Bhlair, District Kasur; September 15, 2022: Tehreek Labbaik (TLP) took out a procession here in which almost all the participants were outsiders. The police of the nearby village whose people were participating in the procession accompanied the troublemakers. The police came to the Ahmadiyya mosque on the complaint of Rana Nazar Hussain, who is not a resident of this village. The SHO visited the mosque and told Ahmadis to take down the minarets by 10 o’clock the next morning, claiming these to be against the law. He was wrong; there is no law that Ahmadiyya’s place of worship cannot have a minaret or niche. He threatened Ahmadis with the registration of an FIR in case of non-compliance.
An Ahmadiyya delegation met the DPO and submitted a written request. The DPO said that whatever happens will be dealt with according to the law. He further stated that Ahmadiyya’s place of worship in Patuki does not have any minarets, so you should also remove them from here. After that, a meeting was held with the DSP. He stated that the issue would be handled as per law. He phoned the SHO and stopped him from taking action until Monday. On September 17, the local Ahmadi president was informed that a few boys of the TLP were heading toward the village. It was feared that a procession would follow. Similarly, the SHO also came over and told Ahmadis to comply with the previous orders of taking down the minarets to resolve the issue.
Ahmadis were made to write an affidavit affirming that the niche and the five minarets will be covered so that passersby would not be able to see them. Ahmadis have undertaken to hide the niche by a surrounding wall in the adjacent plot and by installing cement or fiber sheets etc to cover the minarets.
The place would look ugly, and so would the village, but the TLP and the authorities have little aesthetic sense for their own reasons when dealing with Ahmadis.
