Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | US Desk
Source & Credit: Nappervile Sun | June 3, 2010
By Hank Beckman | Sun-Times Media
Taking place as they did halfway around the world, the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan might seem like a distant earthquake, having little to do with life in DuPage County.
But for Haroon Chaudhry, the senseless violence is all too real.
"We are in a state of shock at this time," Chaudhry said, sitting in an office in the Baet-ul-Jamaay Mosque on the south side of Glen Ellyn, just off Route 53. "Every day, I call my mother (in Pakistan), and she is crying."
While no one in his immediate family has been hurt, Chaudhry's wife's uncle was shot, and her cousin was killed. And almost 20 family friends have been killed in the attacks that took place in two mosques in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Gunmen armed with grenades and bombs attacked two mosques housing members of the Ahmadiyya religious community, a sect of Islam that numbers about 10 million followers around the world.
A follow-up attack happened two days later at a hospital where victims and one of the attackers were being treated, killing an additional 12 people, including police officers and hospital staff.
A group describing themselves as the Punjabi Taliban claimed responsibility.
Ahmadiyya Muslims, or Ahmadis, are a minority in Pakistan and in other predominantly Muslim countries, such as Indonesia and Bangladesh.
About 1,000 Ahmadis live in Illinois; many worship at the Glen Ellyn mosque. While there are some theological differences that Ahmadis have with other Muslims -- among them the belief in the 19th century messianic figure, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad -- they still consider themselves part of the faith.
"We believe in peace and non-violence, except in the case of self-defense," Imam Mubasher Ahmad said. But the theological differences have led most Muslims to consider the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims.
Ahmad spoke of the persecution Ahmadis suffer in Pakistan, linking the causes to the military government of Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who in the 1980s formally institutionalized discrimination against Ahmadis, which Ahmed feels ultimately led to an increase in anti-Ahmadi violence.
Under Pakistani law, the Ahmadiyya sect runs afoul of the nation's blasphemy laws, which makes it a crime for any Ahmadi to profess to be a Muslim or openly practice the faith, going so far as to prohibit Ahmadis to issue the traditional call to prayer.
Indeed, even the names of buildings are subject to penalty, as evidenced by the Pakistani media referring to the recent attacks as taking place in places of worship.
"We can't even call our own place of worship a mosque," Chaudhry said.
According to Human Rights Watch, since 2000, an estimated 400 Pakistani Ahmadis have been charged in criminal cases, many of them involving violation of the nation's blasphemy laws.
Ahmad made it clear that he believed the attacks were carefully planned, saying, "It was not a haphazard attack."
While Ahmad didn't accuse the Pakistani government of being involved in the violence, he believes that both the government and Pakistani media go to great lengths to ignore or downplay any discrimination or violence against Ahmadis.
Ahmad noted that as a member of the United Nations, Pakistan should be held to a higher standard of behavior. "Religious freedom is one of the basic human rights," he said. And as an ally of the United States, Ahmad believes Americans can do much to shine a spotlight on the abuses Ahmadis face in Pakistan and around the world.
"We want America to speak out," he said, calling for an end to American support until Pakistani rulers "start behaving."
Both Ahmad and Chaudhry have hope that one day other Muslims and the rest of the international religious community will pressure extremist to stop persecuting them and reform the legal discrimination codified in Pakistani law.
"Decent people, educated people, know it (the discrimination) is wrong," Chaudhry said, but also noted that "the media doesn't have the guts" to confront the extremists.
Ahmad spoke of the goodwill that had been shown him and the Ahmadiyya community in America, especially since the terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. But he also expressed frustration that American media has not highlighted the recent killings as much as it could have.
Abdul Karim, president of the Chicago East Chapter of the Ahmadiyya community, said more education is needed.
"I don't think the American people understand the Pakistani constitution," he said of the legal biases against Ahmadis. "Why are we sending American tax dollars to Pakistan?"
Read original article here: Pakistan violence hits home for area family, Glen Ellyn couple loses relatives, friends in attacks
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