Monday, August 20, 2012

Persecution of Pakistan's Christians & Misuse of Blasphemy Law.


2011: Pakistan orders report into 'disabled girl's blasphemy case'Pakistan's president has ordered a report into the arrest of a young Christian girl, reportedly with mental impairments, accused of desecrating pages of the Koran. Police say the girl was arrested last week in a Christian area of the capital, Islamabad, after a furious crowd demanded she be punished. Officials said the girl could not properly answer police questions. Her parents have been taken into protective custody following threats. Many other Christian families have fled the neighbourhood after unrest erupted. Reports say that police arrested her under pressure from the large crowd. But there are conflicting reports about the details of the incident. It is unclear whether the girl burned pages of the Koran or if she was found with pages of the Koran in a bag. Christian leaders say she is as young as 11 but police quoted in some media reports also say she may be older and that she had no mental impairments. Some Christian groups suggested that the girl has Down's syndrome, which is a congenital condition that causes various degrees of learning difficulties and certain physical abnormalities. State media said that President Asif Ali Zardari had "taken notice" of the reports of the arrest and asked Pakistan's interior ministry to present a report to him. REFERENCE: Pakistan orders report into 'disabled girl's blasphemy case' 20 August 2012 Last updated at 15:35 GMT http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19315210 Pakistani Christians, fearing backlash, flee community after girl accused of blasphemy By Richard Leiby, Monday, August 20, 10:26 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistani-christians-fearing-backlash-flee-community-after-girl-accused-of-blasphemy/2012/08/20/d3b23c9a-eae3-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html

2011: Taseer killer's case should be decided as per Shariah law: JuD Lahore, Fri Jan 07 2011 Pakistan-based terror outfit JuD has asked the country's courts to decide the case of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's assassin in line with the 'Shariah' or Islamic law and 'sentiments of Muslims'. Jamaat-ud-Dawah leader Maulana Amir Hamza, who is convener of Tehrik-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool that has been opposing any move to amend the controversial blasphemy law, also hailed the clerics who refused to lead the funeral prayer of Taseer. Taseer, the Governor of Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab and senior PPP leader, was gunned down by his extremist bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri at a posh market in the heart of Islamabad on Tuesday for opposing the blasphemy law. Hamza asked courts to decide the case of Qadri in accordance with the Islamic law and the "sentiments of Muslims" of the country. "The courts must respect our sentiments," he said in a statement. The clerics, who refused to lead Taseer's funeral prayer on Wednesday, had proved that they had great respect for the Prophet Mohammad, Hamza said. "God will reward you (clerics) for your brave act," he said. After an influential grouping of scholars and clerics of the Barelvi school of thought asked Muslims not to offer or lead the funeral prayer for Taseer, the clerics of three mosques in Lahore, including the one at the Governor's House, refused to lead the 'namaz-e-janaza'. The prayer was finally led by a member of the PPP's clerics' wing. Hamza also criticised the US and European countries for condemning the murder of Taseer. The JuD leader also warned PPP lawmaker Sherry Rehman to immediately withdraw a private bill submitted to Parliament to amend the blasphemy law. He made it clear that "no one can think of changing the blasphemy law". Blaming Taseer for his death, Hamza questioned why the Governor had sought clemency from President Asif Ali Zardari for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed. "We want to tell everyone that there can be no debate on the blasphemy law," said Hamza of JuD, which is blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. REFERENCE: Taseer killer's case should be decided as per Shariah law: JuD Lahore, Fri Jan 07 2011, 14:36 hrs http://www.indianexpress.com/news/taseer-killers-case-should-be-decided-as-per-shariah-law-jud/734629/1

Allaamah Kaukab Noorani Okarvi Declares: Deobandis are Kaafir (Apostate)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfde2WGvf3w

It is said that one of the key Cleric of Jamatud Dawa i.e. Maulana Ibrahim Salafi was allegedly murdered on the False Charge of Blasphemy by Rival Barelvi Sect in 2004

