CHICAGO A journalist for the Mississauga, Ont.-based newspaper The Pakistan Post was assaulted by two men, one armed with a cricket bat, who warned him to stop “writing against Islam” and a Pakistan-based religious organization, the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) reported Thursday.
Journalist Jawaad Faizi was attacked on the evening of April 17 while sitting in his car outside the home of the newspaper’s editor, Amir Arain. The two men smashed the car windows, and repeatedly hit Faizi. They fled when they saw him call 911 on his cell phone.
During the attack, Faizi said, the men told him to stop writing critically of the religious organization Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran and its leader, Cleric Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri. Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri is a frequent visitor to Canada, CJFE said. CONTINUE
I may have missed this disturbing but not, at all, astounding or shocking story in the Canadian media. There are moments, some call them senior; when one’s brain gets a glitch. However, although many of us in Canada are aware of the ongoing threat from radical Islamists, most prefer denial or hockey than this reality. As do some Americans 9/11 is ancient history to many Canadians. Like many others on this planet, it is easier to point one’s finger at a neighbour’s backyard in complaint, than to be critical of one’s own ills.