel that Sharia law should be made supreme in Pakistan, nor even that Islam should be declared the state religion, despite what subsequently took place. Yet after Jinnah’s death, Maulana Usmani and other non-secular elements in the Muslim League hierarchy became dramatically stronger, eventually succeeding in getting the so-called Objectives Resolution (which was eventually made a substantive part of the Constitution by General Zia ul-Haq) passed by the Constituent Assembly, elected in 1946. This formally ensured that the new Constitution would not be based on secular policy lines, as spelled out by Jinnah, but rather stipulated that the country would essentially adopt an Islamic state structure.

For his part, Maulana Usmani assumed the title of Pakistan’s Sheikh-ul-Islam, the supreme Islamic divine. He also needs to be identified as perhaps the earliest exponent of Islamist extremism in Pakistan, as he, along with Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, the owner-editor of the sectarian Urdu daily Zamindar, formed a militant organisation, Sarfaroshan-e-Islam. Throughout this period, Usmani lent considerable support to the anti-Ahmadi lobby, the Ahraris.

Ahrari’s punching bag
After remaining relatively quiet for a time on the establishment of Pakistan, the Ahraris decided to strongly take up an anti-Ahmadi campaign, despite their claims to have given up on their anti-Pakistan views and pledging support for the Muslim League. Doing so also allowed the Ahraris to be taken off the Muslim League’s list of nationalist groups that had opposed Partition (these included Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s Khudai Khidmatgar and more than a dozen others). Yet the Ahraris (and other like-minded parties) stepped up their denunciations of Ahmadiyyat and of Ahmad himself, and called for the removal of Foreign Minister Zafarullah Khan and other senior civil and military officers from the Ahmadi community. In this, they were led by three individuals in particular – Maulana Mazhar Ali Azhar, Master Taj Din and Ataullah Shah Bukhari. In the meantime, with the support of the Punjab government, the Ahraris were able to gain a strong political foothold in Punjab province.

Historically, it was actually the Afghan government that first officially considered the Ahmadi community as heretical, with its adherents even given death penalties. The first to fall victim in Kabul, during the reign of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan in the 1920s, was an Ahmadi by the name of Abdur Raahman Khan, who was staked to the ground and stoned to death. Many more such deaths followed, the earliest defence of which came in a pamphlet written by Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani himself. Some 20 years later, this pamphlet was reprinted and distributed in large numbers in Pakistan, especially in the Punjab, despite Jinnah’s fervent attempts at instituting secularism.

In the first decade after Pakistan’s creation, the role of Punjab province as a bastion of political power and bureaucratic control was already well understood by Islamist extremists – the same ones who had identified Ahmadis as a convenient punching bag. Identifying Ahmadis as people who undermined the Prophet’s exalted position as khatam-un-nabiyyeen (the last of the prophets) was sure to give political dividends. This also provided the Ahraris – with their anti-Pakistan, anti-Jinnah background – a convenient way to legitimise themselves in a hostile environment. Having been laundered of their anti-Pakistan past, groups such as the Ahraris were brought into the political mainstream thanks to the feudal leadership of the Punjab Muslim League and the province’s bureaucratic apparatus. It was no wonder that, by May 1948, the first conference of All Pakistan Majlis-e-Ahrar was held in Punjab at Lyallpur (now renamed Faisalabad, after the late Saudi monarch). In the following year, the group held several conferences targeting Ahmadis, particularly demanding that they be declared non-Muslim. Jinnah was still alive but in bad health when the murder of an Ahmadi army doctor, one Major Mahmood, took place.

The anti-Ahmadi campaign succeeded in fanning public hatred against the community, particularly among clerics but also among Punjab’s Shia community. Verbal abuse developed into widespread violence, and there were more murders of Ahmadis and burning of their places of worship. In July 1952, the Ahrari leadership began to spearhead a series of high-level national umbrella meetings of Muslim parties, which sharpened the anti-Ahmadi campaign by passing a resolution to resort to direct action to require the fulfilment of their demands on the Ahmadis, and to form a central committee to that effect. An ultimatum was eventually given to Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin in January 1953, calling on the government to accept the demands within a month. After heated meetings, the government rejected the ultimatum on 27 February, leading to the arrest of the action committee and the beginning of public agitation. In Punjab province alone, some 50,000 volunteers pledged to sacrifice their lives to ‘defend the honour’ of the Prophet Muhammad, while massive donations were collected. Eventually, the military had to be called into various parts of Punjab to restore order, at which point martial law was enforced and some of the top leaders of the anti-Ahmadi actions were sentenced to death (though these were never carried out). That was far from an end to the issue, however.

Wajibul qatl
Two decades after Prime Minister Nazimuddin’s rejection of the anti-Ahmadi lobby’s ultimatum, in 1974 Prime Minister Bhutto surrendered to the Islamists, agreeing to the passage of the Second Constitutional Amendment that officially declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. The military ruler who followed, Gen Zia ul-Haq, went even farther, introducing a new blasphemy law prohibiting Ahmadis from using Islamic symbols, from calling their places of prayer ‘mosques’, and using the Islamic greeting of as-salaamu alaikum, etc. Gen Zia also amended the Constitution to make the provisions of the Objectives Resolution a substantive part of the Constitution.

