Press Release

THE REVIEW OF RELIGIONS PRESS RELEASE REGIME OF PRESIDENT ZIA DESECRATES AHMADIVVA MOSQUES 35 The Home Department of the Government of Punjab, Pakistan has issued a directive to all district Magistrates in the province instructing them to remove the inscription, “There is none worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” from all Ahmadiyya Mosque. The circular says that an organisation of the anti Ahmadiyya Mullahs (Muslim religious leaders) called Majlis Khatme Nabuat held a meeting under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs in which they decided that these words should be removed from the Ahmadiyya mosques immediately and the members of the Ahmadiyya community responsible should be arrested and tried under section 298-C of Pakistan Penal Code. As a result the City Magistrate of the town of Kasur has ordered the police officer incharge of Gandasinghwala to comply with this order immediately in his area and report the action taken by him. It should be noted that these sacred words were not written after the controversial Ordinance of 1984 but were there from the time the mosques were erected. In fact every mosque in the world bears these inscriptions and yet no person or Government has ever found them offensive or objectionable. This clearly shows President Zia’s Regime is commited to the desecration of Ahmadiyya places of worship and shows total disregard for fundamental human rights. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association condemns this attitude of the Zia regime and hopes that the world would put strong pressure on the dictator so that he honours the U. N. theme to practice and profess their religious beliefs. (Ahmadiyya Muslim Assoiciation U. K. Press Secretary: Rashid Ahmad Chaudhry,Press & Publications Unit, 16 Gressenhall Road, London SWI8 5QL ,Tel: 01-870 8517