Police registered a case against the Ahmadi men under anti-terrorism and blasphemy laws, said Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya spokesman Salimuddin.
Source/Credit: MSN News
By M Zulqernain | April 13, 2013
Lahore, Apr 12 (PTI) Pakistani police have arrested four persons after registering a case under blasphemy and anti-terrorism laws against the editor and publisher of a newspaper for the Ahmadi sect, leaders of the minority community said today.
On Wednesday, a group of clerics attacked an Ahmadi man named Khalid Ashfaq when he went to the home of one Tahir Ahmed Shah in Islampura area of Lahore to deliver several copies of Al-Fazal, one of Pakistan''s oldest publications for Ahmadis.
The clerics and their followers assaulted Ashfaq, Shah and his family members.
After some time, police reached the spot and arrested Ashfaq, Shah and two other Ahmadi men named Faisal Ahmed and Azhar Zareef instead of taking action against the clerics who had attacked them.
Police registered a case against the Ahmadi men under anti-terrorism and blasphemy laws, said Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya spokesman Salimuddin.
Police included the names of Al-Fazals editor Abdus Sami Khan and publisher Tahir Mehdi in the case.
Salimuddin alleged a group of clerics had been after the Ahmadis in Islampura and adjacent neighbourhoods in Lahore.
"These clerics have made the lives of Ahmadis difficult and miserable," he said and urged authorities to withdraw the fake case against the six Ahmadi men.
The crackdown on the Ahmadi publication amounted to negation of the freedom of expression, he said.
Islampura police station official Shaukat Ali told PTI that the Al-Fazal had been banned by the Home Department of Punjab province.
He said when an Ahmadi man was distributing copies of the daily at Islampura in the old quarters of Lahore, local residents informed police after "catching him red-handed".
Ali claimed there was "some blasphemous material" in the newspaper.
A case had been registered against the accused under the provisions of the blasphemy law and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
"We are conducting raids to arrest the editor and publisher of Al-Fazal," Ali said.
Pakistan''s Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but were declared non-Muslims through a constitutional amendment in 1974.
A decade later, they were barred from proselytising or identifying themselves as Muslims. Some 1.5 million Ahmadis live across the country.
Several Ahmadi cemeteries in Punjab province were vandalised last year. Members of hardline groups destroyed or removed gravestones with Quranic inscriptions.
Police in Lahore removed Quranic inscriptions from several Ahmadi mosques and shops run by members of the community after receiving complaints from the public.
Read original post here: Police register case against a newspaper for the Ahmadi sect
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.