While Pakistani civil society has since urged multiple amendments to annul the discriminatory laws and constitutional provisions, the legislators have been lethargic. It is not realistic to expect that the majority of the political parties in the Parliament would take such a step even today. With a political culture ascendant, especially in Punjab where any negative event is quickly branded a conspiracy of yahud-o-hunood (Jews and Hindus) who are not available as targets in the Punjab – the Ahmadis make a convenient target for the politics of hate, before which all the political parties are cowed down.

The vernacular press and Urdu television channels also inflame anti-Ahmadi sentiment. In the months and weeks leading up to the Lahore attacks, a programme on Geo TV, the country’s most popular channel, aired a number of clerics vociferously dubbing Ahmadis as apostates – and reminding viewers that the punishment for apostasy is death; the provincial ruling party in Punjab even sponsored a public meeting at which staunchly anti-Ahmadi clerics were prominent presenters. In days after the attacks, Ahmadis have been publicly described in the media as wajibul qatl (worthy of being killed). Little wonder, then, that an incident such as the Lahore massacre took place – and that worse could yet follow.

Husain Naqi is a freelance columnist and human-rights activist in Lahore.

URL: www.himalmag.com/Since-the-Second-Amendment_nw4592.html

Facilitators of Ahmedis’ attacks arrested

Friday, June 25, 2010

Facilitators of Ahmedis’ attacks arrested

LAHORE: A team of law enforcers, including personnel of intelligence agencies and police commandos, arrested two major suspects of the attacks on the Ahmedis’ worship places, sources told Daily Times on Thursday. They said both men were the main facilitators of terrorists who not only provided weapons and ammunition, but also escorted the terrorists when they had arrived to carry out the attacks in Garhi Shahu and Model Town. The sources said late on Wednesday, a large team of law enforcers, including intelligence agencies’ personnel, had surrounded the Shahdara area. They searched several houses and arrested the two suspects, Rana and Hafeez, and shifted them to unidentified locations for further investigation. The sources said both were arrested on information gathered from the arrested terrorist, Muaaz. They said that during investigation, Muaaz revealed that he had carried out the attack in Model Town under Rana’s supervision, while his accomplices had done their job in Garhi Shahu under Hafeez’s supervision. staff report

URL: www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\06\25\story_25-6-2010_pg13_5

Terrorist attacks on Lahore mosques

 VIEWS & OPINIONS

Terrorist attacks on Lahore mosques

Mansoor Ahmad

Pakistan is such a country where things are moving from bad to worse. Terrors have engulfed the entire nation. At present it is suffering from social, political and economic conflicts. The ordinary Pakistanis, the middle and the lower class in particular, are facing a long list of serious crises.

On 28th May 2010, terrorist attacks took place on Ahmadiyya mosques in Lahore by gunmen armed with grenades and automatic weapons killing around 86 people. It was a Friday, a day regarded as holy and sacred by all Muslims. The terrorists opened fire on the worshipers when the latter gathered at Baitul Noor Mosque in Model Town and Darul Zikr Mosque in Garhi Shahu. More than 2500 worshipers were attending the Friday prayers in these two mosques when the terrible attack occurred. It was the cruellest and the most barbaric attack on Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan where more than 109 have been killed since 1984. Luqman Ahmad, a survivor describes the attack situation: ‘It was like a war going on around me. The cries I heard sent chill down my spine’. The Ahmadiyya security guards, who were discharging their duties voluntarily in front of these two mosques, were first to have been killed.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that it had been warned of threats against the Ahmadiyya community in Lahore for more than a year and demanded ‘foolproof security and protection’ from the government. Ahmadiyya leaders had approached the police to register the threats which had been published in a local newspaper against the community, but no action was taken by the police.

The United States condemned what it called ‘brutal violence against innocent people’. ‘We also condemn the targeting and violence against any religious group, in this case the Ahmadiyya Community,’ State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told the reporters in Washington.

The Canadians and the international community condemned these unprovoked attacks on people, who assembled to practise their faith. The people responsible for these grievous acts must be brought to justice. People should be allowed to worship freely and in peace so the extremists, who perpetrate these terrible acts, do not win.

A legislation declaring Ahmadiyya Muslims to be ‘non-Muslim’ was passed in 1974 and further legislation prohibiting Ahmadiyya Muslims to practise their faith was passed in 1984. With this law in Pakistan the innocent members of the Ahmadiyya community are experiencing constant threats, discrimination and violent attacks. Despite their claim to be Muslim, the Ahmadiyya community members have been subjected to perennial persecution, especially since the passing of an Ordinance in 1984 by General Ziaul Haque which said no member of the community could declare himself or herself as a Muslim (Section 298C, Act XLV of 1860). This meant that the community members could not recite the holy Quran, or call the Azan before prayer times. They could not display the Kalima Tayyaba or offer the Islamic greeting ‘Assalamo Alaikum’ to any one. The contravention of these regulations carried heavy fines, or imprisonment or both. Thousands of the community members were thrown behind bars under these draconian laws, and some are still incarcerated in the Pakistani jails.

