04/13/2024MASSIMO INTROVIGNEA+ | A-
The Pakistan Medical Association displayed anti-Ahmadi banners in front of the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad and called for discrimination of the Ahmadi patients.
by Massimo Introvigne
On April 4, I led a delegation of scholars attending a religious liberty conference to visit the Batul Hameed Mosque of the Ahmadiyya community in Chino, California. Apart from learning about the rich history of the Ahmadis in California, we wanted to brought to the community, which includes many who came to the United States from Pakistan, our solidarity about the persecution they suffer in that country.
Just as we were visiting the Chino Ahmadi mosque, where the Ahmadis enjoy full freedom of practicing their religion, we received news of a new form of anti-Ahmadiyya persecution in Pakistan. This one is particularly obnoxious since it targets the most vulnerable victims, patients in hospitals.
Banners were displayed in front of the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad—not by private hatemongers but by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA). Written on one banner was: “Qadianism [a derogatory word used to designate the Ahmadiyya community] is a cancer. Muslims will not permit it to spread.” Another read: “The decision of Chief Justice is the encouragement of Qadianism and is akin to playing with the emotions of Muslims.” A third banner read: “Chief Justice’s verdict in favour of the Qadianis goes against Pakistan’s Constitution.”
The second and third banner referred to the February 8 decision of the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court that ordered the release of a man who had distributed an Ahmadi commentary to the Holy Quran. Although the real scope of this decision has been differently interpreted, the most fundamentalist Sunni Muslims in Pakistan regard as offensive any decision that would not just emphatically reaffirm the legitimacy of the the repression against the Ahmadis in all its forms.
According to the Ahmadiyya community, members of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) “announced a boycott of Ahmadi patients at hospitals. The PMA’s campaign against Ahmadi Muslims is at variance with medical ethics, common decency, and is a threat to the health and life of the most vulnerable members of society.”
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community further commented, “This kind of behaviour is not worthy of the esteemed medical profession. We demand that these hateful banners be removed from the site, and moreover, we expect that the authorities at the PMA would hold the culprits accountable and would take action against them in line with their rules.”
TAGGED WITH: AHMADIS, PAKISTAN
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
source https://bitterwinter.org/pakistan-discrimination-against-ahmadis-extends-to-hospitals/
Categories: Ahmadis And Pakistan, Asia, Pakistan, Pakistan Inter-Faith
“Chief Justice’s verdict in favour of the Qadianis goes against Pakistan’s Constitution.”
I wonder if they forgot the fact that it was because of our brothers and sisters in Pakistan the constitution was created, and the state was supported by Ahmadi Muslims from the time of partition. It’s as disgusting as them trying to remove the word Muslim from Dr. Salam’s grave.