Minority rights: US lawmakers rally to protect Ahmadis

Creation of caucus is primarily symbolic in itself but lays groundwork for lawmakers to be more active.

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers on Friday announced a caucus to fight for the rights of the Ahmadi minority, which has faced attacks in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Islamic world. The creation of a caucus -- a group in the US Congress that shares an agenda -- is primarily symbolic in itself but lays the groundwork for lawmakers to be more active. Republican Representative Frank Wolf, the co-chair with Democrat Jackie Speier, said the Ahmadiyya caucus would press for the rights of Ahmadis in trouble in Pakistan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. “We have an obligation. America cannot be silent,” Wolf told an event at Congress launching the caucus. Imam Naseem Mahdi, national vice president and missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya community USA, said that the caucus would advocate not just for Ahmadis but “for the rights of all persecuted religious communities in the world.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2014.