Gender trouble

Gender trouble
Asna AliSaturday, September 27, 2014 
From Print Edition

Strict gender roles in society take away from everyone the right to live independently

Female privilege. That is the flip side of the coin when it comes to discussions regarding gender roles and the pressures they place on us. Gender discrimination is usually talked about in terms of the ways in which it affects women – and rightly so.

However, it is acknowledged and well understood that wherever strict gender roles are enforced, the resulting inequality has negative effects across the board even though they may be comparatively more numerous for women.

The idea of female privilege is usually trotted out as a rebuttal when instances of sexism are mentioned. For example, if discrimination against women in the work place is being criticised, the counter point may be raised that women – simply because they are women – are allowed to stay home and be taken care of with the money earned by their husbands or fathers.

There are other such instances. In western countries, rights to terminate pregnancies or to receive child support are brought up as examples. In our country, the right to inherit property or to be posted to jobs that are closer to home are pointed out as cases of female privilege.

If all else fails, the old standby is to ridicule the ease with which women can get whatever they want using their ‘feminine wiles’. In one fell swoop this accusation takes away whatever a woman may have achieved due to her education, hard work and intelligence and replaces it with the notion that wherever she is in life, it is due to the preferential treatment she has been given due to her gender. It also manages to ease the discomfort of the men around her because by discounting her merits and blaming her for their failings, they manage to absolve themselves of any shortcomings.

It is a spectacular display of blame shifting. Those who indulge in it conveniently manage to forget that if they accuse a woman of getting ahead using her looks etc, the people who make that possible for her are men. In this scenario, whether true or not, it is the men who are discriminating based on gender though this time not in favour of their own.

When female privilege is talked about, a lot of facts are ignored. Yes, women are allowed to stay at home and live on the wages of their male family members but this also puts them in a weakened position which reduces their right to make decisions about their own lives.

Women are also ‘allowed’ to stay at home or to posted to jobs close to their homes because of the unsafe environment they encounter outside of it. If there were no fears regarding the safety of a woman living on her own without the protection of her home and family, there would be no need for such rules.

Yes, there are women who use their looks rather than their skills to get ahead in the work place but that should not be allowed to turn into a general commentary regarding all professional women.

Societies that force individuals to conform to strict gender roles take away from everyone the right to live independently. From men who constantly live with the pressure of having to be the breadwinner, the women who must choose between having successful careers or happy families as well as the people whose gender identity does not fit cookie cutter descriptions.

It is a world of black and white that has no sympathy with actual lives in which there is only grey. It would be more helpful for us all if we stopped blaming, stopped believing in stereotypes and looked across the gender gap with a little more sympathy.

The writer is a businessstudies graduate fromsouthern Punjab.

Email: asna.ali90@ gmail.com

 

Source: Daily Times

Killings of Hindu traders

• September 26, 2014
• 5 COMMENTS

 

 

 

   

Though our governments never fail to disappoint when it comes to catching and bringing murderers to justice, a mildly positive gesture was on display on Wednesday when the Sindh government ordered to constitute a committee that will probe into the case of two Hindu brothers who were murdered in Umerkot almost two months ago. The only eyewitness to the occurrence was their third brother who later on committed suicide. The incident, in which the victims were shot several times in an apparent robbery attempt, drew the attention of the public when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Lal Malhi and its Vice President Shah Mehmood Qureshi brought the issue to parliament. Not that parliament moved and did something productive, but the Sindh government did form a committee to probe into the matter. Much to the victims’ families disappointment and betrayal of public expectations, the committee came up with virtually nothing and not a single perpetrator was identified, let alone brought to justice. Thank God for those hundreds of people from the Hindu community who demonstrated in front of Karachi Press Club against these killings, and civil society and trade unionists who did not let the matter go unresolved and forced the government to look into the matter again immediately. Finally, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah signed an agreement with a delegation consisting of several civil society activists and trade unionists to form a new committee under DIG Abdul Khaliq Shaikh that will inquire into the pending case and will submit its report within five days. 
The kind of alienated and miserable life the minorities in Pakistan are living and the cruel disregard they receive from government officials hardly needs any proof that their plight is going unheard and unaddressed. It has become virtually a common practice for Hindu girls in Sindh being forcibly converted to Islam. The Hindu community generally is targeted consistently and frequently. It is unsurprising that many of these alienated people have been forced to leave this country and go to neighbouring India. The condition of other religious minorities across the country is no different, where Sikhs, Christians and Ahmedis are being targeted. Belated though it may be, it is nevertheless a welcome sign that the Sindh government is not wholly desensitised and has lent an ear to the plight of these minorities. Hopefully sooner rather than later, it will  now unveil the culprits behind this and bring them to justice.