Islam recognises the rights of freedom of conscience and freedom of belief and as far as one’s religious belief is concerned, one is answerable to God alone. No man has the right to punish another for his choice of belief. There is absolutely no compulsion whatsoever in Islam and no punishment of any kind permitted in the Holy Quran for apostasy.

There is no mention in the Holy Quran or anywhere else of any punishment for an apostate. Allah says in the Holy Quran : ‘There is no compulsion in religion (2:257).

The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of Islam was the ‘Champion of Human Rights’. Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) not only emphasised the desirability of tolerance in religious matters but set a very high standard in this respect. A deputation from the Christian tribe of Najran visited him in Medina to exchange views on religious matters which included several Church dignitaries. The conversation took place in the mosque and it extended over several hours. At one stage the leaders of the deputation asked permission to depart from the mosque and to hold their religious service at some convenient spot. The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘There is no need for you to go out of the mosque, because the mosque is the place to worship one God, if you want to do so, you have every freedom of worship, and holding the services in it. (Zurqani)‘.

According to Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19): ‘ Every one has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance’.

The Father of the Nation of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had the foresight to see the problems a State would face if it moves away from a secular state. The vision of Pakistan that Mohammad Ali Jinnah saw was summarised by him in a speech delivered on 11th August 1947: ‘You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan… You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with business of State… We are starting in the days when there is no discrimination, no distinction between the community and another… with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one state.

‘Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.’

The present democratic government in Pakistan came to power in 2008. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani declared ‘Pakistan believes in religious freedom. In a high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by the chief of the Army Staff among others, ‘the participants were unanimous in concluding that terrorism and extremism are the greatest challenge to Pakistan’s national security’ (The Daily Dawn, Lahore, June 28, 2008). Despite this awareness, the actions of the government have totally failed to match the words.

Pakistan cannot become a modern, progressive, prosperous state while these laws remain in the statute book and continue to nourish dubious and deeply flawed policies. Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments should take immediate legal action against Islamist extremist groups responsible for threats and violence against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. In order to save Pakistan and free its people from the stain of terrorism and extremism, the Government of Pakistan must immediately repeal the laws against the Ahamadiyya community so that the extremists have no backing of the State while discriminating against the community and attacking the members of the community.

The writer can be reached at e-mail: mansoor_safs@yahoo. com

URL: www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/...2010-06-09&news_id=102541

Monthly Newsreport - Ahmadiyya Persecution in Pakistan - December, 2009

An aggressive incursion in Rabwah and its follow up

Rabwah: An incident occurred in Rabwah in the month of August this year which was not mentioned in the monthly News Report. It has left a trail that is loaded with mischief. The incident is mentioned below.

Two non-Ahmadi youth of the Muslim Colony (a colony established by authorities for non-Ahmadis on Rabwah land forcibly occupied by the government) were roaming around on a motor cycle near the Fazle Umar Hospital, Rabwah on August 7, 2009. An Ahmadi youth on duty at the location noted down the registration number of their vehicle. They took exception to this and were rough with him. They also called their friends on their mobile phone to come to where they were. One of them slapped an Ahmadi on his face; this resulted in a brawl. By this time some senior Ahmadis arrived and disengaged the two parties. The intruders misbehaved with them too.

The police came to know of this and sent for the two parties in the evening. Ahmadis presented themselves while the others did not turn up. At about 1:30 a.m. the police registered a case against 7 named and 3 unknown Ahmadis with FIR 364/09 under various sections of the PPC. The next day Ahmadi community officials complained to higher police officials who promised to look into the case. The FIR has since remained open, however.

The trouble-makers belong to the Niazi family of the Muslim Colony. On November 22 two of them came to the bazaar in Rabwah and insulted Mr. Abdus Samad, one of the Ahmadis accused in the FIR. Again they initiated a fight in which Mr. Muhammad Azam, an Ahmadi was hurt. A report was made to the police along with his medical certificate. The intruders fabricated a story and made their own report to the police.

There is a growing concern about such people coming over to Rabwah and fomenting trouble and disturbing the peace. They could be used as tools for some major incident by the crafty mullas of the Muslim Colony and other resident mullas whose main occupation is to create problems for the Ahmadi residents of this town.

Tense situation in Multan

Multan has been a centre of anti-Ahmadiyya activities for quite some time. Three Ahmadis were murdered in 2009 in this city alone. The affected families shifted to the Gulgasht Colony of the city, however the mulla persists in his drive against them. Ahmadi residents there are now living in fear and feel exposed to great harm all the time.

We mention here some incidents.

Some miscreants forced entry into the house of an Ahmadi office-bearer after the dawn prayer and waved a pistol at him.

