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.
@ayesha fazal
Your claims are clear lies because,
if “the students wrongly enrolled them selves as Muslim students” then how the principal came to know that they are Ahmadis and expelled them immediately. Getting this information about 23 students would have required him to contact ISI or check the NADRA database for the information and this process can take months!
Secondly, no Ahmadi can ever use “foul language” against the Holy Prophet (SAW).
“And now, you are calling a lady student of the institution in question and her eyewitness account as
Saying that there should be absolute freedom for practicing and preaching any religion in any country is living in Utopia.
Correct. It;s not even “SECULAR” turkey either. All secular machinary got pumped up to kick Abdullah Gull out of power coz his Life partner wears scarf.
@YLH: Hold your horses!
Let
@Ordinary Citizen:
So let me get this straight … Qadianis cannot use “copyrighted” Islamic terms because it would confuse other (perhaps, naive) Muslims? I can understand this logic because clearly even at the time of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), hypocrites existed and Allah warned the Prophet against such characters, notably Abdullah bin Ubayy. This was such a despicable man that his own son sought permission from the Prophet to kill his father. Yet, the response of the Prophet was to not only let him be, but he even offered his funeral prayer. Perhaps the ordinary citizen, who is proud to be educated in the West and knows a few things about skeletons, should instead study history and learn to live by the example set by the greatest of all prophets.