MERCHANTS OF HATE

MERCHANTS OF HATE

Posted on September 24, 2014 by mansuraminhas

Growing up in Pakistan, I vividly remember September 7 as a remarkable day when the nation united to celebrate and salute its Air Force. Mullahs who have messed up every aspect of normalcy in Pakistan didn’t spare that glorious day. Lately they have termed the day as ‘Khatam-e-Nabuwwat’ day to celebrate their infamous victory , the Second Amendment to the Constitution – the blemish on Pakistan’s existence – that declared Ahmadis non-Muslims.

In any humane and civilized society, efforts to repeal the Second Amendment must have geared up in its aftermath, as it is in stark violation of the vision of Pakistan. It seems that no one was left after Muhammad Ali Jinnah to strengthen the Pakistan that he aspired for. Pakistan’s reins were left in the hands of the very same forces that had opposed its creation. Shortsighted political leaders succumbed to the pressure tactics of the hardliners and unified to declare Ahmadis non-Muslims, notwithstanding that a prominent Ahmadi Sir Zafrullah Khan was a close ally of Quaid-e-Azam and that Ahmadiyya Muslim Community had played a pivotal, constructive role in Pakistan’s independence.

Persecution of Ahmadis never subsides in Pakistan but in early September, hate campaigns against Ahmadis gain momentum. The last decade has witnessed a surge in such campaigns around September. The ordinary public is incited through the media, hate material is propagated and published. Muslims are promised an Eternal reward for killing Ahmadis, who are only worthy of death. Here is a sample hate SMS that was being circulated in Pakistan earlier this month: “If you see a snake, leave it alone but if you see a Qadiani (derogatory term for Ahmadis) anywhere, crush his head”.

These poisonous words are not a prank, they are a part of a well-crafted hate campaign that is ever-expanding and remains unchecked. Only if these were mere words, they could be ignored as hate speech. Alas, these words are reflective of the deep animosity that has been cultivated against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan by radical Muslim groups. For the merchants of hate this is not enough. They deem Ahmadis worse than snakes that must be crushed.

Yesterday, Mubashir Ahmad Khosa, a medical practitioner was shot dead by two gunmen in Mirpur Khas. This is not a random murder. Dr Khosa lost his life because of the apathy of the nation, the ineptitude of the law enforcement and above all the government of Pakistan’s callousness towards its Ahmadi citizens. Why would anyone give a hoot to the plight of Ahmadis when the State itself has legislated their persecution?

In September 2008, a prominent Ahmadi physician, Dr Abdul Manan Siddiqui was also shot in similar fashion in the same city. He was murdered after televangelist Amir Liaquat openly called for the killing of Ahmadis on his talk show on GEO, the biggest TV channel. Six years later, his murderers still roam free and the so-called guardians of faith have another victory under their belt. Their celebrations continue to call out for the blood of Ahmadis.

In May 2014, Dr Mehdi Ali Qamar, a prominent Interventional Cardiologist from the US was also gunned down in Rabwah, where he regularly volunteered at the Tahir Heart Institute, a state-of-the-art hospital operated by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, that is providing free medical care to impoverished Pakistanis.

Pakistan is a relatively young nation and it has already seen the worse of times. It is a hotbed of terrorism, its institutions are failing, sectarianism is rife and people often wonder what’s plaguing this nation. If we are still failing to comprehend what ails Pakistan, woe to us! Pakistan took an immediate U-turn after Independence. It was supposed to be a country that would provide a right to self-determination and freedoms to Muslims that were denied to them in United India. Instead of marching forward and learning from history and their own bitter experience, this once-upon-a-time minority, adorned the mantle of the aggressor. It sealed its perilous course when it embraced a theocratic model and left pluralism at the door.

A nation where healers are killed with impunity in broad daylight and the killers are never reprimanded is destined for worse times unless concrete measures are undertaken to curtail the activities of those who incite passions in the name of religion. This can only happen when leaders demonstrate a serious will to tackle this menace. Until then, the merchants of hate are holding Pakistan hostage.