A mulla came to the Ahmadiyya prayer centre in Gulgasht and tried to get some information about the centre and the community. When contacted, the ISI confirmed that he was wanted by the police. Bounty on his head is fixed at half a million rupees. He had been a member of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba and also of the Tahrik-e-Khatme Nabuwwat.

Murderers of three Ahmadis have been arrested by the police. They disclosed that they planned to blow up the Ahmadiyya prayer centre in Gulgasht Colony with dynamite. They would have undertaken it had they not been arrested. They declared their intention not to spare even Ahmadi children after their release.

A heavy police contingent arrived in the prayer centre under the command of a DSP. They remained there till dusk. They were in contact with their SP. They told Ahmadis that according to intelligence reports there was likelihood of an attack on the prayer centre by a vehicle loaded with explosives. They told Ahmadis to put up a barrier of sand and cement blocks around the prayer centre. An iron fence was placed around the mosque that night.

Several suspects have been arrested from the students’ hostel located near the Ahmadiyya prayer centre.

Miscreants come to the court where killers of Ahmadis are undergoing a trial. They attempt to harass witnesses.

An unknown person visited an Ahmadi office-bearer’s home and asked for information from the family’s maid regarding his timings and movements.

These incidents and others have precipitated a great deal of fear in the Ahmadi residents of the area. The stress and strain of the prevailing circumstances are most severe.

A conspiracy and malicious drive against the Ahmadiyya community

Lahore: Express TV aired an interview of one Abdur Rahman in its program Point Blank (Anchor: Lucman Mubashir) on December 21, 2009. In the video Abdur Rahman appeared to be grievously injured. He stated that he was a great-grand son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas (the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat) and a son of Mirza Nasir Ahmad (Khalifatul Masih III). He said that he had converted to Islam in 1999, and since then the community had viciously turned against him. He also made the accusation that while he was on his way to Ganga Ram Hospital, he was picked up by Ahmadis, beaten up severely and thrown by the roadside in a critical state, wherefrom he was recovered by some men of a nearby madrassah that belongs to Allama Zaheer. To this statement the anchorperson added that Muslims would powerfully support and protect all those who converted to Islam, etc.

Abdur Rahman’s statement was a lie and fabrication. He is neither the son of Hadrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad Khalifatul Masih III, nor the great-grand son of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The anchorperson and the TV channel became willing and knowingly partners to the conspiracy, and were guilty of agitating sectarianism loaded with mischief and dire consequences.

Mr. Saleem ud Din, the spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan issued a press release on this incident. It was published in the daily Alfazl of December 24, 2009. Its translation is given below:

The accusation of torture over conversion is baseless and is a conspiracy to spread agitation (Fitna) in the country against the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. The statement of one Abdur Rahman, aired by a TV channel is ridiculous. Khalifatul Masih III had no son of this name. Press Release by Mr. Saleem-ud-Din, Nazir Umur Aama, spokesman of the Jamaat Ahmadiyya. Rabwah (PR): The interview of one Abdur Rahman, aired by a Pakistani TV channel Express News in its program Point Blank is ridiculous and riddled with lies. Why was such baseless and ridiculous news broadcast without due enquiry; as well as published in the daily Express without due inquiry. According to Mr. Saleem ud Din Nazir Umur Aama, the spokesman of Jamaat Ahmadiyya, this news and interview is fabricated and false, and is a conspiracy to spread unrest in the country against the Jamaat. According to the spokesman it is surprising that Abdur Rahman claimed to be a great-grand son of Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community, and a son of Hadrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, the Khalifatul Masih III. Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Jamaat, knows that Hadrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad the Khalifatul Masih III had three sons, Mirza Anas Ahmad, Mirza Farid Ahmad and Mirza Luqman Ahmad; all three of whom are alive by the grace of God. Thus the claim of Abdur Rahman, and its transmission by the TV channel without prior confirmation from the concerned people is an open violation of journalistic ethics and sets a dreadful precedent. Abdur Rahman’s interview is self-contradictory; how come a responsible TV channel failed to notice this? Mr. Saleem ud Din, the spokesman of Jamaat Ahmadiyya stated that Jamaat Ahmadiyya does not believe in any penalty for apostasy and strongly condemns those who propose punishment for this. Everyone is free to proclaim any belief that he or she considers to be true. History is a witness to the fact that converts to Ahmadiyyat have often suffered violence; while some have been put to death. The spokesman further stated that Abdur Rahman’s statement appears to be a part of deeper conspiracy. The media should refrain from propagating something without due inquiry, as that may lead to unrest. In the present national situation, great care and a commitment to truth is needed.

Incident at Karachi

Karachi; November 12, 2009: An unknown man wearing dark brown clothes came to the Ahmadiyya Hall at about 4 p.m. and started abusing the founder of the Ahmadiyya community. The Hall is used by Ahmadis as a place of worship. Some neighbours took the initiative to calm him down, and took him away. Ten minutes later he returned and went away on his motorcycle, while still shouting abuse. Ahmadis felt concerned over this incident. They posted additional personnel on guard duty to ensure security.

