The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK: Cardiff Labour Councillor Resigns Appalled by Hate Propaganda Against Ahmadi Muslims

councillor-sue-white

Councillor Sue White

“The issues noted in the resignation statement are shocking and the matter should be investigated by the party and appropriate action taken against those spreading false propaganda and hate against our community,” said Rafiq Hayat, national President of Ahmadiyya Muslims in UK.

Mr Ata ur Rehman Maaz, President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Cardiff, said,

We are deeply disturbed by the contents of the resignation statement of Councillor Sue White and the appalling treatment she has faced simply for supporting our local community work.

We are shocked that she has encountered prejudice, bullying and bigotry simply for attending our peace events and Eid reception.

Furthermore, we are horrified by the false accusations against our community being a dangerous organisation or having any links with extremism. Nothing could be further from the truth and in fact just last week we held successful Peace Conference on the theme of United Against Extremism – part of our nationwide campaign to condemn all forms of hate and extremism.

Mr Rafiq Hayat, National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, said:

The issues noted in the resignation statement are shocking and the matter should be investigated by the party and appropriate action taken against those spreading false propaganda and hate against our community.

No one should be discriminated against or targeted because of their faith or religious beliefs. We have been raising concerns about the issue of anti-Ahmadi propaganda and our concerns that this is an overspill of extremism from Pakistan to the UK.

Our community has faced 40 years of state sponsored persecution in Pakistan where we face daily harassment, intimidation and hundreds of our members have been killed on grounds of faith. We do not want such extremism to spread to the UK.

Sadly, we have seen the signs of such extremism emerging in the UK and it also resulted in the brutal murder of an Ahmadi Muslim, Asad Shah, in Glasgow earlier this year.

We have been running national campaigns to promote the peaceful message of Islam and calling on communities to unite and stand up against hate and terrorism. This is widely supported by Secretaries of State, MPs and many other leaders and as Sue White notes that even our recent event in Cardiff was unanimously praised for its focus on peace and interfaith dialogue.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community is in the vanguard of the fight against extremism –our world leader, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has spoken out around the world against the threat of extremism and ISIS, and we have organised campaigns and events to draw attention to the threat.

Today we are holding a special reception in the House of Commons where the half a million pounds raised in our Charity Walk for Peace this year will be donated to British charities. This is how we put our community’s ethos of ‘Love for All Hatred for None’ into practice.

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