Atif Mian
On Thursday, June 5th, the principal of Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, expelled every student who belonged to the Ahmadi community from the college.
A total of twenty three students, fifteen female and eight male, across the five years of medical school have been expelled as a result. Further details regarding the incident can also be found in reports from the BBC and from the Daily Times.
The Ahmadi students were “accused” of preaching their religious beliefs. The principal was pressured into expelling the entire Ahmadi student body by a mob of protesters belonging to Islami Jamiat e Talaba. The mob circled the Principal’s office and demanded the expulsions. The same day, a mob of about 300 college students also barged into Ahmadi students’ rooms, beat them and threw their luggage out of their rooms.
What makes this incident especially troubling is the fact that the decision to expel Ahmadi students was taken by a government-run medical school, under full knowledge of the relevant Punjab ministries.
As an academic, and a Pakistani, I am totally appalled by this latest incidence of religious fanaticism. One hopes that the present Punjab government turns a page, and instead of supporting the forces of extremism, comes to the protection of its ordinary citizens.
Atif Mian is Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.
Governor seeks report on expulsion of Ahmedi students
LAHORE: Governor Salmaan Taseer, taking notice of the expulsion of 23 students from the Punjab Medical College (PMC), Faisalabad, on Tuesday called a report from the Health secretary within 24 hours.
The Academic Council of the PMC had expelled 23 Ahmedi students for allegedly preaching their religion on campus. staff report
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C06%5C11%5Cstory_11-6-2008_pg7_47
Thats new!
PMC boys hostels sealed
By Our Staff Correspondent
FAISALABAD, June 11: The police sealed the Punjab Medical College (PMC) boys hostels on Wednesday and disconnected water and power supply, forcing students to leave the premises, sources told Dawn.
Sources said a heavy contingent of police on the request of PMC administration besieged Iqbal and Seena hostels and asked all borders to vacate the premises till 3pm. After the deadline, sources said, the police locked the main gates and they did not allow any student to get their belongings.
Only foreign students have been allowed to stay, as they have no immediate means to relocate.
Sources said the deteriorated situation forced the administration to change the hostel warden, Dr Khalid, who allegedly refused to seek police assistance to get the hostels vacated. Dr Javeed Iqbal has been appointed the new warden.
Talking to Dawn, Malik Yousaf, a Madina Town police officer, said the force had been deployed to avoid any eventuality. He said the police personnel would not enter the hostel premises. He said only foreign students had been permitted to stay.
http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/12/nat38.htm
Moderators,
can we please have a way of stopping the spam in this comments chain. Some people, on both sides, are just stuffing this with one message after the other saying the same thing again and again and again and again. What is the point if the other guy did not understand the point the first time they will not get it the 10th time either.
Ibrahim, I agree with you. Obviously you also want Wahabi places of worship to boldly say that they are not mosques and are Wahabi and they should not be allowed to say Assalamu Alikum, give azaan, etc. Because that will obviously confuse some Muslims into believing that Wahabis are Muslims, which they obviously are not. They are a deviant cult that seeks to distort real Islam. Similarly Taliban temples should certianly not be allowe dto look like or act like mosques, because they are also fake Muslims and their whole mission is to confuse real Muslims into believing that their perverted shariah is real Islam.
Thank you Ibrahim for making this logic clear to all of us Muslims so that we can now start also stamping out these other enemies of Islam.
Some progress…
FAISALABAD, June 11: The police sealed the Punjab Medical College (PMC) boys hostels on Wednesday and disconnected water and power supply, forcing students to leave the premises, sources told Dawn.
Sources said a heavy contingent of police on the request of PMC administration besieged Iqbal and Seena hostels and asked all borders to vacate the premises till 3pm. After the deadline, sources said, the police locked the main gates and they did not allow any student to get their belongings.
…
http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/12/nat38.htm
Ordinary citizen …
We are still waiting up on you to show us how the second amendment abolishes article 20.
Muslim places of worship also closely resemble gurdwaras and several mosques in the US and UK look like Churches.
I am all for Ahmadiyya Islamic Mosque to advertise Ahmaddiya in bold letters but to stop them from making minarets or saying Azaan or the Kalima is just unconstitutional.
-YLH
@YLH: Yeah, that’s because a church, unlike a Qadiani place of worship, does not resemble a mosque in any way, so there is no need to declare it a church.
@Atif Mian: You wrote “But what is most impressive is that many Pakistanis took it upon themselves to take real action”. Unfortunately, the people who are in a position to take some real action do not read blogs and people like ourselves who read blogs just read blogs ;)
Sis ayesha fazal….thank you for letting us know your account and fo standing up for what you think is wrong.
Similarly Ahmadis do make their mosques but they are asked to make it clear that the mosque is an ahmadi place of worship