Sindhi press tows the line of Urdu press

A Sindhi paper Dalat-Awaz published from Mithi, district Tharparkar, Sindh apparently has decided to follow the lead provided by the Urdu press in matters of religion. In its issue of July 25, 2009 it took up in a big way the case of Ahmadiyya and Christian activism in that region. While it is true that Christian and Ahmadi NGOs are providing much-needed commendable social and medical services in the area, the paper gave it entirely a religious colour and indulged in accusations that the two groups are involved in conversion efforts by hook or crook. It would be much better for Dalat-Awaz to urge other NGOs to excel the competitors in providing help and services to the area’s poor, rather than agitate the illiterate and excitable masses over the faith of the helpers.

Amendment proposed to blasphemy laws and anti-Ahmadiyya laws

Lahore: It is perhaps the first time since 1984 that an important official tribunal has proposed revision of blasphemy laws, anti-Ahmadiyya laws and a few other sections of the penal code related to religion. The tribunal headed by Mr. Iqbal Hameedur Rahman, a high court judge, inquiring into the tragedy at Gojra, in which 7 Christians died, included these recommendations in its report and urged the government to do the needful on ‘war footing’. Excerpts from a report published in the Daily Times of December 7, 2009 are produced below:

Gojra report proposes amending blasphemy laws Tribunal calls for immediate action against those responsible — Calls for capacity building of law-enforcement agencies — Identifies factors that led to riots Faisalabad: An inquiry report on riots in Gojra in August proposes amendments to the blasphemy laws. An inquiry tribunal — headed by Lahore High Court Judge Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and tasked with looking into the tragedy that killed seven people — also warned the government on Sunday that “the Gojra tragedy must be taken seriously and the needful (should) be done on war-footing without further loss of time.” The inquiry tribunal notes in the report that the country is already facing grave challenges in the form of terrorism and militancy — which, in addition to destroying the economy, have “disfigured our national image all over the world… we cannot afford any other menace, (such as) sectarian disputes.” It says efforts to control such unrest must begin immediately. The 258-page report recommends action “without any discrimination against those responsible for commission and omission.” The report also proposes amendments to Pakistan Penal Code sections 295, 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 296, 297, 298, 298-A, 298-B, 298-C, anti-blasphemy laws, relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Police Order 2002…. The tribunal reached the conclusion that the riots were a result of the “inability of law-enforcement agencies to assess the gravity of the situation, inadequate precautionary and preventive measures taken by law-enforcement agencies, a luke-warm stance by the Toba Tek Singh DPO, the failure of intelligence agencies in providing prompt and correct information, a defective security plan, the irresponsible behaviour of the administration, the complete failure of police while discharging their duties, the non-enforcement of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, omissions to take steps under sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC, the lack of a decision to invoke the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) 1960 – which amounts to letting the miscreants loose to wreak havoc during the course of the riots – and several other factors.” APP

The reality of some ‘Ulama Karam’

Taba Tek Singh: The government of Punjab has forbidden 30 Ulama and Zakirs from entering the district of Toba Tek Singh in view of the threat to peace during the month of Muharam. The list includes among others, Maulana Fazlur Rahman. Most of these clerics are regular participants in anti-Ahmadiyya conferences held every year in Rabwah. It is fair to ask that if these clerics are a threat to peace in Toba Tek Singh, why are they allowed to gather in district Chiniot (at Rabwah) to endanger the peace there. Also, at higher political stage, how come that a person like Maulvi Fazlur Rahman, who is a threat to social and religious peace in the Punjab, was nominated to the second highest post in the parliament of the country i.e. Leader of the Opposition. Obviously, the national policy at the top is confused or self-serving. These mullas deserve not only to be kept away from the people of Toba Tek Singh, but also from the people of Pakistan. Below we produce a translation of the press report published in the daily Waqt, Lahore of December 9, 2009:

30 Ulama and Zakirs’ entry banned in Toba Tek Singh. Maulana Fazlur Rahman included. Toba Tek Singh (On line): The provincial government of the Punjab has forbidden the entry of 30 Ulama and Zakirs in district Toba Tek Singh in order to ensure peace and security during the month of Muharram-ul-Haram. These include Maulana Fazlur Rahman chief of the JUI, Alama Sajid Naqvi a leader of Tehrik Jafria, Maulana Muhamamd Ahmad Ludhianwi of the banned Tanzim Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat and others of various sects. Others who face this ban include Hafiz Abdul Alim Yazdani, Maulanas Bahadur Ali Saif, Shabir Hussain, Abdul Khaliq Rehmani, Dr Khadim Hussain Dhilon, Maulana Muhammad Alam Tariq, Sahibzadah Zahid Mahmud Qasimi, Maulana Aurangzeb, Qari Abdul Hay Abid, Maulana Abdus Sattar Taunsvi, Maulana Muhammad Tayyab Tahir Farooqui, Allama Zahid ur Rashidi, Syed Ataul Moheman Bokhari, Syed Abdul Majeed Nadeem, Maulanas Abdul Tawwab Achhravi, Muhammad Rafiq Jami, Allah Wasaya, Khalifa Abdul Qayyum, Maulana Abdul Ghafur Jhangvi, Prof. Saeed Ahmad Asad, Zakirs Fazal Abbas, Anwar Ali, Safdar Hussain Sial, Ghulam Hussain Najfi, Gulfam Hussain Hashmi, Munawwar Abbas Alavi and Khaliq Asadi.

