A heavy police contingency traveling on as many as eight police vehicles descended on the Ahmadiyya Baitul Hamd in the town of Panchnad near Talagang, around 2:30 in the afternoon on May 4th, and forcibly destroyed parts of the building rendering it unsafe and unusable by the occupants.
According to local media and Ahmadi sources, the building including its minarets, dome and mehrab (the prayer location pointing to direction of the Ka’aba) have all existed since the structure was first built in early 1960s. The interior and certain other parts were renovated a few years ago to bring the structure up-to-date and make it safe.
Subsequent to the renovation work, the sources say, several Islamist clerics from an extremist group, Khatima-e Nubuwwat, approached the courts citing a 1984 anti-Ahmadī law, and claimed that the Ahmadiyya mosque resembles too closely with a Muslim places of worship, and, asked the court to order removal of the minarets, dome and mehrab.
The 1984 anti-Ahmadi act, also known as Ordinance XX, debars Ahmadis from erecting structures that might fool an unsuspecting Muslims into considering it a mosque and having his or her feelings hurt.
Local Ahmadis claim that minarets, dome and mehrab have existed all along since 1962 and these were not just added at the time of the building renovation.
"The mullahs falsely alleged that the minarets were newly-built and some of them went so far as to place their hand on the Holy Quran and asserted they were telling the truth," said one source whose name is being withheld for safety. "They knew full well they were lying and, strangely, they were doing it in the name of Islām.”
Ignoring precedence of any judicial norms about structures older than the anti-Ahmadī laws of 1984, the court ruled in the radical clerics’ favor, granting police a cover to appease the extremists in the name of 'carrying out the law' -- which took place swiftly.
One local news reporter, Zia Qadri, sending his SMS blasts with “Islām Zindabad [long live Islām]” tagline, took pleasure in reporting the minarets’ destruction.
Local Ahmadis claim that minarets, dome and mehrab have existed all along since 1962 and these were not just added at the time of the building renovation.
"The mullahs falsely alleged that the minarets were newly-built and some of them went so far as to place their hand on the Holy Quran and asserted they were telling the truth," said one source whose name is being withheld for safety. "They knew full well they were lying and, strangely, they were doing it in the name of Islām.”
Ignoring precedence of any judicial norms about structures older than the anti-Ahmadī laws of 1984, the court ruled in the radical clerics’ favor, granting police a cover to appease the extremists in the name of 'carrying out the law' -- which took place swiftly.
One local news reporter, Zia Qadri, sending his SMS blasts with “Islām Zindabad [long live Islām]” tagline, took pleasure in reporting the minarets’ destruction.
"Talagang: In following the court ruling, the minarets & dome were reduced to dirt by a heavy contingent of police force. Rep. Zia Qadri, Islām Zindabad," the self-proclaimed journalist boasted in a gleeful tone. He later produced anexpanded version of the report for a local Urdu language rag, Talagang Times, again falsely asserting that the minarets were recently built and that the entire structure was rebuilt at that time.
"This is the first court verdict of its kind in the history of Pakistan where a destruction of the minarets and dome on a Mirzai place of worship [a derogatory manner of writing about an Ahmadiyya Mosque] was followed," Qadri floated his personal satisfaction with the police action, while further adding that "the court verdict was fully celebrated at religious and public level."
Several names that surfaced in the case include extremist clerics noted as plaintiffs, mullah Zahoor Ahmad, Tayab Khan, Shamshad Ali Khan, Mumtaz Ali Khan, and Abdul Qudoos; court officials, Magistrate Mustahsan Iqbal, Civil Judge Serwer Ali, and court bailiff Munir Aslam.
Information about uniformed and civilian-clothed police officials who participated in the raid will be updated as the names become available.
"This is the first court verdict of its kind in the history of Pakistan where a destruction of the minarets and dome on a Mirzai place of worship [a derogatory manner of writing about an Ahmadiyya Mosque] was followed," Qadri floated his personal satisfaction with the police action, while further adding that "the court verdict was fully celebrated at religious and public level."
Several names that surfaced in the case include extremist clerics noted as plaintiffs, mullah Zahoor Ahmad, Tayab Khan, Shamshad Ali Khan, Mumtaz Ali Khan, and Abdul Qudoos; court officials, Magistrate Mustahsan Iqbal, Civil Judge Serwer Ali, and court bailiff Munir Aslam.
Information about uniformed and civilian-clothed police officials who participated in the raid will be updated as the names become available.
http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2015/05/pakistan-ahmadiyya-baitul-hamd-in.html
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