2004: ISLAMABAD: A senior leader of Jamaat-ud Dawa, the parent organisation of the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Toeba, was on Sunday shot dead by unidentified assailants in Lahore, police said. Maulana Ibrahim Salafi, 55, was killed while returning home after offering morning prayers at a mosque in Township locality, police in Lahore said. Salafi, who was a prayer leader at the mosque, was sprayed with bullets by the gunmen riding on a motorcycle, who fled after the incident. Salafi died on the spot. Salafi's murder followed reports in Pakistani media that a number of Jamaat-ud Dawa (JD) leaders, including its founder Hafeez Saeed, apprehended violence following the recent split in the organisation. REFERENCE: Jamaat-ud Dawa senior leader killed in Lahore PTI Sep 12, 2004, 06.31am IST http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-09-12/pakistan/27167556_1_jamaat-ud-dawa

Gustakh E Rasool (s.a.w) Barelvi Say Barh Kar Koi Nahi Hai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxHbruPzSAk

Barelvi Fatwa Of KUFR On Imams Of Kab'ah and Masjid Nabi (saw)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEYe3jOW9Gk


2011: ‘People who say blasphemy law is not debatable, mislead the nation’ * PUC chairman says those who issued edicts for Taseer’s murder are not muftis LAHORE: Pakistan Ulema Counsel Chairman Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi condemned the murder of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and said that those who issued edicts for the Punjab governor’s murder over blasphemy issues were not muftis, a private TV channel reported on Monday. Alamdin Ashrafi said that Taseer was not Raj Pal and Qadri was not Ghazi Alamdin Shaheed. He said that Islam had bestowed more rights on minorities than Muslims in society. He urged that religion not be used for vested interests of politics. He said that Aasia Bibi and Qadri’s cases were in court and the court would give its verdicts regarding the cases and we should wait and respect the court’s verdicts. He said that Taseer’s matter was in God’s court now. Ashrafi said that Taseer had repeatedly said that only a fanatic could commit blasphemy, adding that the blasphemy law was amended twice during Nawaz Sharif’s regimes, adding that Taseer was killed for just talking about the law. He said that laws presented by Ziaul Haq, Nawaz Sharif or Asif Ali Zardari were debatable, adding that those who say that a debate on blasphemy law was not possible were misleading the nation.

Ashrafi questioned as to how many people were sentenced under the law since it came into being in Pakistan?
He said that those who lodged fake FIRs were the real crooks. He asked why there was no law for those who commit blasphemy by mentioning fake statements in the FIR, which fall in the category of real blasphemy, and why religious parties do not raise their voices against them. Ashrafi said it was unfortunate that the nation could not understand what Taseer really wanted them to perceive, adding that people blame Taseer for committing blasphemy, but such people do not come on TV shows to prove their claims. He challenged anyone to prove any of Taseer’s statements in which he committed blasphemy and which warranted his death. He said that violence could not defend religion, adding that Islam was a religion of peace and we should adopt the holy Prophet’s (PBUH) way of life and not take the law in our hands. Ashrafi said that in his column, he was the first one who condemned a daily’s statement in which Salmaan Taseer was declared as murtad. He said that everyone considers himself a mufti in Pakistan. He urged that if any mufti, who declared a death penalty for the Punjab governor, or declared him as murtad, should come on TV and prove his claims in accordance with the holy Quran. REFERENCE: ‘People who say blasphemy law is not debatable, mislead the nation’ * PUC chairman says those who issued edicts for Taseer’s murder are not muftis Daily Times Monitor Tuesday, January 11, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C01%5C11%5Cstory_11-1-2011_pg7_16


