How many ahmadis in pakistan




















What are the enemies going to do to us? Shamoon's son and nephew were abducted then jailed, her home was stoned, her daughter was harassed at university, and she has been refused service at markets multiple times for her hijab style that is distinctive to Ahmadi women. After facing the persecution successively, Shamoon's family relocated to Rabwah, the only Ahmadi-majority town in the country.

Though Rabwah is in the same country that inflicts the state-sanctioned and societal oppression, many Ahmadis experience a rare "strength in numbers" within its isolated radius, according to Ahmad. Shamoon said the photos went viral on Twitter, and Shamoon's family was threatened against returning to their original city.

Since the name of this Ahmadi-majority town, "Rabwah," is mentioned in the Quran, the Punjab Assembly unanimously agreed to rename it "Chenab Nagar," referring to the town's location along the Chenab River bank.

The name change happened without the consent of any residents. Despite the fact that Rabwah is home to nearly 70, Pakistanis, of which over 90 percent are Ahmadi, the government refuses to fund schools, hospitals, libraries, or a postal system.

The Ahmadiyya Community privately funds its own nonprofit institutions in Rabwah, which are all within cycling distance of each other. A bike stroll down its sandy, placid streets passes a state-of-the-art cardiology hospital, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and portraits of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad decking the storefronts. The quiet streets can easily mislead one into thinking the town is undisturbed.

In , the Punjab police lodged a First Information Report FIR against the whole of Rabwah's Ahmadi population on religious grounds, specifically for displaying Quranic texts on their graves and buildings. But what can we do? While anti-Ahmadi speech proliferates on the internet, the Pakistani state is also cracking down on Ahmadi content online.

Last year, the PTA issued new rules mandating data localization — more than 60 countries, including China, Vietnam, Germany, Nigeria, and Russia, have such laws in place. Earlier in , Google, Facebook, Twitter and other tech companies had collectively warned that they would withdraw from the country in protest over these rules — but so far have not followed through on the threat.

The website is still up but remains blocked in Pakistan. Noting that Facebook shut down troll activity originating from Pakistan in September , the community called on Google and Twitter to do the same. According to Google, the company has systems in place to thwart concerted attempts to manipulate search rankings. In one of the first examples of governments using anti-blasphemy rules to force international tech companies to censor content, Google has removed three religious apps developed by U.

The apps reportedly contained the same Arabic text found in all versions of the Quran, accompanied by commentary from an Ahmadi perspective. According to Google, the company expressed concerns about these removal requests as a human rights matter, including in a letter sent to the PTA in Apple also reportedly removed an Ahmadi app in May The company did not respond to a request for comment. Even the platforms that Ahmadis gravitated towards after the Gujranwala attacks no longer seem safe.

Unbeknownst to him, the person who volunteered was an undercover Sunni cleric. Spooked once more, on yet another platform, Ahmadis are now wary of WhatsApp groups too. He has a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with his primary school friends. Learn More About us Work with us Team news. Stay Connected Follow along. Get the newsletter Get all our stories delivered Name. Dark Mode. Photography by Taylor Glascock for Rest of World.

By Alizeh Kohari. How social media became a deadly trap for a minority group in Pakistan Share this story. Fifty percent of Facebook Messenger's total voice traffic comes from Cambodia. Here's why. Keyboards weren't designed for Khmer. So Cambodians have just decided to ignore them. The Destabilization Experiment. Furthermore, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, legal authorities tend to side with the "aggressors" when the damage has been inflicted in the name of the principles defended by religious fundamentalists HRCP 15 Oct.

According to Hina Jilani, leaving Pakistan without a passport is a serious offence and there is no doubt that anyone violating this regulation is liable to severe penalties 6 Dec. In order to obtain a passport, Pakistanis must declare their religious adherence on the passport application form see Appendix D. If they declare themselves to be Muslim, they must sign the declaration for Muslims, included on the form, which states that Muhammad is the last of the prophets and that no one since Muhammad can claim to be a prophet; that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, is an imposter and that his disciples are not Muslims.

According to representatives of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam in Toronto, Ahmadis refuse to sign such a statement, which constitutes an act of renunciation of their faith 1 Dec.

The alternative would be to declare themselves Ahmadis, and thus members of a new religion, but that is an avenue they cannot contemplate because they believe strongly that they belong in Islam. In addition, an Ahmadi who declares that he is not a Muslim in order to obtain a passport must answer for his actions to the Ahmadiyya community Ibid.

According to Hina Jilani, the Ahmadi community used to be more tolerant but today such a person would probably be ostracized 6 Dec. Ahmadis are thus constrained to break the law in order to leave the country. Under section 6 of the Passports Act , anyone who knowingly omits certain information or makes a false statement in any document in order to obtain a passport is liable to a maximum sentence of three years in prison, a fine or both see Appendix E. Lastly, it is difficult, if not impossible, to leave Pakistan without passing through a border post because of border conflicts with Afghanistan and India.

Pakistani law does not provide sanctions for those who have requested asylum in another country during a stay outside Pakistan. However, according to Hina Jilani, seeking refugee status could be associated with the provisions of the Criminal Code on anti-government activities. Otherwise, Ahmadis are very likely to be subjected to political and religious harassment by Pakistani authorities Jilani 6 Dec. According to the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam AMI , seeking asylum in another country places Ahmadis at an impasse because they cannot avoid describing their religion at their hearing.

If they declare themselves to be Muslims, they violate Ordinance XX; if they call themselves Ahmadis, they violate section c of the Penal Code. Furthermore, Ahmadis are liable to prosecution if they are sent back to Pakistan because under Pakistani law, accusing the State of Pakistan of persecution is an act of treason AMI 1 Dec.

Although most Ahmadis arrested under these provisions are released on bail, they sometimes have to wait several months or even years before being brought to trial. According to Amnesty International, these delays in legal proceedings weigh heavily on Ahmadis, for, having been charged with violating section c , they are liable to capital punishment.

To date, no death sentence has been pronounced under this section. Sources indicate that with regard to legal remedies, Pakistanis can appeal to the courts if they deem themselves to be injured, but in reality, legal authorities tend to dismiss remedies sought by Ahmadis because the injuries of which they complain have been committed in the name of Islamic fundamentalism. But where can we go? Her husband fears there will be repercussions if they return, as happened to his uncle who returned from the UK in A rumor circulated in the village that he, an Ahmadi, was a foreign spy.

He was lynched by a mob. The family has long since exhausted all legal possibilities. A petition by Malik to the state of Saxony was also rejected. They can only wait for the deportation notice. The walk in the wind is one last moment of normality. While you're here: DW has a new newsletter: Every week editors round-up for you what is happening in German politics and society, with an eye toward understanding this year's elections and beyond.

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The German government is paying foreign embassies to question them for potential deportation. Visit the new DW website Take a look at the beta version of dw. Go to the new dw.



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