Ahmaddiya leader concerned over the sect's persecution in Pakistan

The global head of the Ahmaddiya Islamic community is hoping his visit to Australia will help highlight the persecution his followers face in his home country Pakistan. Mirza Masroor Ahmad who lives in exile in London is visiting Australia and will then head to New Zealand and Japan. Pakistan's Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslim, but the nation doesn't legally recognise this. Mr Ahmad, known by his followers as the Caliph of the Ahmaddiya, has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific the suffering of Ahmadis in Pakistan must stop. "In 2010, two of our mosques, almost 90 of our people were killed, and hundreds were injured...every one or two weeks, I receive news of one or two Ahmadis being murdered or martyred," he said. The Ahmaddiya movement only has around 5000 followers in Australia, but claims tens of millions of members around the world. Mr Ahmad says he would like to use his visit to warn that conflict in Syria could spiral out of control if major powers get involved. "They've already ruined the peace of their country, but they're going to doom their country, and moreover, this could expand to (across) the region," he said. "It could be the cause of the third world war." Mr Ahmad says if the international community worked together, it could stop extremism in Syria and other places. "If the big powers want to control these extremists, they can control them," he said. Mr Ahmad says sporadic mob violence spurred on by Muslim clerics in Indonesia also continues to affect the community. "The mullahs are also very furious there, they can go to (any) extent they want," he said. The Ahmaddiyas reject extremism and say true Islam promotes peace.