'Stop faith-based killings' say UN experts in report on Pakistan Muslim minority

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said on May 29 in Lahore, Pakistan's Christians are a people under siege and he joined calls for their churches to be protected and for them to be able to worship in safety.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Ecumenical News
By Peter Kenny | June 03 2014

In Pakistan the plight of Christians and other religious groups such as Hindus has been recently documented.

But in the Muslim-majority country a minority Islamic group is facing persecution says a report by U.N. experts.

United Nations experts on freedom of religion, minority issues, and summary executions on Monday called on Pakistan to adopt urgent measures to stop faith-based killings.

The experts have called upon Pakistan to ensure the security of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, whose faith is outlawed in the country.

They also called for the security of other minority religious groups such as Christians and Hindus.
About 96 percent of Pakistan's 196 million people are Muslims (90 percent Sunni).

The rights experts' call came after renewed violent attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, in which two members of the community have been killed along with a number of arrests on blasphemy charges.

Pakistan has some 3.6 million Christians who account for about two percent of the population, and Christian communities also report being targeted by the misuse of draconian blasphemy laws.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said on May 29 in Lahore, Pakistan's Christians are a people under siege and he joined calls for their churches to be protected and for them to be able to worship in safety.

These attacks on the Ahmadiyya Muslims are believed to be related to their choice and peaceful practice of religious beliefs.
"I am very concerned by the recent surge of violent attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims by militant extremists.

"Such violence is fueled by existing blasphemy legislation in Pakistan particularly targeting minorities," the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, said.

"I urge Pakistan to guarantee the right to freedom of religion or belief of members of minority religious communities."

Bielefeldt has in other reports spoken out about the rights of Christian and other reigious minorities where draconian blasphemy laws that carry the death sentence are often used by Muslims in communities to settle disputes.

'THREATS BY MILITANT EXTREMISTS'

"Pakistan must urgently put in place protective measures to ensure the personal security of Ahmadiyya Muslims, as well as any other religious minorities living in the country, under threat of hostility and violence by militant extremists," the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák, stressed.

"The full range of rights of religious minorities must be guaranteed in law and in practice."

"In addition to robust protective measures, the authorities in Pakistan need to undertake urgent and firm steps to bring to justice the perpetrators of those killings," stressed the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.

"Showing determination in ensuring accountability in such cases must be a key element of the government's efforts to reduce the attacks and guarantee the safety of not only the Ahmadiyya Muslims, but other vulnerable groups."

• On 13 May 2014, four Ahmadiyya Muslims were arrested by police on blasphemy charges in Sharaqpur, Pakistan.

While three were released on bail, Khalil Ahmad was kept in detention, where he was shot dead by a visiting 15 year-old teenager, who brought a firearm, concealed in his lunch box, into the station.

• On 26 May 2014, Mehdi Ali Qamar, a U.S. citizen and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, a doctor on a humanitarian mission to Pakistan, was murdered in Rabwah, Pakistan.

He was killed by two unknown men on motorbikes, while taking an opportunity to visit the graves of his relatives at a local cemetery.

Seven members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community were reportedly killed in 2013, the U.N. report said.


Read original post here:'Stop faith-based killings' say UN experts in report on Pakistan Muslim minority

Policeman kills blasphemy accused in Adiala jail

Zafar Bhatti was killed while 70-year-old Muhammad Asghar was wounded in the attack. PHOTO: AFP

Source: Express Tribune

Sep 25, 2014

ISLAMABAD: A policeman shot two men in jail on Thursday, killing one accused of blasphemy and wounding another condemned to death on the same charge, lawyers and an activist said.

Christian pastor Zafar Bhatti was killed and 70-year-old British man Muhammad Asghar, who has a history of mental illness, was wounded in the attack in Rawalpindi, next to the capital, Islamabad.

In recent weeks, Bhatti had received death threats in prison from both inmates and guards, his family told a human rights group Life for All. He was being held in the same cell as Asghar.

“This is a barbaric act. There had been threats. The court should have instructed police to ensure Bhatti’s safety,” said Xavier Williams of Life for All.

Asghar, from Edinburgh, was arrested in 2010 and sentenced to death in January after a disgruntled tenant presented letter she had written saying he was a prophet.

Asghar had previously been detained under the mental health act in Britain and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia,  according to documents his lawyers supplied to Reuters.

