Affect Blog

TO: Anne Milton, MP
The House of Commons
Westminster
London

29th May 2010

Re: Situation of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan
Recent terrorist atrocity in Lahore leaving over 80 dead

Dear Mrs. Milton,

I hope this letter finds you well and congratulations for you recent election victories both locally and as a party.

You may remember that I had written to you as a constituent in 2005 about the situation of Ahmadis and other minority communities in both Pakistan and Indonesia. I recall that you had been kind enough to pass on my concerns to the secretary of state and had forwarded me the very detailed response. I am thankful for this. I remember I had had some comments to make on the response but given the earthquake in Pakistan which occurred around the same time I had felt it prudent not to push further international criticism of Pakistan at a time when the country was self-evidently in need of massive international aid. I note that you attended the Peace Symposia in the Bait-ul-Futuh mosque amongst other events and are therefore reasonably aware of the Ahmadi community.

In Lahore yesterday two Ahmadi mosques were attacked by suicide bombs, grenades and shooting and leaving over 80 dead and approximately 150 injured. This was an attack on a peaceful community during their worship. At this stage the Pakistan Taliban have laid claim to this action.

The Ahmadi Community has often been particularly targeted but throughout Pakistan terrorism is reaching alarming levels. This is the latest in a series of long standing atrocities in Pakistan. In Lahore there has been an increase in terrorist incidents with over 265 people killed in nine incidents over the last year. Other main cities of Peshawer and Karachi have also seen alarming levels of violence. There is the incident of the “Red Mosque” in Islamabad in 2007 leading to a stand off between police and a girl’s madrassa armed with guns leaving hundreds dead. The Sri Lankan Cricket team has been attacked when visiting the country. Benazir Bhutto was targeted and killed. Other minority communities also come under attack. Christians have been attacked in Gojra Pakistan leaving eight dead in August 2009, in Mansehra “World Vision”, a Christian NGO was targeted leaving six employees dead. There are literally hundreds of incidents. One of the key factors behind all of these incidents is the atmosphere of hate and resentment which has been inculcated and spread by religious clerics for their own political means amongst certain extremist Muslim communities.

From the Ahmadi point of view there has been unrest been based on a systematic campaign of declaring Ahmadis as non Muslim and ‘Wajib-ul-Qatl’ (liable for death). Infact in a programme which was even aired in the UK on Geo TV a certain Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain on 7th September 2008 declared Ahmadis to be ‘Wajib-ul-Qatl’. Two days later two Ahmadis were gunned down, one a doctor in a clinic and another a gentleman on his way to prayers (I attach a report on the subject). Similarly a recent programme aired on Ummah Channel called “Khatme Nabuwat‘’ in April 2010 was a particularly inciteful programme. A similar programme aired by the same channel was called “Friends of Allah” in an interview of the Pir of Golra Sharif. These programmes may escape the UK authorities attention as they are predominantly in the Urdu language but nonetheless they create an atmosphere of hate and resentment in Muslim communities based upon sectarian differences. There has been a mushroom growth of such TV channels over the last few years including “Ummah TV”; “Peace TV”; “Hidaya TV”; “Noor TV” and “Iqra TV” and the government should issue firm guidance as to what is and what is not acceptable and take action against the channels as necessary when the boundries have been crossed. Those who make such statements publically on TV Channels such as this should be persona non grata in this country whether they are broadcasting from the UK, Dubai or Pakistan.

In this regard I would hope that you would firstly condemn the incident in the strongest terms but also consider if there is anything that can be done to stop the proliferation of extremism using this country’s airwaves.

With Kind Regards

Dr M. Sami
A constituent
(Guildford)

With the Queen’s Speech over, the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed, one puzzle remains still, as yet, unsolved. What is liberal conservatism exactly? Sorry, I meant, Liberal Conservatism. Is it the welfare state on tax cuts? Pro-Europe meeting No-to Europe? Blairesque Politics of a Third Way?

If you are confused now, you needn’t worry. So, it seems, was most of the electorate for most of the election. On rights Cameron looked the easy winner. He had an unpopular Prime Minister trumpeting nothing more than a dying brand of new Labour. The Murdoch empire swung behind him with such enthusiasm that watching the later Campbell-Boulton verbally fisticuffs just underlined the embarrassingly over-involvement of the media within our politics. Yet our now Prime Minister still failed, at least in conventional terms. Why?

Hold on to that question. First let us recall that, despite the temper tantrums, Brown was no wronged Othello. At times his attempts to cling on to power just looked plain desperate. Remember the YouTube videos. Whose idea was it for Prime Minister to grin inanely from ear to ear? We are British. We prefer our Ministers with deep furrowed brows.

But if Brown could be thin on the ground, perhaps we shouldn’t expect much more from our new Prime Minister – liberal, perhaps, only in the manner of his appointment. And here we return to the failure of Cameron to win a convincing mandate. It is not that the Conservatives could not have developed a convincing strategy. Labour’s big government and over-regulation in almost every industry and sector should have been attacked. The failure to deliver an equitable distribution within the welfare state (perhaps a failure of the welfare state itself – perhaps a failure of mismanagement – the debate should go on…) needed to be addressed. The failure to resolve not only the deficit but also private household borrowing had to be tackled. So we had Labour failures. But what were the Conservative answers? Nimbyism on Immigration and the vacuous idea of “The Big Society” - the idea that government would be replaced by a sense of the best of British imbuing everybody with a sense of civic duty so that suddenly the public would flock to community town halls, the charitable spirit would return to these isles and the sky would once again be blue. Non-implementable, irrelevant waffle of no worth to the worries and woes of modern society – the idea was always a non-starter. Yet our Prime Minister thought it had enough intellectual weight to win him an election. Surely, it is enough to make one wonder if this man is really and truly capable?

So we are off to a bad start. A not-to-bright but ambitious chap as leader – winning by a slim margin – presiding over a coalition that is (lets admit it) ideologically 180 degrees apart, spouting a single ideology that neither of the two member parties truly and fully believe in. But why be so gloomy? Remember the 1997 Labour poster song? Things can only get better….? Too bad that was before an election.