Barelvi Mullah Shah Turabul Haq says that Deobandi and Wahabi are Kaafir


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj5Z7yzzgpI



2011 Sentiments were exploited against Salmaan Taseer: Ashrafi * Pakistan Ulema Council chairman says whosoever declared it was justified to kill Taseer should come on media to prove his claim before nation LAHORE: Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Allama Tahir Ashrafi has admitted that late Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was right in his claims regarding the misuse of the blasphemy law against minorities and said that sentiments were exploited against him, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. Ashrafi maintained that there had been several statements of Taseer, in which he had condemned the blasphemy, adding that not only the late governor, but many Ulemas, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leaders had also spoken in similar manner. He pointed out that none of them was a mufti, who decreed that Taseer had turned to be a non-believer, saying that it was the work of a mufti and Darul Iftaa to deliver such edicts. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman and Abul Khair Zubair, a few days back, maintained that no authentic mufti gave an edict of killing Taseer, the channel quoted Ashrafi as saying.


The PUC chairman questioned that why the blasphemy law was not implemented when on 12th Rabbiul Awwal of this Islamic year (in 2010), some 750 copies of the holy Quran and several books of Hadith and Tafseer were set on fire by unidentified people at late Allama Ziaul Haq Qasmi’s residence in Faisalabad and a footage of this incident was also present. “After the incident, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Fazal Karim sought registration of an FIR under 295-C against Zahid Qasmi, son of late Qasmi. Both the sides, sects ‘Deobandi’ and ‘Barelvi’, requested police seeking FIRs against each other, but the issue was resolved later,” he recalled and questioned why such a settlement was not counted as blasphemy or profanity, the channel reported.

Pakistani Muslims desecrated Holy Quran and Hadith Books in 2010 in Faisalabad Punjab


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ4kouGpQmI

Ashrafi also questioned that the case of Aasia Bibi was in court and “if the high court releases her”, the clerics would, then, accept this decision or not. Adding to the same point, he said, “If the clerics accepts her release by the high court, then who would be responsible for Salmaan Taseer’s blood.” He strongly criticised those who had been providing safety to the murdered the governor, the channel said. Ashrafi further said, “If an accused says that he/she has not committed blasphemy, even Ulema-e-Ahnaf have the capacity to acquit him/her.” Salmaan’s matter was political, he added. He questioned why this matter gained attention when Fazlur Rehman quitted the coalition. He also said that Mazhar Saeed Kazmi, brother of former religious minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, was now saying that it was not appropriate to offer the funeral prayers of Salmaan Taseer. “This is so unfortunate. Why Kazmi did not talk such thing when he was enjoying the ministry of religious affairs,” he added. Neither Salmaan Taseer was Rajpal nor Mumtaz Qadri was Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed, the PUC chairman said and claimed that even the most impious person could not dare to commit blasphemy. Salmaan’s statement was on record and he could not even imagine doing so, he maintained.

He recalled that Taseer’s father MD Taseer was the person who provided a death-bed to Ghazi Ilm Din Shaheed and Syed Ataullah Shah Bukhari called Taseer’s mother his sister. He said that the governor could be a bold person, offensive to a maulvi but he could not be a blasphemer. Ashrafi said that the one who declared that it was justified to kill Salmaan Taseer should come on media and prove it in front of the nation. Senior Analyst Syed Mumtaz Shah, who also participated in the TV programme, said that, in 1981, there was a baton-carrying mob, in which two parties were raising different voices on Naara e Risaalat and were harming each other. One was saying Ya Rasool Allah and the other was saying Muhammad-ur Rasool Allah, he said, adding that cases were filed against each other. Renowned Journalist Abbas Athar said that Barelvi ulemas banned offering Salmaan’s funeral prayers, adding that they had also remarked on the funerals of Lal Mosque’s girls that they were against the state. He questioned that did Mumtaz Qadri, being on duty, showed his loyalty with the state by shooting the governor. He asked that why not his treachery be highlighted. He also said that the biggest problem in the blasphemy law was that “when anyone gets blamed for committing blasphemy then it suddenly becomes a mob’s law”. He said that whenever it would be exposed there would be money behind the assassin and conspiracy too, adding that Mumtaz Qadri was not alone in it.

Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) member Azam Nazeer Tararr advocate said that everyone was agreed on the punishment of blasphemy, but haste was used while imposing it. He said that an inquiry should be made for complaints against the government officials, adding that “our problem is that the law is handed over to those who don’t have any training to bear the public pressure and use to surrender in front of it”. He said that according to the constitution, everyone had the right to defend themselves, adding that Article 4 and 9 defended the basic rights of living. He further said that extrajudicial killing was the violation of the constitution and human rights, adding that Taseer’s murder was an extrajudicial killing, which could not be justified. He further said that there was a decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) former chief justice, Khawaja Sharif, present in the light of a Hadith saying that “the Prophet (PBUH) said that 10 guilty ones can be freed but no innocent can be punished on the base of doubt”, the channel said. REFERENCE: Sentiments were exploited against Salmaan Taseer: Ashrafi * Pakistan Ulema Council chairman says whosoever declared it was justified to kill Taseer should come on media to prove his claim before nation Daily Times Monitor Sunday, January 09, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C01%5C09%5Cstory_9-1-2011_pg7_18

Barelvi Shah Turab ul Haq Qadri says Ashraf Ali Thanvi & Wahabis are Kaafir.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iab5Fm0PqzQ


2011: Qadri is a murderer, not a hero: Ashrafi * LAHORE: Pakistan Ulema Council Chairman Allama Tahir Ashrafi condemned the attitude of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), saying that the party was playing politics in the name of religion, adding that Mumtaz Qadri was a murderer not a hero, a private TV channel reported on Friday. Speaking in a private TV channel programme, Ahrafi asked what JUI-F member Ismael Buleedi did when Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman presented the blasphemy law bill in parliament. He said he heard Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani saying on the floor of National Assembly that the blasphemy law would not be amended. He said that the JUI-F regarded the PM and the PPP-led government as favourable up until the point that Azam Swati got sacked, adding that the blasphemy law issue was raised prior to Swati’s dismissal. He said the blasphemy law was a sacred law because no one could question on the holy Prophet (PBUH)’s sayings. He raised a question as to why the JUI-F demanded to bring the blasphemy law in the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), after terming it a ‘sacred law’? He asked if the members of the Council of Islamic Ideology were angels? He further questioned that if the council would term its point of view on any issue as Shariat and parliament or the Senate would turn it down, would it be the rejection of Shariat by parliament, the channel said.

In the programme, he presented an edict, collectively given by all schools of thoughts, according to which if any person would go against Shariat incidentally, then only the ruler would be the authorised person to punish him. He said that supporting Mumtaz Qadri or terming him a hero was not the right thing to do. He critically said that he was not the one delivering honour to slain Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassin, while addressing thousands in a gathering in Karachi. He was of the view that if the late Punjab governor was not justified in visiting Aasia Bibi in jail, then what Qadri did was also not an appreciable act. He said that when Sufi Muhammad said he did not obey the court and the rule of the country, he faced army action, adding that when the Taliban say that lashing women publicly is in accordance with Shariat, we term them as brutes. He said that when someone commits a crime in Islamabad, then the attitude of the leading processions are in his favour and distributing sweets creates conflict. He asked that if the blasphemy law was from God, then why was the Council of Islamic Ideology amending it. He criticised the council by saying that none of its proposals were ever implemented. He said the nation had not even reached a consensus on the authority to issue an edict, the channel reported.

Speaking in the same programme, Defence Analyst Dr Ayesha Siddiqua said that we are living in a country where minorities also have equal rights and late Taseer was a political figure. She said the late governor was not overturning the law as he was portrayed in the processions, as if (God forbid) he had committed blasphemy. The other participants of the programme were Ismael Buleedi, Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat Punjab President Shamsur Rehman Muawiya and formal interior secretary Tasneem Noorani. REFERENCE: Qadri is a murderer, not a hero: Ashrafi * Pakistan Ulema Council chairman says JUI-F playing politics in name of religion * Says Fazl liked PPP up until Swati was sacked Daily Times Monitor Saturday, January 29, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C01%5C29%5Cstory_29-1-2011_pg7_16