His lawyers were barred from attending the last few months of his trial. The law firm asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted by extremists.

This year has seen a record number of blasphemy accusations,  according to an Islamabad-based think-tank, the Center for Research and Security Studies.

Many analysts say the claims are increasingly used to settle scores or grab property. Blasphemy charges are hard to fight because the law does not define what is blasphemous. Presenting the evidence can sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.

Those accused of blasphemy are often lynched and lawyers in defending those accused of blasphemy cases have frequently been attacked.

Judges have been attacked for dismissing cases and many of the accused face years in jail as their trials drag on.

At least 48 people accused of blasphemy have been extrajudicially killed, including seven in prison or outside court, according to Life for All.

Earlier this year, a prominent human rights lawyer representing an English professor accused of making a blasphemous Facebook post was shot dead after prosecution lawyers had threatened to kill him in front of a judge.

Last week, gunmen shot dead a liberal professor of Islamic studies in Karachi. The killing followed years of threats from his colleagues and allegations of blasphemy.

Two prominent politicians who suggested reforming the law have been killed, one by his own bodyguard. Another politician who discussed reforming the law on television is now facing blasphemy charges.

Another Ahmedi murdered

Source: Daily Times

25th Sep 2014

What is there left to say when one hears of yet another murderous attack against a member of the persecuted Ahmedi community? That their relentless suffering is being perpetrated in a country they call home has become so commonplace by now, we hardly even call it tragic. The latest victim was Dr Mubashar Ahmad Khosa of Mirpurkhas in Sindh, who was shot dead by two unknown assailants on Monday. He was at his private clinic when the killers gunned him down as though he was less than human. Dr Khosa was a very respected member of his community, known as a man who helped people, tended to patients with utmost love and care, and was not caught in any controversy at all. His only crime? He was an Ahmedi and, in today’s Pakistan, that is enough to get you killed.
A sinister pattern is emerging when it comes to targeting the Ahmedi community. Those shining stars who are contributing to society, providing relief and care to people irrespective of their sect or faith, are the ones being killed off systematically, one by one. In May this year, Dr Mehdi Ali, a prominent cardiac surgeon, who regularly travelled from the US to Rabwah in Punjab to set up a hospital there and provide state-of-the-art care in the medical field for people, was shot dead. His death hit people in Pakistan hard. This is a double tragedy; not only are such murders being allowed to continue unpunished, it is taking away people who can actually contribute towards uplifting the country. What better way to get this genocide on its feet than to deprive the country of those most needed?
What an irony. Pakistan was created for the Muslim minority in India so that they could realise their full potential and live without fear of persecution and strife. However, we are now the tyrant society. We have virtually disenfranchised the Ahmedis and are now eliminating them through cold-blooded murder. This is a lot like what the Israelis, who were once persecuted by the Nazis, are doing to the Palestinians. Are we proud of this kind of home grown apartheid? This not just a sectarian crime, it is a crime against humanity and must be seen by the authorities as such. In July this year, we saw an angry mob scorch Ahmedi homes in a residential colony in Gujranwala because of rumours of alleged blasphemy. This is no joke. We need to ensure that the Ahmedis, our citizens, are made to feel secure in a country they call home. 

Intolerance: Individuals or institutions?

The writer is associate professor in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Boston University

Source: Express Tribune

You know something in a society isn’t quite right when professors at an institution ask the government for individual guards and around-the-clock protection. While this demand, recently made by many instructors at Karachi University, is impractical and unlikely to be acted upon, it is not hard to understand why they feel vulnerable. The death of one of the university’s deans is a stark reminder of the difficult and insecure times that we all live in. The institutions of higher education, that are supposedly the bastions of freedom of expression and thought, have somehow become the centres of intolerance. While the death of Prof Auj is extremely tragic and needs to be condemned in the strongest possible way, neither Karachi University, nor this particular incident is unique. The growing levels of harassment and threats, especially against women students and scholars at our institutions is very alarming.

All over the world, institutions of higher education are known to foster culture, harmony and tolerance. That said, some difference of opinion is bound to happen and from time to time, clashes between students, while unfortunate, do occur. However, the extent of intolerance and vile behaviour, against professors and sometimes instigated by professors is abhorrent. Why are our institutions, particularly public institutions that are there to serve the masses, reaching this level of intolerance? There are two possibilities, both of which are worth exploring.

