Bahuman; District Sheikhupura: There was a fight between two groups of this village. Six Ahmadi families also reside there. All these people are relatives but have developed mutual hostility. A few Ahmadis are on friendly terms with one of the two groups. A clash resulted in the death of a 20 year old man Zain Ali of the hostile group that indulged in an aggressive violent attack.
It is leant that an Ahmadi Mr Rai Nasir Ahmad had to quit the village for some time and shift elsewhere. Recently, as a result of a peace accord, he was brought back to the village. Some in the hostile group, who are of the TLP (Tehrik Labbaik) party did not like it, and they rallied out, shouting anti-Ahmadi slogans, headed for an Ahmadi’s farm house where a number of non-Ahmadis were also present. These people urged the aggressors to desist from hostile conduct, but the visitors refused and turned to stoning the people at the farm house. In the face of this provocation and risk the non-Ahmadis there took to firing, resulting in the death of one of the raiders.
The police of PS Bhatti named nine persons in this case and arrested eight of these. Three of them are Ahmadis. Police booked them in FIR No. 579 of May 7, 2022 under Sections 302, 324, 148, 149 and 7ATA. Along with the non-Ahmadis, the police arrested three named Ahmadis, Rai Nasir Ahmad, his son Rai Asad Nasir and Mr Kazim Hayat. In addition, they detained Mr Iftikhar Ahmad (the local Ahmadi president) and Mr Wasim A Mangla (Ahmadi religious teacher) both were not named in the FIR.
The opposition painted the incident in the social media wrongfully in religious color, and tried to incite the people to indulge in extreme action against Ahmadis. Mulla Saad Rizvi, head of the TLP came over from Lahore to lead the funeral prayers of the dead attacker. After the ritual, he was forcibly buried in the section of graveyard, allotted to Ahmadis.
After the incident, the opponent group, mostly comprising TLP, took out a procession and attacked the Ahmadiyya mosque. They demolished four minarets and damaged the dish antenna there and the roof of the washroom. In view of the dangerous situation, Ahmadi families were shifted out from the village.
In response to the TLP propaganda, the police have taken a clear stand that the fight was among two hostile groups on personal grounds; religion is not the issue at all.
It is noteworthy that the killed individual was a part of the attacking group who had come out and violently raided an Ahmadi’s farm house. The defenders fired in self-defense. Ahmadis did not resort to firing; accusing them of murder is wrong.
