Home Monthly Newsreports December, 2002

Rabwah: Bahashti Maqbrah, the special graveyard at Rabwah is a venerable site for Ahmadis from all over the world. A mulla, Allah Yar Arshad has occupied a mosque that was built unauthorizedly in the land adjacent to the graveyard. He finds it a perfect location to hurl invective and insults from a loudspeaker at visiting Ahmadis, and he indulges in various other forms of provocation also. He has been reported to the police and is well-known in official circles. The authorities are however shy in showing him the penal code. Recently, this mulla and his followers thought of a new form of provocation — vandalism. They tasked a few of their teen-agers to hurl stones at the lights inside the graveyard and break the florescent lights. Initially they undertook the provocation discreetly — at a time when nobody was watching. The next time, emboldened by the Ahmadiyya forbearance, they threw stones when a burial was actually in progress at about 3 p.m. on December 21. A number of lights were damaged by this vandalism.

Rabwah It appears that mullahs are intent upon creating some ugly situation at Rabwah for their ulterior purposes which may be political. Mullah Allah Yar Arshad, the cleric at Masjid Bokhari at Rabwah is attempting higher provocation than rhetoric, to precipitate an incident. His persistence is noteworthy from the following attempts:

The mullah is obviously itching for a fight. He represents various politico-religious groups and interests, and is the local trouble monger. The above mentioned incidents may appear small, but the mullah knows that only a small match stick is needed to start a blazing fire.

Chak 116/12-L, district Sahiwal: Mirza Muhammad Ayub, an Ahmadi died in this village on November 28. He had two wives, an Ahmadi and another one, a non-Ahmadi. The villagers buried him in the common graveyard. His funeral prayers were offered both by Ahmadis as well as non-Ahmadis. Apparently the local community had no problem with his faith nor with his burial. The mullah, however, has his own plans.

Many days after the final rites, the clerics managed to have a report published in the daily Nawa-i-Waqt of December 21, that a Qadiani had been buried in a Muslim graveyard, and as a result, the people and the ulema had become restive and were demanding exhumation of the dead body. Numerous mullahs reportedly threatened action and agitation. The press report mentions the mullahs’ intentions, however, the reaction of authorities is not yet known.

Muzaffargarh: Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad Saggon, an Ahmadi, was charged under the anti-Ahmadiyya law PPC 298C on August 31, 2002 and was arrested by the police. The magistrate, Mr. Shafiq Bokhari did not attend to his request for bail for a whole week and decided to reject it on September 11, 2002. Eventually the plea for bail reached the High Court.

The judge at the High Court appeared to be more interested in matters of belief and faith than those of the law. Rather than granting bail, he ordered the presiding magistrate to decide the case expeditiously within three months. Normally in Pakistan, such speed and expediency is demanded of Anti-terrorism Special Courts or in cases where public interest requires firm and rapid process to punish those accused of heinous crimes against society. The learned judge’s keen desire to dispense an expeditious verdict in this case is suspect.

The Sessions Judge understood the message from above, and rejected the accused’s plea for bail, on December 17, 2002.

Rahim Yar Khan: This city is a violent place, as for Ahmadis are concerned. Here, religious extremists murdered a well-known Ahmadi doctor, Dr Rashid Ahmad, in November. Recently they vandalized the local Ahmadiyya mosque. Miscreants threw paint at the gate of the mosque in an effort to damage the signboard showing that it was Ahmadiyya place of worship. Subsequently, they sent a note of great threat to the worshippers. Its translation is given below:

Rawalpindi; October 26, 2002: The self-styled Almi Tanzim Ahle Sunnat (World Organization of Sunnis), with its office at Bypass Road, Gujrat reportedly organized a convention at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi on October 26, 2002. Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri is the Chief of this organization. At this occasion they published their Charter of Demands, their Resolutions and the text of the Opening Address.

The Opening Address contained a short list of their aims and objects. For effect, they have added Tahaffuz Khatame Nabuwwat (Protection of the Finality of Prophethood) as one of their goals. It declares a program of holding a series of conferences ‘all over the world’ on this issue in order to launch a movement against Qadianis who are ‘supported by Jews and Christians’.

