Rabia Saleem a female Ahmadi student of the final year has been expelled from CIIT (COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Lahore on allegations of Blasphemy.
According to sources Rabia Saleem was accused of Blasphemy by the student wing of a banned organization TKN (Tahaffuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabuwwat). Rabia Saleem is a student of final year and lived at the hostel; she removed a banner displayed by TKN against the Ahmadi community on the hostel door. She is an Ahmadi herself, the hostel guard saw
her removing the poster and created a scene and exploited the situation accusing her of committing blasphemy by dishonoring the verses of the Quran.
According to Nasreen Ghulam a CIIT student, the banner displayed at the hostel door had material against the Ahmadis, but didnt have any quranic verses, she was falsely accused for her faith.
Rasheed Ahmed Khan, the Registrar of the institute denied any connection of the removal with the student’s faith. “Rabia Saleem has been expelled for violating the discipline of the Institution and not complying with the rules and regulation.” He refused to provide a copy of the notice that was served to the student.
A faculty member on the condition of Anonymity said," It was a petty matter, could have been resolved by the warden and the administration, but the warden along with the security guard and CIIT administration exploited the situation against the Ahmadi student, the administration has a very discriminating attitude towards the religious minorities and never leaves a chance to take action against them. In the past several similar incidents took place, but the administration allowed the Tahaffuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabuwwat to continue their propaganda against the Ahmadis, the administration allows the TKN to act, because of the support from the administration they have become strong. The religious organizations should be barred from all the educational institutes, they are harboring terrorists by allowing such organizations to act freely and do whatever they like."
The TKN has been displaying banners against the Ahmadis, the administration has expelled the student with TKN`s support and allowed them to display banners containing hatred against the religious minorities and protest against the Ahmadis. They announced that they will not allow any Ahmadi student to live in the campus and will even kill if any of them resists. TKN has also started campaigns against the Ahmadis on various social networks as well.
The CIIT administration is allowing such extremist activities to continue in the campus, the concerned authorities and the ministry of education is silently observing the situation allowing the propaganda against the Ahmadi Students.
The Ahmadis have been living in continuous fear, earlier this year an Ahmadi Seminary was attacked in Lahore, hundreds of innocent people were killed. In past several years the persecution against the Ahmadis has been on the rise.
In September an 8th grader was expelled for a spelling mistake in the Urdu exam in Abbotabad. Her mother was also transferred from Abbotabad.
Life for All Pakistan a humanitarian organization has condemned the incident and issued a joint statement," This is the reason religious and state affairs should be kept separate. We strongly condemn the incident; the administration of the institution must be condemned for supporting a religious organization and allowing them to act against the code of conduct. The Institution’s spokesperson said that the Ahmadi student was expelled for violating discipline, displaying banners against the religious minorities is not a violation of the discipline? Openly announcing a religious minority liable to be killed is allowed in an educational institution, is this not violation of the regulations and humanity? Where are we headed? Why was a banner against a religious minority allowed to be displayed at the hostel door? Many students suffer discrimination in the educational institutions, but no one addresses the matter. I fail to understand the role of the education Ministry, if they dont do anything for the education, then what is the need of having such an department, it is merely a burden on the nation, simply abolish such ministries which are not performing their designated duties. The state is allowing the religious hatred to grow and is not taking notice of the growing persecution. The extremist mind set is growing and taking over, if this continues Pakistan will lose all the sane people alive. Ensuring the safety of the minorities is the state’s responsibility, Quaid-e-Azam the founder of Pakistan said every citizen has the right to practice his / her religion freely, anyone`s religion is their personal mater and not the matter of the state. Is today`s Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam`s Pakistan? The Director COMSATS must have immediately resigned on such a shameful incident.
The concerned authorities must intervene and take the necessary action. The growing extremism in the educational institutions must be checked, no one should be allowed to speak or do anything against any religion. Tolerance and Harmony must be promoted; the religious leaders must play a positive role and condemn such incidents, so that in future students like Rabia Saleem dont suffer. The Only Pakistani who won the Noble peace prize Abdul Salam was never given the place he deserved only because he was an Ahamdi. It is about time the government takes steps to end the religious extremism before it consumes the nation like a plague."
