Implement policies for the rights of citizens and immigrants

Accra, Sept. 13, GNA – His Holiness, Hazrat
Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, has
urged governments to implement sensible and fair policies that keep in mind the
rights and requirements of citizens and migrants alike.

A statement issued in Accra quoted His
Holiness, who is also the Fifth Khalifa as delivering an address on the second
day of the 43rd Annual Convention (Jalsa Salana) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim
Community in Germany about the world’s immigration crisis.

He said society should not shy away from
issues that were leading to divisions but should seek to tackle root causes
that were underpinning such tensions.

The Spiritual Leader said wherever there was
mass immigration, the authorities should ensure that the rights of the
indigenous people were not affected, indicating that immigrants should seek to
enter employment as soon as possible.

He commended the German government’s decision
to consider a new policy whereby asylum seekers would be required to do a
year’s community service upon settling in Germany.

His Holiness said such a scheme would “instil
a belief that it is the duty of each person to serve their society and to help
the members of the community.”

Speaking about a sense of fear gripping Germany
and other Western nations due to immigration, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor
Ahmad said, “Many local people are afraid that their societies are changing
beyond comprehension and they feel that their nation’s resources are being
disproportionately utilised in favour of immigrants.”

He said, sadly, a recent report suggested that
immigrants committed a high proportion of rapes or attempted rapes in one
Western country, adding that “Given this, let me make it categorically clear
that any Muslim, who violates the honour of a woman or abuses her in any way is
acting entirely against Islam’s teachings.”

“Islam considers such behaviour as evil and
has mandated exceptionally strong punishments for those guilty of such immoral
and reprehensible crimes,” he added.

On security concerns related to mass
immigration, the Ahmadi Leader said such issues should be directly confronted
and debated rationally so that solutions alleviating the fears of existing
citizens were addressed.

He said refugees should consider themselves
“indebted” to their host nations and its people and the way to repay the favour
was that “they should seek to contribute to the society as soon as possible”,
even if the only job they could get was basic labour work.

He said, “Society should not reject genuine
refugees, who are suffering through no fault of their own and also they should
not cast aside innocent people, who only want the opportunity to live in peace
and who desire to be good citizens and follow the laws of the land in which
they live.”

He said instead, “we should be there to give a
helping hand to those, whose lives have been broken, who have been tormented
and who are utterly helpless, vulnerable and defenceless. Let us prove our
humanity. Let us show our compassion. Let us be there to shoulder the burdens
of those who are in desperate need.”

In terms of security issues resulting from
immigration, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said, “Wherever, there is
large scale migration it inevitably leads to security issues. Indeed, it has
been proven that hidden amongst the genuine refugees are immigrants, who have
the potential to cause great harm.”

He said this was something, he had warned
about in the past that each case should be carefully analysed to ensure that
extremists or criminals posing as refugees were not allowed to enter.

He said the safety of the citizens of a
country was a ‘paramount objective’ of a government and advised that where
there was any suspicion about an immigrant, authorities should monitor them
until they were satisfied that they no longer posed a threat.

GNA

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