“We call upon the international community to put pressure on Pakistan for the immediate release of the Ahmadi Muslims arrested and ask for Pakistan to end its harassment and persecution of Ahmadi Muslims.”
Source/Credit: The Chronicle Herald
By Fram Dinshaw | December 16, 2016
Ahmadiyya Muslims in Nova Scotia prayed for the safety of their co-religionists in Pakistan Friday after a mob attack on a mosque in Punjab four days ago left one man dead.
A Canadian resident was among the 1,000-strong mob attack launched by extremist group Khatme Nabuwwat, which has supporters in Canada. The person killed died of a heart attack during the violence.
“Luckily, we’ve not suffered any major problems in Nova Scotia,” said Umran Bhatti, Imam of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Atlantic Canada.
Local Ahmadiyyas gathered for prayers at their mosque in Sydney, while their Halifax counterparts met in prayer halls to pray for both their co-religionists and a more peaceful Pakistan.
Bhatti himself lost an uncle during a previous bout of anti-Ahmadiyya violence in 2010, when Pakistani Taliban militants attacked worshippers praying at mosques in Lahore, killing nearly 100 people.
After the Lahore Massacre in 2014, Bhatti’s relatives emigrated to Canada with help from the federal government, but he still remembered the day his mother called told him about his uncle.
“It was a very sad moment when this happened,” recalled Bhatti.
Elsewhere in Canada, Canadian government officials visited the Baitul Islam Mosque in Vaughan Friday. Relatives of the deceased, Malik Khalid Javaid, who died of a heart attack during the violence, were also in attendance.
“Extremists are being given free rein in Pakistan and one must not forget that this has implications in Canada. There is heightened concern about radicalization in Canada, especially after it was found that one of the culprits of the recent mob attack in Pakistan is a resident of Canada,” said Lal Khan Malik, National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Canada, in a statement Friday.
The Ahmadiyya sect of Islam was founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, India.
The Ahmadiyyas now boast millions of members worldwide and is the only Islamic organization to believe that the long-awaited messiah (Mahdi) has already come in the person of Ahmad.
The community believes that God sent Ahmad, like Jesus, to end religious wars, condemn bloodshed and re-institute morality, justice and peace.
While Ahmadiyya Islam stresses love of one’s country and peaceful co-existence, Pakistan declared the sect to be non-Muslims in the 1970s. Ahmadiyyas’ belief in Ahmad as messiah are rejected by other Muslims, who insist on the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood.
As such, Ahmadiyyas have been subject to attacks and persecution in Pakistan and other countries in the region such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere.
“We call upon the international community to put pressure on Pakistan for the immediate release of the Ahmadi Muslims arrested and ask for Pakistan to end its harassment and persecution of Ahmadi Muslims,” said Malik.
Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims, but the country is also home to other Muslim sects including 3-4 million Ahmadiyyas, as well as Shias and non-Muslim groups including Christians, Hindus, and Zoroastrians.
Pakistan was first founded as an Islamic republic in 1947, when British India was granted independence and partitioned into Muslim-majority Pakistan and the majority-Hindu but democratic India.
Throughout its existence Pakistan has alternated between civilian and military governments, who took a more Islamist bent after the 1970s, enacting strict laws against blasphemy, alcohol and other activities deemed un-Islamic.
In recent years Pakistan has experienced an uptick in sectarian violence and terrorist attacks, including bombings carried out by Taliban insurgents who are also active in Afghanistan.
“We express our absolute shock and outrage at the continuous attacks upon minorities in Pakistan. Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws and religious apartheid allows fundamentalists to peddle their hate and orchestrate attacks upon minorities. Ahmadis, along with Shias, Christians and Hindus are often the victims of such attacks,” said Malik.
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Fram Dinshaw | Staff Reporter | Multimedia Journalist | Follow @FramDinshaw | fdinshaw@herald.ca
Read original post here: Canada: Ahmadiyyas pray for peace after Pakistan attacks
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