First, it is possible that somehow the institutions of higher education are cultivating intolerance. Through our curriculum and our teachers, instead of opening up our horizons, we are shutting down any dissenting opinions and ideas. This means that students who otherwise are not intolerant, become intolerant after they reach colleges and universities and are negatively influenced by the university environment. While extremely unfortunate, this is not a problem that cannot be solved. Administrators of institutions need to get tough on such behaviour and reach a balance between freedom of expression and cultivation of intolerance based on gender, ethnicity, personal views and sect.

The second possibility is that there is nothing fundamentally problematic in our higher education institutions or the curriculum there, but the problem lies within us. By the time the students reach universities and colleges, they have been brainwashed to accept nothing but their own myopic world view and have no patience or willingness to accept any alternative view point. Worse, they are not even willing to accept that others may have that view, or the fact that people with a different view have a right to live and go about their lives. This points to a systematic problem in both the society and our curriculum from an early stage, something that many people are quite concerned about. While more challenging, even this is not a problem that cannot be addressed. It may be too much to ask our governments and politicians, but that is exactly what they ought to be doing. They need to foster national discourse on tolerance and have a national commission to look into the matters. University administration, civic society, religious leaders, members of the ministries and law enforcement officers, all need to be involved. We may or may not trust one or many of these groups, but the reality is that they do play a role and do have a major role to play in the future. If we are not tolerant of their view point, how do we expect to create a more tolerant society?

In reality, I think it is not just intolerant institutions or intolerant people, it is actually both. I think we are systematically hard-wired to not accept alternative views and our institutions further strengthen that. This means that we have a lot of work to do and the road ahead is quite challenging: but what options do we have? Giving up is simply not an option. How long can we accept to live in a place where the intellectuals, thought leaders and brains of the society are worried that they would lose their lives should they speak?

The only thing we need to be intolerant towards is intolerance itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.

I am an IBA student and I am ashamed of the religious discrimination I witnessed there

By Jaisha Syeda Published: September 18, 2014 in Express Tribune

My heart wept when a house in Gujranwala was set ablaze, in July this year, just because it belonged to an Ahmadi family. At the time, I attributed this wave of extreme religious attitudes across the country to the lack of education in most of its parts. I was successful in finding solace in the thought that once educated, our society would be able to traverse such petty differences and the majority would learn to live in harmony with the minorities.

On September 10, 2014, the day the society elections at IBA-Karachi took place, my utopian ideas were shattered. That day, I could see the future of Pakistan toppled in front of my eyes.

Elections became a ‘hot’ topic ever since the fall session commenced about three weeks ago and the campaigning kept gaining momentum each day; friends turned into foes and heated arguments sprouted all over the campus and on social media. However, no lines were crossed as these shenanigans are a part of the election process, be it any institution, entity or country.

For those who are not familiar with the IBA Student Council elections, all voters are supposed to vote for the student council along with any three IBA societies. For both the student council and the societies, there are usually two panels, labelled as red and blue panels.

As the day progressed, IBA students kept turning out to cast their votes for candidates who appealed most to them. Candidates and their supporters were seen trying to talk the voters into voting for the ‘righteous’ panel, which mostly constituted themselves or their friends.

Towards the second-half of the day, when emerging voting trends showed one side possibly losing for the post of the Student Council’s CFO  (Chief Financial Officer), IBA students  witnessed some of their friends play the card of religious discrimination to win the dirty game we call ‘politics’ for the sake of a less explicit word.

“Momineen, mominon ko vote do.”

(Muslims, vote for Muslims.)

This was the slogan that hit the people standing in the vicinity and crumbled their conscience. Apparently, one of the two major candidate contesting for CFO was a Hindu and some of the so-called ‘Muslims’  from the opposing side tried to bring his religious affiliation to the front in a last attempt to cut down on his votes. Whereas this pathetic tactic did succeed in bringing a few people onto their side, it did them more harm than good as their unethical behaviour was out in the open.

Being an IBA student, I feel deeply saddened and indignant by this sheer act of immorality and religious discrimination by the people I come across on campus every day or even considered them as my friends at some point. Not only have they brought shame to a worldly reputable institution but have also misrepresented its students and Muslims on a whole as intolerant beings who are incapable of drawing a line between personal and political affairs.

