The ink on Ahmadi murder victim Luqman Shehzad's temporary tombstone in Rabwah hadn't fully dried yet when this past weekend multiple groups of outsiders, facilitated by the Punjab Police, descended here from various areas of the Punjab to stage more hate rallies against the beleaguered Ahmadiyya community.
Just last week, Rabwah, an Ahmadi majority town in the Punjab province, was the scene of an emotional funeral when the body of Luqman Shehzad, an Ahmadi murdered in a Gujranwala suburb due to his faith, was brought in for a late evening burial.
Luqman Shehzad was murdered after a national television personality, Aamir Liaquat Hussain, hailed the call of several clerics on his Geo TV program labeling Ahmadis 'enemies of Muslims and Pakistan,' followed by a cleric from an anti-Ahmadi outfit, Majlis Tahaffuz Khatima-e Nubuwwat (MTKN) in Shehzad's hometown, incited an emotionally charged group to learn suicide attacks and kill Ahmadis for blasphemy.
The hate rallies in Rabwah were carried out in celebration of the birthday of the Holy Founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (saw).
Several cellphone videos emerged in the social media showing senior police officers raiding an Ahmadi-owned business at the demand of Islamist clerics on the allegations of 'blasphemous materials.'
Police officers were also seen providing cover to well known militants for carrying out inflammatory hate speeches in the middle of the Ahmadi businesses in the downtown Rabwah.
Hassan Moawia, a functionary of the infamous MTKN, was in Rabwah with police cooperation to lead the charge in staging anti-Ahmadi rallies.
Ahmadiyya national spokesperson in Pakistan, Saleem-ud Din, indicated apprehension about the cleric-police collaboration against the besieged community in Rabwah.
"Police at the behest of Hassan Moawia took some books from a local bookshop in Rabwah for "legal opinion"," Saleem ud Din wrote in a Twitter-post. "No case is registered yet." Saleem-ud Din added.
Hassan Moawia is reportedly a brother of mullah Tahir Asharfi, who chairs the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), and leads in faith-based assaults in social media on the Ahmadiyya community.
Ashrafi enjoys support of several so-called leading liberals pundits and writers in Pakistani media.
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| Left: Hassan Moawia speeking to the anti-Ahmadi rally. Right: Police raids an Admdis shop at the direction of Hassan Moawia |
According to a report published by BBC in December 2013, Moawia's phone contact information was found in many of the cases registered against Ahmadis. BBC reported Moawia answered on the other end when their reporters called the phone number listed in the reports.
Zalan Moomand (@Zalan6), a journalist and columnist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also reported concern about cleric-police connection and what was going on in Rabwah.
"Nobody is worried about the latest happenings in #Rabwah where the majority has been held hostage with the help of Molvis/police #Ahmadiyya," Moomand tweeted.
In other developments, Ahmadis have been receiving written threats of violence and bodily harm on a letter-pad purportedly from a faction of the MTKN, in various parts of the country. The group is demanding, as a 'last warning', that Ahmadis stop all their worship activities in their areas or be prepared for the consequences.
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| Left: Letter of warning demanding removal of Ahmdi from press club Right: Letters of threats set to Ahmadis |
In Badin, a town in the Sindh province of Pakistan, the president of the local press club has been threatened on account of his faith.
According to a press release issued by MTKN of Badin, the groups has demanded that the Press Club must remove its president, Tanweer Ahmad, from his position because 'he is Qadiani (Ahmadiyya)."
In support of their demand to remove the allegedly 'non-Muslim' president of the Badin press club, the group cited the Pakistani Constitution claiming that only a Muslim can occupy the post of the President of Pakistan.
Therefore, according to the group, a member of the Ahmadiyya community cannot be a president -- of any thing.
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