The list of Resolutions inter alia includes:

The Organization has given its address and phone numbers as follows:

	UK :	00-44-113-2485067
	USA :	001-201-4330057
	E-mail:	atas@hi.net.pk

Lahore: Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri, MNA is the Chairman of Pakistan Awami Tehrik and till October was a hot contender for the post of Prime Minister of Pakistan. In national elections, however, his party performed very poorly and he was the only PAT candidate who was elected to the National Assembly. Allama Qadri is good at public relations and poses with some success as an enlightened, progressive and even tolerant Muslim cleric. Other than the PAT, he heads the religious organization of Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran. It is in the latter that his true colours become apparent. Recently, the Idara (Lahore branch) issued an anti-Ahmadiyya leaflet wherein a Fatwa of the late Ahmad Raza Khan Brelvi is reproduced. It declares that “(Mirzais and their friends) are apostates and hypocrites……meat slaughtered by them is cadaverous, illicit and prohibited. Anyone who sympathizes with a Qadiani for his social boycott by Muslims, is himself outside the pale of Islam. And the one who does not call the infidel ‘an infidel’ is also an infidel. It is a binding duty on all Muslims that they should completely boycott all social interaction (with Qadianis) on all occasions of life and death. It is forbidden to inquire of (a Qadiani patient’s) health, to attend his funeral, to bury him in a Muslim graveyard and to visit his grave”.

It is a lengthy pamphlet that exhorts powerfully all Muslims to institute a complete social boycott of Ahmadis.

Allama Qadri is indeed great at trumpery.

Fatehpur, district Gujrat: Ahmadiyya Community at Fatehpur is facing active opposition and harassment from non-Ahmadi clerics. The president of the Community, Mr. Tanveer Ahmad has been confronted and challenged many a times. He avoided the imposed brawl with great tact. The religious zealots reported to the police against inscription written on the local Ahmadiyya mosque. The police inspector inspected the site and found nothing that was even remotely offensive. He found the inscriptions even laudable. These activists thereafter took the law in their own hands and in the darkness of the night, defaced the inscriptions and vandalized the mosque. Ahmadis undertook the repairs and are now keeping an active watch at the mosque to guard against further attempts.

Sheikhupura: Mullahs have learnt from experience that their agitation, threats, provocation and intimidation works in public life. They use these tactics freely in their anti-Ahmadiyya drives. Recently, the administration appointed Ms Tayyaba Malik, reportedly an Ahmadi, as principal of the Government Girls College, Sheikhupura. The Khatame Nabuwwat (Finality of Prophethood) organization finds the appointment unacceptable. One wonders at the relationship of the appointment of a principal with the Finality of Prophethood. Nevertheless, the clerics think that the two are closely inter-related. So they issued a pamphlet and circulated it widely. They threatened therein that if the administration did not cancel the appointment order, the responsibility of the resulting breakdown in law and order will be that of the district administration. The circular was issued by Shoba Nashar-o-Ashat. It is dated November 1, 2002.

Rabwah: A century ago, when sound amplifier was introduced, the mulla declared it a satanic device and refused to use it in the mosque. Subsequently, he discovered that it was a great invention whereby he could impose himself on the people. He loves it now so much that proverbially every times he needs to cough, he would prefer to go to the nearest mic and cough via a loud speaker. Mullahs, through their verbal harassment, hold entire communities as hostage. Ahmadis of Rabwah get more than their share of mullah’s unwelcome sermons.

At the occasion of last Eid, on December 6, the mullah of the Bokhari Mosque invited all Ahmadis to convert to (his type of) Islam. “(Otherwise) the law, even if it is in a waste basket, can be used against you”, he blurted. He quoted Qazi Hussain Ahmad’s (leader of MMA & JI) offer of cooperation to the government if it would agree to implement recommendations of the Islamic Ideology Council. Apparently, this mulla is well aware of the mischief contained in some of these recommendations. He even quoted, “According to the law recommended by the Islamic Council, a person who claims to be a prophet should be given three days to reconsider, thereafter he may be put to death”. “Pakistan now has its Joint Electorate: these cheered the Qadianis, but Muslims got the votes - (not Qadianis)”, he gloated. Thanks to General Musharaf!

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