Peeru Chak, District Sialkot; January 21, 2023: An anti-Ahmadi activist of Tahaffuze Khatme Nabuwwat filed a complaint with PS Motra against Ahmadis for allegedly violating anti-Ahmadiyya Sections PPCs 298-B and 298-C. The police destroyed 45 tombstones of Ahmadis here. This graveyard has the graves of Ahmadis on one side and non-Ahmadis’ on the other, and has been thus shared for the past 71 years.
A few days ago an Ahmadi woman Ms. Bushra Bibi died. Arrangements were made for her burial in the said cemetery, but the administration, on the complaint of a mulla, disallowed Ahmadis to bury the dead there and told them to take it elsewhere. The administration was told that Ahmadis have always buried their dead here. The officials found it convenient to threaten Ahmadis to ‘cooperate’, otherwise their names would be put in the Fourth Schedule and a criminal case could be registered against them. They were told that every time it is Ahmadis who cooperate with the administration while the opponents create problems and get away with their wrongful demands. They have four graveyards in the village, while Ahmadis have only one.
The authorities then sent the case to the District Core Management Peace Committee, on which they opined that the cemetery was allotted to Muslim emigrants at the time of the Partition, the majority of whom were Qadianis. Despite the constitutional amendment, there was no dispute over the burials until 6 months ago. Later, differences arose, and the situation has become volatile which can precipitate a dangerous incident at any time. Apart from the disputed cemetery in Peeru Chak there are four cemeteries for Muslims. The Qadiani side has more graves in the disputed cemetery. Organizations that maintain law and order should find a permanent and sustainable solution to this so that there will be no threat to peace, they timidly suggested.
On this, surprisingly the AC decided to seal the Ahmadiyya part of the cemetery and said that some other area of the government land would be allotted for the cemetery. Ms. Bushra’s dead body had to be taken away elsewhere for burial.
On January 21, an Ahmadi woman Ms. Khurshid Bibi died. The opponents intervened and stopped her burial. The higher authorities took the side of the anti-Ahmadis, and threatened Ahmadis with police cases for not taking the dead body elsewhere from the village for burial. Ahmadis had to comply.
