Indonesia: Ahmadiyah Families Again Forced to Flee in Lombok

On Friday, ..., following complaints from villagers opposing their presence in Gegerung, local authorities raided the homes of the remaining Ahmadiyah families, forcing them to flee once again with their belongings.

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Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By Jakarta Globe | November 20, 2010

Jakarta. More than four years after they were forced out of their village in West Lombok by their neighbors, 12 Ahmadiyah families are once again on the run.

Some 50 followers of Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, have been living in Gegerung village for the past three years — returning a year after they were first chased away when hard-liners attacked their homes in February 2006.

Twenty-two other families who fled Gegerung have since been living at a temporary shelter in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara and main city on Lombok Island.

On Friday, however, following complaints from villagers opposing their presence in Gegerung, local authorities raided the homes of the remaining Ahmadiyah families, forcing them to flee once again with their belongings.


The head of the Lingsar subdistrict, who led the raid, said he was bowing to popular demand and opposed any move by the Ahmadiyah families to return to their homes. Although he called on villagers not to resort to violence, one house was set on fire during the protest.

Once again, the evicted families have had to return to the shelter in Mataram, a former dormitory for hajj pilgrims in transit.

Ahmadiyah communities have been the target of attacks by hard-line Muslims in several regions, mostly in Lombok and West Java, in recent years. They claim to also face continued discrimination, having difficulties obtaining jobs and processing official paperwork.

Followers of Ahmadiyah, a sect founded in India in 1889, profess that the group’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the Messiah, a belief that is contested by mainstream Muslims.

Ahmadiyah representatives have in the past had to dismiss unsubstantiated claims the group does not believe Muhammad was the last prophet and does not consider the Koran its holy book.

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