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Sunday, March 19, 2006

Ahmadiyya Imam, four others charged with ‘blasphemy’

By Ali Waqar

LAHORE: The Imam of the Ahmadiyya community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad and four workers at a monthly Ahmadi magazine for women have been charged with blasphemy for referring to quotes from the Quran and Hadith, Daily Times has learnt.

According to a copy of the FIR registered on January 5, 2006, at Tando Adam police station, the Ahmadiyya Imam, Mirza Khalil Ahmed Qamar (editor of monthly magazine Misbah), Sheikh Khurshid Ahmad (publisher), Sultan Ahmad Qadiyani (printer) and an unidentified woman author of an article in the magazine stand accused of blasphemy under Section 298C (anti-Ahmadi law) of the PPC.

The complainant is Allama Ahmad Mian Hamadi, khateeb of Jamia Mosque Tando Adam.

Hamadi says in the FIR that naming and quoting Allah, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), referring to the Quran, and referring to the Prophet (pbuh) as “our beloved master” by Ahmedis is “blasphemous” and hurts the religious sentiment of Muslims, and this was exactly what was done in the August 2005 issue of Misbah. Sources said the matter was initially referred to the district police officer of Sanghar, Ajmal Khan Magsi, who, after consulting with local clerics, ordered the registration of a case. Sources said no one had yet been arrested.

Tando Adam SHO Muhammad Younis initially denied there was such an FIR, but when informed that Daily Times possessed a copy, refused to comment on the “sensitive” matter.

DPO Magsi claimed that the matter had been resolved and there was nothing newsworthy about it, but refused to give any details.

Source : www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\03\19\story_19-3-2006_pg1_5