The state, yet again, has failed in protecting the most vulnerable of all communities in Pakistan, the Ahmedis. This first organised attack on the community after the initiation of the National Action Plan (NAP), put in place after the Army Public School (APS) massacre by some other champions of the faith, has happened in Punjab.
This time around, it has happened in Jhelum where initially allegations were trumped up about the desecration of the Holy Quran inside a factory owned by Ahmedis. Using this as an excuse, a mob was galvanised to first hold up Ahmedis inside the factory and then put the unit to arson in the presence of a small contingent of police. According to press reports, loudspeaker announcements from the mosques (flouting the legislation on misuse of loudspeakers) in the area were instrumental in gathering the people. The police have a permanent presence in the area and conceiving that they could not foresee a situation emerging that would require a tackling by personnel in proper numbers borders on stupidity. It can be arguably said that that too few were later deployed to provide an excuse for lukewarm action. A proper and proactive response by the police could have saved the horrific happenings from occurring. Were it not for the Pakistan army the lives of those trapped inside the factory would not have been saved and their fate would not have been any different than the innocent Christian couple of Kot Radha Kishan, a husband and wife who were burnt to death by the so-called champions of the faith. The timid response of the district administration on Friday emboldened the mobsters who, the very next day, ransacked one of the Ahmedi places of worship in the area and set it ablaze. Then again, the army had to be called.
Unfortunately, in these incidents, and in many before them, the allegations involve the burning of papers with holy verses on them. It has, therefore, become imperative that the masses are educated in the disposal of such holy material when such a need arises. In this age of print, newspapers, magazines, books and other materials have the holy verses or names printed on them. With the commercialisation of religion, the sheer number of such pages has indeed become very high.
Resultantly, there does arise a genuine need for the disposal of such material after some time. Sometimes, a copy of the holiest of all, the holy Quran, too, becomes old, too difficult to read from and, therefore, needs proper disposal. What should be done? The holy Quran itself is silent on this. There arose a need for such a disposal less than 30 years after the death of the holy Prophet (PBUH) and a happening in the time of Hazrat Usman, the third caliph, does provide a precedent. The very early scripture of the Quran, when it was first collated and put into binding, created a lot of loose papers more than 1,400 years ago. The first companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), led under the leadership of the third caliph, Usman, instructed the followers to take all of those pages and burn them and the other un-authentic versions. This he did for the sake of preserving only the authentic copies. Unfortunately, this action of his was misunderstood by the people of his time who raised a great commotion on how the sacred book was burnt. So, if people rise today doubting the intent, it is not strange.
It is perhaps due to the possibility of the intent being misunderstood and its fallout that the later day Hanafi imam, Ibn Abidin, states: “If a copy of the Mushaf (Quran) becomes old and it is difficult to read from it, it should not be burnt in fire. This is what Imam Muhammad (student of Imam Abu Hanifa) pointed out and this is what we take. It will not be disliked to bury it.” The imam, however, did not pronounce a punishment for those disposing of it in a different manner. The imam refrained from acting God as the so-called current day champions of faith prefer acting like.
As for the happening in Jhelum, the spokesperson of the Ahmedi community, in a press statement, as reported by the media, said: “Every Ahmedi is mindful of the shaair of Allah more than his life as they are part of his faith. We have been taught that, ‘those who honour the Quran are honoured in the heavens’.” Therefore, any allegation on them needs proper inquiry. Prima facie contemplating any disrespect for the holy book or any wrongful intent that goes contrary to their fundamental beliefs is injustice. Ahmedis and indeed all shall ultimately die and God will either reward or punish on the basis of individual deeds.
The role of the ulema (clergy) is not to divide the people and feed rivalry. A genuine man of knowledge will try to find a way to bring people to reason rather than add fuel to the fire by inciting them to violence. Videos of the events that happened in Jhelum are circulating on social media and if there is any desire to identify and prosecute the perpetrators of the arson attacks, sufficient material is there to act upon. The whole incident requires a transparent investigation and swift action to bring the perpetrators to justice. That will require material losses to be compensated for in addition to booking the arsonists. Is there the will to provide justice to this vulnerable community? This is the question. It is also a test for the NAP that lists countering hate speech as one of its objectives.
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