Barelvi Shah Turabul Haq Issues Fatwa of Kufr against Imam Kaaba & Saudi Arabia.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCRBtqEjTB8


2011: It is evident to everyone except the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party that it abandoned Salmaan Taseer, governor of the Punjab, and Sherry Rehman, another voice of conscience. Taseer was assassinated in Islamabad on Jan. 4; and Rehman’s life is in danger. Taseer was a brash, honest man with little patience for hypocrisy. After he took up the cause of Aasia Noreen, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, his views were wrongly and viciously misrepresented, including by some media organizations, leading to an environment of eliminatistic hostility being created against him. He never spoke against Islam. He never blasphemed. The day Taseer was buried, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a former prime minister and conservative, took the same position on the laws as Taseer, Rehman, members of the Awami National Party, and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan: the laws must not be misused to victimize Muslims and minorities. Scared, the “party of martyrs” declared it would not allow any amendments to the laws even after another one of its leaders joined the ranks of the martyred. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani reiterated this position at his press conference on Jan. 9 in Islamabad, the same day that at least 20,000 mullahs congregated in Karachi to condone Taseer’s murder and incite Rehman’s. Gilani also said he would welcome Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who spoke at the Karachi rally, back into the coalition fold. This is not Benazir Bhutto’s party.

What’s worse is that the PPP had no qualms in exploiting Taseer’s death by calling it a political murder and claiming it highlighted the failure, if not complicity, of the provincial government. It was not. But if it were, it was surely one in which the cowardly abandonment of a comrade did not help. Interior minister Rehman Malik alleged the assassination was part of a ploy to stoke “sectarian differences.” Trying to prove his credentials, he had earlier claimed that he, too, would shoot any blasphemer. And President Asif Ali Zardari informed his MPs that the party would investigate to determine whether the assassination was a conspiracy against the government under the smokescreen of religion. Despite Mumtaz Qadri having confessed to Taseer’s murder, the PPP appears unwilling to accept the religious connotations of this crime. Qadri has said he acted alone.

There are important questions that need to be answered. How was a man with identified extremist beliefs included in the governor’s security detail? Why did other members of the detail do nothing when even basic bodyguard training drills the concept of jumping in front of your charge to protect them? The fact remains that the assassin’s primary motivation was to kill the person he felt had committed blasphemy. Egged on by the media, which wasted no opportunity to trumpet Taseer’s alleged blasphemy, and supported by the extremist rhetoric spewed at mosques in every Pakistani neighborhood, Qadri did what was expected of him. It is true that religiosity by itself rarely leads to terrorism, but there’s no denying it is a major factor. Few have the courage to openly question this rising tide of religious extremism. Taseer was one of them and he paid the price for it.

In disavowing any religious motive for the attack, the PPP, supported by Taseer through imprisonment and exile, has got the message. Yet its short-sighted goal of playing it safe by politicizing the tragedy fails to respond to the wider problem that has finally been stripped bare: the deep-seated poison of fundamentalists who believe it is acceptable, even good, to take someone’s life in the name of religion. A small minority of religious scholars warned against, and condemned, this trend. Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council, said on Jan. 8 that those claiming there can be no debate on the blasphemy laws are misleading the nation. No investigation will reveal the inherent problems in a society that encourages people to glorify coldblooded murder in the name of God. Taseer was killed by an extremist who believed he would be guaranteed heaven once he silenced an allegedly blasphemous voice. To blame anything other than his brave stance against the misuse of the blasphemy laws for his assassination is a disservice to Taseer’s memory, and a disservice to the nation. HUSSAIN is a cardiac surgeon and editor-at-large of Newsweek Pakistan. REFERENCE: Last Man Standing Taseer’s sacrifice is demeaned by his party’s denial. By Syed Mansoor Hussain | From the Jan. 17‚ 2011‚ issue http://newsweekpakistan.com/the-take/237

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