Closet Ahmadiyya Accusation Against Pakistan's "Prime Minister-In-Waiting"
nkdatta8839
Pak Tribune
Wednesday June 30, 2004 (1510 PST)
Shaukat asked to clear his religious affiliation
ISLAMABAD, July 01 (Online): Muttahida Majlis-I-Amal (MMA) Wednesday
asked federal minister and Prime Minister in waiting Shaukat Aziz to
clear his position over his religious affiliation in the House.
Talking to Online MMA leader and Member National Assembly Maulana
Hamid ul Haq said Mr. Aziz earlier had clarified that he is a pure
Muslim and belongs to a religious family and he has no affiliation
with "Qadianis."
MMA leader, however, said they have advised him to clear his position
in this regard on assembly floor, as some people have reservations
about his religious affiliation.
Maulana Hamid ul Haq said Shaukat Aziz was of the view that he
possesses Pakistani passport and will show it in the assembly. When
they asked Shaukat Aziz that his father Abdul Aziz was a Qadiani, he
remained silent for a while and then rejected concerns in this regard.
Maulana Hamid ul Haq said Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and
federal minister Shaukat Aziz had contacted MMA the other day to seek
support but "we set some conditions and asked them to assure that they
will not make any amendments in Hudood Ordinance and reverse their
decision of change in curriculum."
They, however, refused to accept these conditions. Therefore MMA did
not support them, he added.
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http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=70063
Pak Tribune
Wednesday July 07, 2004
Opposition accuses Shaukat of misusing official machinery
..... The House witnessed trading of charges between members of the
MMA and treasury benches on calling Shaukat Aziz as "Qadiani'.
MMA 's Senator Ismail Buledi referred to an article of Ihsan Bari
appeared in a newspaper in which Shaukat Aziz was dubbed as a 'Qadiani
(non Muslim'. He sought clarification from the treasury benches. .....
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http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/World2.asp?ArticleID=125123
The Gulf News, Dubai, UAE
Aziz dismisses Qadiani charge as baseless
By Shahid Hussain
Islamabad: Economic wizard Shaukat Aziz, who has been nominated by
Pakistan's ruling party as the future prime minister, has strongly
condemned a smear campaign against him by his critics.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Aziz said some people had
started a baseless propaganda branding him a 'Qadiani' – a sect
declared non-Muslim by the Pakistan parliament in the 1970s.
"I am a staunch Sunni Muslim," said Aziz, a former international
banker who was appointed finance minister by President Musharraf after
the October '99 coup and is credited with vastly improving the economy
over the past five years.
Aziz said, "I was born in a Sunni family and received religious
education from a Sunni scholar in my childhood in Karachi."
The Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) Islamist alliance has bitterly
attacked the plan to install Aziz as prime minister .....
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http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/21/d40721020430.htm
The Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Wed. July 21, 2004
One risk too many?
By Ikram Sehgal
..... a whispering campaign needs addressing before it gets out of
hand. Shaukat Aziz has already been called a number of things he is
certainly not, i.e. a Qadiani, a US citizen, etc., his wife (who
happens to be a God-fearing Muslim housewife to the core) has wrongly
been labelled a Jewish businesswoman. With Shaukat as PM almost
everyone who matters in important decision-making posts in Pakistan
will be of similar ethnic background (notwithstanding the fact that
Shaukat's mother was from a Kashmiri family from Jullunder).
Since we may have reached the stage in Gen Musharraf's career where he
is likely to shoot the messenger bringing bad news, the President's
close advisors (and intelligence agencies) would rather shove this
issue under the carpet and only tell the President what he wants to
hear, I would rather Pervez Musharraf faces this issue now and not put
his own existence in line. The opposition may well let Shaukat Aziz
take oath as PM before bringing the entire government machinery to a
standstill on this potent emotional issue. .....
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http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/july-2004/8/EDITOR/op2.asp
The Nation, Pakistan
THURSDAY JULY 8, 2004
Unlearning humanity?
By FARRUKH KHAN PITAFI
..... when people call Shaukat Aziz a tool of imperial agenda or blame
that he is a Qadiani despite his repeated emphasis that he is a Sunni
Muslim I feel sick. .....
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nkdatta8839
DAWN, Karachi, Pakistan
12 May 2002 Sunday 28 Safar 1423
Homegrown terrorism - 2
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
..... Perhaps the community most prone to the religious persecution
form of terrorism is that of the Ahmadis, as can be seen from a
summary of cases registered against members of that community from
April 1984 to April 1999: 189 for blasphemy, punishment mandatory
death sentence plus fine ; 10 for allegedly burning copies of the
Quran, punishment life imprisonment; 378 for posing as a Muslim, 93
for praying, 27 for celebrating the Ahmadiya Centenary, 50 for
celebrating the Centenary of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, 748 for
displaying the Kalima, all crimes punishable with three years
imprisonment plus fine. Seventeen cases have been registered against
the Khalifa-tul-Masih charging him in absentia with blasphemy,
punishment mandatory death sentence plus fine.
As many as 1,296 members of the community have been charged with
various other crimes.