To the ‘Muslim’ students of IBA who do not deserve to be called humans, let alone belong to any sacred faith anymore, I ask:  since when did credentials stop being independent of religious views?  Since when did you become so pious that you start picking on those who are not pious enough by your standards? Who gave you the right to be the representative of the Muslim community that you start voicing its false consensus?

If education can’t set our impaired sense of ethics right, I don’t know what can. It is horrifying to realise that some of the most educated minds of this country find it acceptable to resort to discrimination on religious grounds for a mere political win, despite knowing the number of people who have lost their lives to it.

A KL-YES alumna, pursuing a bi-major degree in Economics and Mathematics from Institute of Business Administration-Karachi. She tweets as @JaishaSyeda (twitter.com/JaishaSyeda)

1973 Constitution grants equal opportunities and religious freedom to every citizen. Mahmood Virk

1973 Constitution grants equal opportunities and religious freedom to every citizen. Mahmood Virk

Laws are there but rule of law needs to be ensured. Ashraf Ansari

Yesterday a one day seminar on the topic of “Equal Opportunities and Citizenship” was organized in Hotel Royal Gardens Gujranwala by Peace and Development Foundation (PDF). The chief guest Mr. Mahmood Basheer Virk, the chairman of the national assembly standing committee on Human Rights in his speech declared that 1973 constitution and the speech of the great Quaid on 11^th of Sep grant equal rights and comprehensive religious freedom to each and every citizen of Pakistan. The local MPA Mr. Ashraf Ansari said that though laws were there but the rule of law still needed to be ensured. Famous columnist Mr. khursheed Nadeem said that diversity is the beauty of the world hence there should be tolerance and inter faith harmony otherwise we will have to face barbarianism. The minority representatives very sadly said that un-equal opportunities on the basis of religion still prevail in our country. We neither find any law nor any rule of law as far as minority rights are concerned. Ms. Rumana Basheer, the Executive Director of PDF elaborated the objectives of the seminar. To her we should collectively and individually strive for a society where there are no barriers of caste, colour and creed. She strongly emphasized the need to undo the columns of caste, sect or religion from the official documents. Among the other dignitaries were Mr. Saeed Awan from HRCP, Ashraf bhutta adv, Syed Nasir Ahmad Shah from Amnesty International, Haleem Khan, Israeel adv, Riaz Mattu, Elder Nasim Akhtar, Priest Jahanzeb, Ms. Iffat Yameen and Mr. Hammad Cheema.

Minority Rights..................can ever be a reality in Pakistan?

علی پور (نباہو خان گوپانگ)تحفظ ناموس صحابہ واہلبیتؓ بل منظور کروا کر دم لیں گے ۔تفصیل کے مطابق 6ستمبر سپاہِ صحابہ کے 29واں یومِ تاسیس کے موقع پر اہلسنت والجماعت کے زیر اہتمام گجر چوک علی پور میں سینکڑوں کارکنان نے شرکت کی اس موقع پر اہلسنت والجماعت تحصیل علی پور کے صدر انس بن مالک نے کہا کہ 29سال میں 7000قائدین و کارکنان کی قربانیاں دے چکے ہیں مگر پیچھے نہیں ہٹے اور اپنی جوانیاں لُٹا کر بھی صحابہؓ واہلبیتؓ کے ناموس کی حفاظت کرتے رہیں گے انہوں نے کہا کہ گستاخ صحابہ واہلبیتؓ پر سخت قانون نہ ہونے کی وجہ سے آئے روز گستاخیاں ہو رہی ہیں اس موقع پر انہوں نے کہا کہ ہمیں محمد احمد لدھیانوی کی قیادت پر فخر ہے انشاء اللہ مشن جھنگوی کی آئینی و قانونی جدوجہد جاری رکھیں گے، آئین پاکستان میں نظام مصطفی ؐ بطرز خلافت راشدہ رقم کیا جائے اور صحابہ و اہلبیتؓ کے گستاخ کیلئے سزائے موت کا قانون بنایا جائے انہوں نے یوم تاسیس سپاہ صحابہ اور دفاع پاکستان پر مبارکباد پیش کی انہوں نے کہا کہ کسی نے پاکستان کی طرف میلی آنکھ دیکھی تو اہلسنت والجماعت اپنی جان کا نظرانہ دے کر اسکا منہ توڑ جواب دے گی اور پاکستان کی حفاظت کیلئے ہراول دستے کا کردار ادا کرے گی ۔
Credit: BBC Urdu
http://bbcurdu.us/?p=23109