Note: The majority of the Ulama mentioned above are regular speakers in conferences held in Rabwah.

Concerns about a provocative pamphlet

Rabwah: A highly provocative pamphlet, naming “Qadianion ka ta‘aruf” (Introduction of Qadianis) has been distributed widely in the district of Khanewal and its suburbs. The central office of Ahmadiyya community took notice and brought it to the notice of authorities. Translation of this letter is given below:

Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya Rabwah (Pakistan) h: 047-6212459 Fax 047-6215459 E-mail: nuasaa@hotmail.com Sir, Salutation We hope that you are well. A highly provocative pamphlet “Qadianion ka ta‘aruf” (Introduction of Qadianis) is attached (not included here). It has been widely distributed in district Khanewal and its suburbs. It bears provocative writings against Ahmadis. It carries writings out-of-context which are presented in a harmful way to motivate general public to target Ahmadis. It is worth noting that the allegations against Ahmadis are false. All Ahmadis, by the grace of God, revere all the prophets of God and have the highest respect and veneration for the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and could never think of committing such blasphemy. All decent citizens condemn such offensive actions, but there are still fanatic groups who are using the sacred name of religion to promote sectarian hatred. They refer to such anti-Ahmadi actions as their ‘holy duty’. There is a high risk of an unpleasant occurrence as a result of this incitement. 109 Ahmadis have been killed since the promulgation of the Anti-Ahmadiyya ordinance in 1984. This year alone 14 Ahmadis have been killed for their faith, while several others escaped from murder attempts. The present sensitive situation in the country requires that these elements be handled firmly. Unfortunately repeated reminders to the government have not triggered any effective action by authorities. This is dispatched for appropriate action by the authorities without further delay. Sincerely, Saleem uddin Director of Public Affairs Rabwah (Chenab Nagar) District Jhang

Questionable conduct of the Punjab government

Lahore: During the year 2009, numerous incidents occurred in the Punjab that had a direct or indirect bearing on the Ahmadiyya issue. Here we mention only three of those where the provincial government was directly involved, and offer a comment in the interest of all concerned. These incidents are, 1) Holding of a Khatme Nabuwwat Conference in the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore by the Auqaf Department, 2) Banning the Ulama’s entry in various districts of the Punjab, and 3) An announcement of the Mutahiddah Ulama Board through the Auqaf Department of the Government of the Punjab.

In the recent month of Muharram, the government took note of the serious threat to communal harmony and thereby to law and order in the province, and issued orders to ban a large number of ‘Ulama Karam’ to enter the province or to move from one district to another. Most of these ulama who were directed to stay put in their own residential districts were forbidden to address public gatherings (zuban bandi). All this was done to maintain peace and order, and was accepted by all concerned as an essential administrative measure. A few headlines from the press regarding this order are recorded below.

Punjab bans entry of 190 clerics from other provinces. The Daily Times, Lahore; December 26, 2009

Yom Ashur: 20 ulama recommended for detention. 105 ulama made to sign bond of good conduct in sectarian issues. The daily Waqt, Lahore; December 24, 2009

151 Ulama’s entry banned in Faisalabad The daily News; Lahore, December 12, 2009

46 Ulama banned to enter (District) Chiniot The daily Jang; Lahore, December 16, 2009

30 Ulama Karam and Zakir’s entry forbidden in District Toba. Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Sajid Naqvi and Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi also banned. Restrictions imposed for 3 months. The daily Pakistan; Lahore, December 9, 2009

In the last week of December, the Department of Auqaf arranged a Joint Announcement (Mushtarka Elamia) by the Mutahiddah Ulama Board and had it published in the press as a paid public ad. It was entitled, Do not give up your own beliefs (and) Do not infringe upon the beliefs of others (Apne maslak ko na choro Kisi aur ke maslak ko na chero). This announcement was drafted in a meeting chaired by ‘Khadim Pubjab’ Mian Shahbaz Sharif on December 13, 2009. The announcement expressed heartfelt pain and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in suicide bombings in Moon Market Lahore, Multan Cantt, Parade Line Rawalpindi and Khosa Market DG Khan etc. The announcement formulated a Code of Conduct (Zabita Akhlaq) and had it published. One of the items of the code read (translation): Islam also teaches regard for the People of the Book (Ahle kitab) and Non-Muslims. Therefore the Ulama should lay special stress on tolerance (rawadari) and unity, and should abstain fully from mutual incriminating edicts (fatwa bazi) etc.