On December 15 1989 the entire population of Rabwah (some 35,000
persons) was charged under Section 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code,
which reads: "Person of Qadiani group, etc, calling himself a Muslim
or preaching or propagating his faith : Any person of the Qadiani
group or the Lahori group (who call themselves Ahmadis or by any other
names), who, directly or indirectly poses himself as a Muslim, or
calls, or refers to his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his
faith, or invites others to accept his faith, by words, either spoken
or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever
outrages the religious feelings of Muslims, shall be punished with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
three years and shall also be liable to fine." This section was
inserted in the PPC 'by the Anti-Islamic Activities of Qadian Group,
Lahori Group and Ahmadis (Prohibition and Punishment) Ordinance XX of
1984.'
The FIR was prepared, lodged and filed by Mohammad Ashiq Marath,
Station House Officer, Rabwah.
The 35,000-plus were collectively charged with the crime of having
inscribed the Kalima Tayyaba and other Quranic verses on their graves,
buildings, offices of the community, places of worship and business
centres. They were also charged with having said Assalamo Alaikum to
Muslims, for having recited the Kalima Tayyaba, and for having
repeatedly indulged in similar Islamic activities.
Persecution under these laws is widespread. In Sindh, three years ago,
Ayub Khoso, a young poet, writer and teacher at a school in Jhudo,
near Mirpurkhas, was sentenced by the Mirpurkhas Anti-Terrorist Court
to serve seventeen years in jail for allegedly having written a
blasphemous column in the Sindhi newspaper Alakh (now closed down).
He has no means left to him to engage a lawyer to file an appeal. He
needs help.
Most amazing of all these cases is perhaps that of another young man
of Sindh, 17-year old Nazir Ahmad Khoso, an Ahmadi, charged with
injuring the religious feelings of Muslims, and a series of other
related charges.
On December 14, 2001 the Anti-Terrorist Court in Hyderbad sentenced
him to a total term of 118 years imprisonment sentences to run
consecutively.
The matter was referred to the High Court, which remanded the case
back to the AT court, and this court very considerately amended its
judgment and reduced the sentence to 60 years imprisonment. He is now
in Hyderabad jail and his appeal is pending. .....
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An Ahmadiyya Muslim friend had brought to my attention
the Application Form for new passport (Form A)
that Pakistanis must fill out not only in Pakistan
but even at the Pakistani embassy and the consulates
in USA.
Interested readers can check the complete application
form at the following website:
http://www.embassyofpakistan.org/forms/Form-A.pdf
Diplomatic immunity perhaps prevents the American
government from barring the Pakistani embassy and
the consulates from using such a blatantly offensive
application form.
Item 5 in the Application Form is religion.
The choices offered to the applicant are listed
as "Islam, Christian, Hindu, Parsi etc."
In case the applicant writes "Islam" as his/her choice,
he/she is required to sign or to give a thumb impression
to the following Declaration:
I, ..... s/d/w/of ..... aged .....
adult Muslim, resident of ..... hereby
solemnly declare that:
I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Quadiani to
be an impostor nabi and also consider his followers
whether belonging to the Lahori or Quadiani group,
to be NON-MUSLIM.
It shows how low Pakistan's government is willing to
stoop to spite the Ahmadiyas.
Here's an excerpt from the DAWN that should cause heartburn to every
Pakistani who cares for his/her country:
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DAWN, Karachi, Pakistan
17 January 2002 Thursday 02 Ziqa'ad 1422
Excerpt from:
The general's speech: a US perspective
By Tahir Mirza
...In this connection, an e-mail from a young Pakistani woman living
in the Gulf may be of some relevance. Writing how thrilled she was to
hear of the general's emphasis on eliminating extremism, she said:
"But I fail to understand why, when the other day, I filled in an
application form at the Pakistan embassy for my passport renewal, I
had to declare on this that I do not consider Ahmadis to be Muslims. I
signed for the sake of obtaining my passport, but I do think it a most
demeaning and shameful thing for anyone truly moderate and Muslim to
do."
Why, indeed, are we expected to make this declaration on our forms if
all citizens are considered equal and we are expected to be a tolerant
Muslim society?...
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> http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jul2004-daily/03-07-2004/oped/o1.htm
>
> The News, Karachi, Pakistan
> Saturday July 03, 2004-- Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1425 A.H.
>
> The double change of PM
> By Mir Jamilur Rahman
> mirjr...@yahoo.com
>
> ..... It is customary with the maulvis to dub their opponents,
> especially those who believe in enlightened moderation, as American
> agents. It is such an accusation that its denial would not serve any
> purpose. The other weapon in maulvi's armoury is to declare a
> government or political leader a Qadiani. It is a dangerous allegation
> for it amounts to declaring a Muslim an apostate, which is a serious
> religious crime. Such an allegation could encourage a zealot to
> extreme action that may result in a tragedy. Shaukat Aziz has not been
> spared. He has come out with a strong denial affirming that he is a
> Sunni Muslim but those who had made the allegation have not
> apologised. The enlightened moderation requires that such an
> accusation be made a penal offence. The accuser must provide proof or
> go to prison. .....
> ================================================================================
> started a baseless propaganda branding him a 'Qadiani' ? a sect