Discrimination

Sir: Our Constitution guarantees equality to all its citizens and does not discriminate on the basis of sex, religion or place of birth.
The Article which says that the person who holds the office of the president or the prime minister of Pakistan must be a Muslim is a discriminatory law, which discriminates on the basis of religion and must be struck down. The state should act like a mother and treat all its citizens equally. Every Pakistani has a birthright to hold the highest office of the state. The state has no right to make all non-Muslims second-class citizens.
The chief justice is the protector of our fundamental rights. Please strike down this discriminatory Article from our constitution. His court can strike down any law that is discriminatory and against fundamental rights. Please make every non-Muslim an equal and proud citizen of Pakistan.
“Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behaviour does.”

Anonymous 

Karachi

This letter was published in Daily Times, can be seen at: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/letters/07-Sep-2014/discrimination

Voices of Sanity

Credit: Daily Times

7 Sep 2014

Free flying, unverified accusations have become the norm and trolling has become the parasite that is discouraging healthy debate and eating up any sane, logical speech that should be heard

A police officer on duty is the latest victim of the mob madness that has slowly been eating into the fabric of Pakistani society. Brutally beaten up, he is in hospital. In another incident earlier in the month, a security person was caught in a crowd. If it were not for the large-heartedness (meant for the television cameras) of the leader on stage, who publicly forgave him, he would have been lying in his grave. No one listened to his pleas or his explanations because no one was interested. They took him for someone they believed he was because it suited them just right. In the frenzied madness, he was unheard. This is what our country has become today. Voices are not heard, sane opinions get lost in insane noises and he who speaks the loudest (not necessarily the sanest) is the one who leads the mob.
In a country where women have acid hurled on them for shopping in a market, Christian colonies are burnt, young boys publicly lynched by angry crowds and a sitting governor assassinated for speaking up for minority rights, we are all treading a very dangerous path. Instead of becoming the custodians of our country and the vision that it stands for, we have become custodians of our different faiths, custodians of our ideologies (political or otherwise) and custodians of our limited knowledge and dedh eenth ki masjids (exclusive spaces for ourselves). We have taken upon our shoulders what the state is responsible for while shirking all the duties we should be doing for the state.
Even when it comes to the condemnation of violent mob behaviour we choose to be biased and subjective. Instead of opting for selective humanity, all acts of violence or injustice should be condemned with equal energy and force. It should not matter whether the victim is a Muslim or non-Muslim, Shia or Sunni, Christian or Ahmedi, and the latest flavour of the month, PTI or PML-N. We, as a nation, regardless of our thoughts, beliefs and religious and political affiliations, need to expand the spaces of tolerant and objective discourse. These spaces have shrunk to an extent where even the highly educated and liberal are unwilling to listen to the other point of view and nowhere is this manifested more than on social media.
While the media, especially social media, opened up new avenues of information for its users, the quality and substance of the discourse has taken a nosedive. It has actually given a chance to some people to hide behind the anonymity social media provides and indulge in intolerant and prejudiced exchanges. The Ahmedi family heartlessly burnt alive in their home in Gujranwala, while preparing to celebrate Eid with their fellow countrymen, was the result of an inflammatory Facebook update. The mob celebrating the murders with song and dance was no different from the warring Mongols of centuries ago. Even they had some rules, I am sure. The actions of the mob stands validated when the government and law enforcing agencies, instead of issuing strong condemnation, give out apologetic murmurs. This, however, is a separate debate for some other time.
The situation will not improve with greater access to information. It will improve when we develop the maturity to handle information, analyse information and react to information in an objective manner. Where the 24/7 media and social media should have opened up our minds, they have closed them further. Our likes and dislikes have become more prominent and our arguments and disagreements very public and impolite. Free flying, unverified accusations have become the norm and trolling has become the parasite that is discouraging healthy debate and eating up any sane, logical speech that should be heard. It needs to be understood, however, that when one person is a troll, the other using the same language and style to express his/her point of view is not any different. Both are trolls. Period.
In the current, heated political climate it is important to realise that there is another point of view that has to be heard, whether you like it or not. We as a society have stopped listening. When you stop listening you basically stop communicating. Listening is an inherent part and a basic principle for communication. Communication is key for the healthy exchange of ideas and, resultantly, for open and free societies. 
In today’s Pakistan, revolution is the most used, or rather misused, word. Political debates aside, if there is ever a revolution needed, it is the one in attitudes, actions, thinking, ideologies and character. The violent, always angry, illogical, partisan mob has to give way to a more tolerant, objective, accepting of different worldviews and progressive society. If there ever has to be revolution it should be a revolution where the Salmaan Taseers are celebrated across the board without any ifs and buts, an Abdus Salam is as rewarded and revered as an Abdul Qadeer Khan, and where a Ramchand or a Joseph is as respectable and secure as an Allah Rakha or Abdullah.
Original Post available at: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/07-Sep-2014/voices-of-sanity

