The Baha’i Community of Pakistan celebrating their Holy Day in Swimming Pool.
Pakistani Baha I teaching Moral Lessons to Non Baha I children in a Baha’i Center.
This correspondent paid a visit to Lahore s only Baha’i center ,situated in a quiet corner on the Goulding Road near Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Sunday .Ever Sunday a local spiritual assembly (LSA) of Baha’i people meet to discuss new activities in fields regarding social welfare and education ,Baha’i assemblies are also function in Quetta and Karachi, with the Baha’i Grand National Assembly located in lslamabad.
Baha’i Hall ,Karachi
According to their founder Bahaulla s book of laws called Kitab –i-Aqdas wherever nine or more Baha’i followers are found ,an elected council or an LSA must be set up to sever the community .As the Baha’i Faith has no ordained clergy or priestly institutions , the LSA organizer religious activities and holidays.
Talking to The News , a female gynecologist and member of the LSA traced the family s Journey to Pakistan in the 1980 s. Bath her parents belong to Iran and are of Persian descent .Though faced with persecution under the Shah Pahlavi s regime ,new laws passed under the 1979 revolutionary government of Ayatollah Khomeini banned the Baha’i people from attending universities ,working in government Jobs ,and burying their dead ,incidents of illegal police
raids , ransacking of homes ,graveyard desecration and destruction of Baha’i centers became popular in post-1979 Iran.
For more details on Kitab-i-Aqdas (the most holy books of Baha is ) please check:
http://kitab –i-aqdas ,info /Aqdas-Baha’i –Slumdog faith-Hoodie.html
According to a female member ,her Iranian father was a university professor before he was dismissed from his Job .Due to the security concerns ,they decided to shift to Pakistan soon after the laws were passed and were granted political asylum under General Ziaul Haq government in 1980.
Settled in Lahore and working as a gynecologist ,the female LSA member said she was invited to participate in interfaith meetings in Lahore and never faced religious discrimination in her daily life. According to a male representative , a cemetery for Baha’i people in Lahore was allotted to them by the District City Government Lahore and was situated here near the University of Education Township campus.
Baha’i Study Circle in Azerbaijan
As the faith is open to conversion and welcomes people of all faiths to acquire knowledge through its impressive libraries conversion to Baha’i faith in Pakistan can be traced to the years and decades before the arrival of Iranian Baha’i people in the country .
Talking to The News ,a female member narrated her conversion to Baha’ism .Her father, in pre-partition Lahore ,was fond of reading the scriptures of other religions and encouraged his children to follow in his path .The female LSA member ,a convert accompanied her father on a trip to a Baha’i center in the city and soon became interested in the teachings of Bahaullah. Thereafter ,she joined the community and now serves as an elected member of the Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) Though the Baha’i faith has no institutional clergy, there are laws and social customs which regulate the lives of Baha’i people.
As per the International Baha’i Council and consensus within the community ,follower of Bahaulla are restricted from entering politics and filling leadership positions.
Some Pakistani Baha is Singing & Dancing
Speaking on this subject a male LSA member said the purpose behind this was to prevent disunity within the faith on account of rival political alliances and desire of power .Despite voting in Pakistan s numerous elections, Baha’i people are not encouraged to disclose their choice of political parties .Worldwide voting for all Bahai assemblies takes place through secret ballots and campaigning for seats in the assemblies is strictly prohibited as per Bahai scripture, according to LSA members in Lahore .
The Bahai Gardens in Haifa ,lsrael bera specila importanc for Bahai people as they surround the Shrine of Bab where the remains of their prophet Bab was buried after his execution in modern-day lran.Yet , members of the Bahai Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA) in Lahoer have accepted without reservations the travel ban placed on all Pakistani by the Government of Pakistan to lsrael.
Kishen Manocha With Late Shahbaz Bhatti
kishen Manocha (whth Robert Weinberg ,who works in Baha'i World Centre Haifa)is a Baha I from Pakistan who is a frequent traveler to lsrael.
He and his Pakistani Professor friend have good A female LSA member present said it was in the teachings of Bahaullah to respect the of the countries where they reside and to be patriotic citizens.
She regretted the discriminatory treatment of Baha’i people in the Iran but said violence should not be met with violence and prayers are regularly offered for the welfare of their lranian brethren.