England and Wales Bar Council: Discrimination against Ahmadi lawyers in Pakistan needs to be ended

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The General Council of the Bar, commonly known as the Bar Council, the representative body for barristers in England and Wales, called for ending the discrimination against Ahmadi lawyers in Pakistan.

The Bar Council has issued a statement saying it is profoundly concerned by recent announcements in parts of Pakistan that Ahmadi Muslims lawyers must renounce their religion in order to practise at the Bar.

It says the District Bar Association of Gujranwala and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council issued notices that anyone applying for admittance to the Bar must positively assert they are Muslim and denounce the teachings of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Nick Vineall KC, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, has written to the chair of the Pakistan Bar Council requesting that action be taken to remedy this discrimination.