Gajju Chak, District Gujranwala; December 16, 2021: Mullas had applied to the police that Ahmadis, pretending to be Muslims, have built minarets and niche in their place of worship. Moreover, they have written Islamic words, the Kalima (Islamic Creed), names of Allah (Ya Hayyu, Ya Quyyum), on their gravestones etc. They have drawn Khana Kaaba and Roza Rasool (the tomb of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) on these while this is against the law (sic).
The law book mentions no such prohibitions.
On December 14, an Ahmadiyya delegation had a meeting with the police who conveyed that mullas had agreed that the minarets of the Ahmadiyya place of worship should be buried in concrete, and the Islamic inscriptions inside the mosque and its wallboard with clock, showing prayers timings and the Kalima should be removed. Similarly, the niche should be removed and the Islamic inscriptions on tombstones should be covered. The delegation conveyed their concern about the minarets and suggested that they had agreed under constraint to build a wall around the minarets to conceal their visibility from outside. As for the inside, Ahmadis have a right to be free to practice and display their beliefs.
The next day, on December 15, the Ahmadiyya delegation went again to meet the police, where they showed their plan with photographs to cater for the mullas’ demand. At this, the police said that they had convinced the mullas with great difficulty on burying the minarets instead of removing them. Now building a room there for this purpose will create difficulties. They threatened to report to higher officials against Ahmadis for not cooperating.
At midnight of December 16, the police broke open the lock of the Ahmadiyya mosque, built walls around the small minarets, and then locked it up with their own lock. On Friday, Ahmadis asked the police to
open the lock for Ahmadis to offer their Friday prayers. The police refused and told Ahmadis to first meet the CPO. Under the circumstances, Ahmadis had to offer their Friday prayers in a private house.
Later, the police covered the roof with tent, demolished the tops of the two big minarets of the mosque, built a wall around the minarets, filled them with concrete and buried them.
Similarly, they plastered Ahmadis’ tombstones. For the time being Ahmadis are not allowed to go to visit their graveyard for prayer.
We hold our comments; instead we quote below an extract from an op-ed in the prestigious daily Dawn.
“In hindsight it is clear that the PTI government never recovered from its victory in the 2018 elections. It has literally been downhill from the day that Prime Minister Imran Khan took oath of office in August of that year. That was the highest point for the PTI. Each year since then has weakened the government’s performance, diluted its credibility and undercut its viability as a party that is fit to rule. If it somehow survives in office in 2022, it would do so as a weakened shell of its original self. The humiliating defeat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government elections has provided this evidence, if one was needed.”
Mr. Fahd Husain in the daily Dawn of December 25, 2021
