Friday, November 14, 2014

Pakistan: Threats issued on Jama'at-e Islami stationary force Ahmadis to flee their homes

"Qadianis: Your heretic activities continue in the worship centers. You are hereby informed, if you will not immediately cease your worship, you will be attacked anytime."
A threat allegedly issued on behalf of Jamat-e Islami has spread fear and anxiety among Ahmadis in Lahore, capital of the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Credible and verified reports of threats against the lives of Ahmadi families in a particular area of Lahore have surfaced in social media with images of malicious handbills warning Ahmadis to abandon their 'worship activities' or face imminent attacks.
The handbills, allegedly printed on the stationary depicting letterheads of Jama'at-e Islami, an Islamist religio-political group, are being distributed near Mansoora, the headquarters of the group.
"Qadianis: Your heretic activities continue in the worship centers," the handbill says, further warning, "You are hereby informed, if you will not immediately cease your worship, you will be attacked anytime." (The word Qadiani is used as a derogatory term by ant-Ahmadi groups.)
'You have 2 to 3 days," the poster sets a deadline for Ahmadi to comply with.
The poster text ends with closing line, "Jama'at-e Islaimi Pakistan."
One such incidents of threats took place in Ravi Block of Allama Iqbal Town in Lahore, an area close to Mansoorah, where on the evening of November 10, a threatening poster and a piece of white cloth symbolizing burial shroud -- also known as kafan -- were delivered.
Despite the repeated attempts by the affected families, the local police have refused to take information and register a case; and, as a result, Ahmadi families were forced to abandon their homes due to insecurity.
Although Jama'at-e Islami has issued a denial on their Facebook page, assigning blame for creation of the malicious poster to a Karachi based 'ethnic group', the organization did not outright condemn the act of making threats against Ahmadis.
Imran Jattala, editor of Ahmadiyya Times, says for Ahmadis the threat is real, even if the poster is a fake. "A lone maverick or not, all threats are serious."
With a dreary track record of Pakistani authorities in protecting Ahmadis from repeated target killings, mob violence and terrorists attacks, the feelings of insecurity are rampant among the community members everywhere.
"For us they all are the same. So whoever is behind it, it doesn't matter. Even Jama'at-e Islami didn't say it's wrong," observed Afzal Mirza, a senior Ahmadiyya Muslim missionary from Canada.
http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2014/11/pakistan-threats-issued-on-jamaat-e.html

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