However, earlier this year the same Auqaf Department sponsored, held and funded a Khatme Nabuwwat Conference at Lahore on April 11, 2009. It invited a large number of ulama including many of those who are now banned to enter other districts or are forbidden to speak at public meetings. The venue was decorated with banners that supported the Swat Deal (with Mulla Fazlullah), the imposition of Shariah etc. The speakers upheld the so-called Nizam-e-Adal. One of them said: “We are ready for total destruction of Qadianis in the country.” Another said: “Every last drop of blood should be shed for the sake of End of Prophethood”. One of the resolutions passed at the conference was: All the ulama should devote at least one Friday sermon every month to the issue of Khatme Nabuwwat. An effigy of the holy founder of the Ahmadiyya community was burnt at the opening of the conference.

With these kinds of gatherings taking place with official support, the government of the Punjab should not be surprised with incidents like the bombings in Moon Market, Multan Cantt, Parade Line and Khosa Market. The pious announcement of the Mutahiddah Ulama Board could not dissuade the bomber and his backers from the attack on a Muharram procession in Karachi that resulted in 45 deaths, burning of 2500 shops, attacks on vehicle, police stations and banks etc, loss of Rs. 30 billion and 10,000 jobs.

The Quran, in its great wisdom, sets forth parables regarding important policies:

Dost thou not see how God sets forth a parable of a good word? It is like a good tree, whose root is firm and whose branches reach into heavens. It brings forth its fruit at all times by the command of its Lord. And God sets forth parables for men that they may be reminded. And the case of an evil word is like that of an evil tree, which is uprooted from above the earth and has no stability. Al-Qur’an, Surah Ibrahim

Prolonged prosecution comes to end

A fifteen years old case under PPC 295-A has come to an end — at last.

Nine Ahmadis of Pattoki were charged for putting up a banner in their street regarding the fulfillment of a prophecy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) regarding solar and lunar eclipses on the given dates in support of the Mahdi^as. The case was registered by the police, on February 23, 1994. Two of the accused died during the course of the prosecution, while six fled and sought shelter in foreign countries. Only one accused, Mr. Abdul Mujeeb continued to face a trial. At last, on 15 December, 2009 the Judicial Magistrate acquitted him.

It is worth noting that the administration and the police in the country charged nine persons for putting up a banner that a prophecy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was fulfilled a hundred years ago. The state prosecuted all the nine accused, pursued the case for 15 years only to find that the judge was neither convinced nor impressed by the charges. What a criminal waste of public resources!

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 7 others of Chak Sikandar 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. Based on the unreliable testimony of the two alleged ‘eye-witnesses’ (who were discredited in court), seven of the accused were acquitted, but on the same evidence these three innocent Ahmadis were sentenced to death. 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 has been rejected by the High Court – and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has directed his expeditious trial which is now in progress. At the close of the year, it is learnt that the Supreme Court has accepted his bail, but he was yet to be released.

From the Press

Blasphemy accused gets life imprisonment (under PPC 295B) The daily News; Lahore, December 3, 2009

Gojra report proposes amending blasphemy laws. The report also proposes amendments to Pakistan Penal Code sections 295, 295A, 295B, 295C, 296, 297, 298, 298A, 298B, 298C, anti-blasphemy laws, relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and Police Order 2002. The Daily Times; Lahore, December 7, 2009

Suicide attacks are Haram (forbidden category). Such attackers are outside the pale of Islam. — Islamic Ideology Council The daily Jinnah; Lahore, December 10, 2009

The US is waging war against Islam and Islamic culture, in the name of terrorism. — Munawar Hasan (JI) The daily Ausaf; Lahore, December 1, 2009

Residents, FPI (Islamic Defenders Front) raid Ahmadiyya members South Jakarta police secured six Ahmadiyya followers inside Tebet police station on Friday…. Salim Alatas, a deputy head of the FPI Jakarta chapter, admitted the hardline group had initiated the raid. He said FPI would demand the police detain the Ahmadis for violating the joint ministerial decree on religious blasphemy. The daily Jakarta Post 12.11.2009 (Comment: Extremism taking roots in Indonesia. Pakistan is enough for world comity http://alamsyahdjafar.wordpress. com)

World, Vatican criticize Swiss minaret ban The daily News; Lahore, December 1, 2009

Qadianis visiting India should not be allowed to return. — (Mulla) Allah Yar Arshad The daily Waqt; Lahore, December 21, 2009

Model Town: Qadianis have taken up Muslims’ mode of worship. Citizen in protest. Action must be taken. — Alami Majlis Tahaffuz Khatme Nabuwwat The daily Ausaf; Lahore, December 3, 2009

Terror incidents claimed 3,300 lives this year The daily Dawn; Lahore, December 31, 2009

Terror hits 3 provincial capitals. Twin blasts kill 10 in Lahore. The daily Nation; Lahore, December 8, 2009

12 killed as Taliban target ISI in Multan. Lahore bombing toll rises to 54 The Daily Times; Lahore, December9, 2009

