The daily Ummat Karachi published on February 27, 2022 the following news item (translated). This news item throws plenty of light on the conduct of the ulama, the authorities, and the vernacular press.
Mirpur Khas: Decision on changing the appearance of the Qadiani place of worship
The management will be told; if you do not alter the appearance, the district administration will act: Deputy Commissioner assures ulama
Mirpur Khas (Ummat News): After the ultimatum given by Tehreek-e-Tahffuz-e-Namoos Rasalat Pakistan to change the appearance of the mosque-style Qadiani place of worship, the Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Khas assured the leaders of the Tehreek and of other religious and political parties that the appearance of the worship place will be changed by next week. According to details, on the call of the Tehreek, on the occasion of the Day of Condemnation, a final ultimatum was given to the district administration of Mirpur Khas to change the appearance of the Qadiani worship place by March 4. After that Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Khas Salamat Ali Memon contacted local leaders of the Tehreek along with other religious and political parties and invited them to his office. Representative of Tehreek-e-Tahaffaz-e-Namoos Rasalat Pakistan, Maulana Muhammad Osama Kharani, Hafiz Akbar Rashid of Ulama Action Committee, Maulana Zaheer Ahmed of Sunni Coordinating Council, Hafiz Ehtesham ul Haq, Mufti Muslim of Jamaat-e-Islami, Najamuddin, Noor Ilahi, Hakim Ali Kashkuri of Ahl e Sunnat organizations, Muhammad Atiq, Babar Obaid of Jamiat Ahl e Hadees, Muhammad Irfan, Maulana Taj Muhammad of Jamiat Ulema e Islam met Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Khas Salamat Ali Memon on his invitation.
During the meeting with the delegation, the Deputy Commissioner said, “We too are Muslim and bound by the Constitution and law. The administration had immediately sealed the mentioned worship place after receiving an application from the Tehreek to change the appearance of the mosque-style Qadiani worship place. Now we have decided that we will first issue orders to the administrators of the said place of worship built in the style of a mosque, to change the appearance of the said place of worship on their own, if they do not do so immediately, then next week, the district administration will implement the rule of law and order by changing the appearance of the place of worship of the Qadianis built in the style of a mosque.”
On this occasion, in the presence of the delegation, Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Khas contacted SSP Shuja Abad, District Mirpur Khas and issued necessary instructions to him regarding the matter. On the other hand, Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed, General Secretary Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Namos-e-Rasalat Pakistan said, “We hope that Deputy Commissioner Mirpur Khas will fulfill his promise of changing the appearance of this place of worship built like a mosque before next Friday and apply the rule of law and order by doing so, otherwise, we will be entirely free to give any plan of action after March 4.”
Comments:
- Abbas Nasir wrote in the prestigious daily Dawn on December 5, 2021 an op-ed titled “Fiddling while Rome burns”. He concluded the state of the federation as: “The result is that Pakistan is poised at the edge of the precipice.” In this situation the Ulama, the bureaucracy, the politico-religious parties, the vernacular press (and indeed the top leadership, indirectly) are totally involved in self-created issue of the appearance of a place of worship of a community on which minority status is imposed. If the country comes to harm, these groups can blame only themselves for indulging in wrong and bizarre priorities – because, indeed, they were fiddling while Rome burnt.
- The perpetrators of this and such atrocities should ask themselves if the respected great founder of this country visualized and instructed its leaders to shape this country in this form; if not, how do they justify themselves such gross deviations to themselves? Is such conduct not a national crime?
- Pakistan has recently protested to India on maltreatment of its Muslim citizens by the state and the society. How can it justify to itself the same sort of treatment (if not worse) of its Ahmadi citizens?
“Do you enjoin others to do what is good and forget your own self, while you read the Book? Will you then not understand?” Al Quran:
2-44/45 (Tr.)