The writer is a communications specialist, former television producer and a peacenik. She can be reached at gulalaikhan@gmail.com

Ireland: 60 Ahmadis face deportation to Pakistan, where they face persecution for their religious beliefs

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | UK Desk
Source/Credit: Sunday Independent
By Jim Cusack | September 7, 2014

'Don't send us to our death' plead Irish Muslims

Sixty members of a peaceful Muslim community threatened with genocide by Sunni Islamists are facing deportation from Ireland, the Sunday Independent has learned.

The Ahmadi community, which has some 20 million members worldwide and 450 members in Ireland, are among the most persecuted in the Muslim world.

In Pakistan - where the government is seeking to return most of those under deportation orders - it is a statutory crime for them to claim to be Muslim. Massacres of the Ahmadi community regularly occur in Pakistan and other Islamic countries.

The Ahmadi community is among a range of religious groups in the Muslim world who also face extermination under the rising Sunni Caliphate groups being spearheaded by the Islamic State based in huge swathes of Syria and Iraq, who are now linking up with the Taliban and other extremist groups.

Despite this growing threat, some 60 members of the Ahmadi community, including women and children, are still facing deportation.

The Irish Imam of the Ahmadi community in Ireland, Ibrahim Noonan, told the Sunday Independent: "There are 60 Ahmadi Muslims who are currently in no-man's land here, some for over seven years, essentially losing seven years of their life. They can't work, they cannot get higher education."

Imam Noonan said most of the Ahmadis facing deportation are living in extremely difficult circumstances, and are housed in direct provision hostels for asylum seekers.

He pointed to recent massacres of Ahmadis in Pakistan where houses belonging to the Muslim sect were looted and then burnt to the ground.

"Those Ahmadis living in Ireland are in fear of being sent back to Pakistan. Any Ahmadi being sent there is in terrible danger. The Irish Government must allow them to have status so that they and their children can have a future," Imam Noonan added.

The small community's fears were heightened when gardai from the Garda National Immigration Bureau seized a pregnant Ahmadi woman from her home in Galway and placed her in Mountjoy women's prison prior to being put on a flight to Pakistan.

In the incident, just before Christmas 2011, Judge Gerard Hogan stepped in to stop the deportation of the eight-months pregnant woman after an emergency sitting of the High Court in his home.

The woman was facing deportation to Pakistan where, a short while earlier, more than 100 Ahmadis were murdered in attacks on two mosques. The judge ruled the woman could not be transported in her condition.

Despite the judge's intervention, the Department of Justice is continuing to fight all appeals by people seeking asylum here, including those from persecuted minorities. Some 800 appeals against deportation cases are currently before the High Court, all being fought by the State.

According to Eurostat figures Ireland has, per capita, the highest rate of refusal of asylum seekers in the EU, turning down some 95pc of applicants.

Imam Noonan said the 20-million strong Ahmadis across the world are facing persecution in several countries with the rise of extreme forms of Islam in the Middle East, and also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

He pointed to one recent shocking incident where a woman, Bushra Bibi (55), and her two granddaughters, Hira (7) and Kainat, seven months, were brutally burnt to death in an attack on Ahmadi homes in the Pakistan city of Gujranwala last month. Local people said police stood by and watched as the Islamist mob burnt the houses and killed the woman and two children.

While the West has been focussed on the beheading of journalists in Iraq by the Islamic State, it is the indigenous religious groups like the Ahmadi - declared "apostate" by the Sunni fundamentalists - that are facing the biggest threat with hundreds of thousands now seeking refuge in Europe.

The Department of Justice, when contacted by the Sunday Independent, said that it could not comment on "specific cases".



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