Suicide attack outside Khosa’s house kills 33 (in D.G. Khan) The Daily Times; Lahore, December 16, 2009

12 killed in Lower Dir suicide bombing. At least 35 injured, some said to be in critical condition. The Daily Times; Lahore, December 19, 2009

Suicide bomber kills ANP lawmaker (in Swat) The daily Dawn; Lahore, December 2, 2009

Operation Rahe Nejat: 589 terrorists killed, 79 troops martyred. The daily Jinnah; Lahore, December 10, 2009

Boys college blown up in Bara The Daily Times; Lahore, December 19, 2009

276 Ulama and Zakirs face external and local restrictions in NWFP and Sindh The daily Din; Lahore, December 16, 2009

Punjab bans entry of 190 clerics from other provinces. The Daily Times, Lahore; December 26, 2009

Yom Ashur: 20 ulama recommended for detention. 105 ulama made to sign bond of good conduct in sectarian issues. The daily Waqt, Lahore; December 24, 2009

151 Ulama’s entry banned in Faisalabad The daily News; Lahore, December 12, 2009

46 Ulama banned to enter (District) Chiniot The daily Jang; Lahore, December 16, 2009

30 Ulama Karam and Zakir’s entry forbidden in District Toba. Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Sajid Naqvi and Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianwi also banned. Restriction imposed for 3 months. The daily Pakistan; Lahore, December 9, 2009

Karachi blast: Death toll rises to 45 2500 shops, vehicles, police stations, banks set on fire. Rs. 30 billion loss. The daily Jang; Lahore, December 30, 2009

Taliban attack Masjid. 36 namazis killed as high-profile army officers targeted in Rawalpindi The Daily Times; Lahore, December 5, 2009

Babar Awan has put us to shame by taking bribe. He should be punished for his criminal act. Lawyers. Babar Awan should resign in consequence of the discovery that his PhD is fake. — N. League The daily Jinnah; Lahore, December 7, 2009

The federal government has doubled the annual allocation for the upkeep and maintenance of the worship places for religious minorities – from Rs. 75 million to Rs. 150 million The daily Frontier Post; Lahore, December 5, 2009

List of 992 missing people issued (by Balochistan home department) The daily Dawn; Lahore, December 3, 2009

Liquor death toll rises to 26 in Multan The daily Dawn; Lahore, December 23, 2009

The Quaid desired Pakistan to be a secular republic, not an Islamic republic. Mullas compelled Bhutto to include the words Islamic Republic in the 1973 constitution. The condition that one must be a Muslim to be president or prime minister is also undemocratic. — Senator Haji Adeel (of ANP) The daily Pakistan; Lahore, December 26, 2009

Op-eds

Gojra accused …But Gojra is a tragedy that calls for a zero-tolerance approach: the full extent of the law has to be applied to anyone who commited a crime of commission or omission. Let some of the suspects go punished and the message will be clear to violent bigots elsewhere; their crimes may also go unpunished. (sic) Logically, then another Gojra could only by a matter of time. Editorial in the Dawn; December 16, 2009

Islam not ‘violent by nature’ Culp should know that anyone who believes that it is OK to lie cannot be believed at all, as how can we tell whether such a person is not telling a lie about lying? Culp needs to look at the Islam of the predominant majority of Muslims who do not believe that lying is OK, and only that can be a believable representation of Islam. For a person looking for an unbiased, non-hate opinion on Islam, Karen Arustrong’s various publications are a good source. Hate pages abound on the internet; hate talk often surfaces on airwaves; the written world is polluted by it sometimes. But that is not what free America desires. Published December 06, 2009 in Forum, Fargo ND USA

Swiss fall to racist panic The current worldwide uproar against Switzerland for banning minarets on Muslim mosques is the latest malediction to hit the Helvetic Republic…. As I’ve been writing for years, hate and fear of Muslims is the modern version of 1930s anti-Semitism. Just as Nazis denounced Jews as malevolent, dangerous sub-humans, today’s Western rightwingers, Christian fundamentalists, neo-conservatives have simply changed the labels to Muslims for Jews…. Most Swiss women who only got to vote in 1971, had no idea the Balkan Muslim women in Switzerland are as liberated as they are. I still have deep love for Switzerland, the country of my youth. But those who want a ‘Muslim frei’ Switzerland have dishonoured their nation. Eric Margolis in Toronto Sun reproduced in the Daily Times of December 14, 2009

Minaret referenda The strange thing is that the countries which give themselves the right to issue lists naming countries practicing religious discrimination against followers of other religions have not taken the trouble to add Switzerland to the list of countries which discriminate on religious grounds against Muslims in Switzerland. Neither did they criticize the debate going on against Muslims in France and Europe in general, which in itself is a form of racial discrimination against Muslims who are citizens of these countries and should enjoy citizenship rights, including the freedom of worship and freedom of religious affiliation. Ms Bouthaina Shaaban in the Daily Times, December 9, 2009