Two Ahmadis among nine booked in ‘murder case’ in Bahawalnagar – Pakistan

BAHAWALNAGAR: Dahranwala police booked nine people, including seven men who were stated to be members of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and two members of the Ahmadiyya community, on charge of torturing a Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) activist to death during a scuffle at Chak 166 Murad.

The FIR registered with the Dahranwala police on Sunday said the Ahmadiyya community had turned their place of worship into a mosque and discussion on the matter had been going on for the last two years between the TLP district leadership and the community members.

There was a Khatm-i-Nabuwwat conference at the village around two months earlier which also caused tension between the two communities and the conference organisers had registered a complaint with the police station.

During Ramazan, a confrontation took place between the TLP and the Ahmadiyya community members over offering Taraweeh prayers at their place of worship. In this context, Zulqarnain, a TLP activist, attempted to mediate between the two sides by inviting them to the house of one Amjad Naseer, another member of the party, on March 8.

Meanwhile, the FIR alleged that seven persons who were workers at the farm of Ahmadiyya community members entered the house of Amjad and gave him a severe beating and he died on the way to hospital. Police booked nine people, including two Ahmadis on whose farms the seven people were employed and launched investigations.

On the other hand, while requesting anonymity, a member of the Ahmadiyya community told Dawn that the FIR registered against them was fabricated and a conspiracy to suppress them. They claimed that no member of the community or the people working at their farmhouses whose names were in the FIR had either quarrelled with anyone or beat anybody.

Describing the TLP activist’s death as natural, he stated that due to threats received by community members from the TLP activists over the last three days (before the death of the TLP activist) for offering prayers at their place of worship, police were deployed in the area and the people of the Ahmadiyya community were confined to their homes. However, despite knowing every detail, police registered a fake case against them at the behest of the TLP.

He alleged that the TLP activists were harassing them for several years but despite complaints, the administration seemed to be reluctant to take action. He stated that the community was performing their religious rites inside closed premises, which was not a crime. He said that booking them in a fake murder case for performing their rituals “was a violation of human rights and the country’s Constitution, which allowed them to freely practice their faith”.

He said that following the murder case, all members of the community were forced to leave the town and go into hiding for fear of being attacked by TLP activists and their lives were in danger.

Dawn received information from intelligence and police sources that the TLP activist’s death was not a result of a fight between Ahmadiyya community and TLP members. They said the seven people who faced the charge of killing Amjad were members of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and there had been a confrontation between them and the TLP members a couple of days back.

Police spokesperson Zahid Rasool said the matter would be investigated on merit and that no innocent would be hurt.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2025