Author: Milind Ghatwal
Publications: The Indian Express,
Mumbai
Dated: February 20, 2001
The Muslim clergy in Kutch have
boycotted the Ahmediyas, a Pak-based Muslim group, asking its members not
to accept any relief from the latter. Muslims do not recognise the
Ahmediya sect and accuse it of blasphemy.
Muslims of all denominations held
a meeting here a couple of days ago when they learnt that Ahmediyias -
also known as Kadiyas or Mirzais - were allegedly trying to propagate their
faith in Kutch by providing relief in remote areas of Khavda.
The sect is popularly known as Kadiyas
after its founder Ghulam Ahmed Kadiya who hailed from Punjab province of
Pakistan where the group has a large following. The group was banned
in Pakistan during the time of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The ban was later
endorsed by several Islamic countries. But the group still has a
large presence in Pakistan as also many other parts of the world, especially
in London.
The Ahmediyas do not believe in
the basic tenet of the finality of Prophet Mohammed's teachings.
For Muslims, Huzrat Mohammed was the last prophet but the Ahmediyas consider
Ghulam Ahmed Kadiya as the Prophet's successor.
Muslim organisations here allege
that the Ahmediyas, have come with lots of money and other allurements
to woo poor Muslims.
One of them said, on the condition
of anonymity, that lakhs were being offered to poor Muslims along with
religious literature.
"We are accepting relief from the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the Bajrang Dal without any hesitation for they
are not pushing in any religious propaganda," General Secretary of Kutch
district Congress Adam Chaki said lauding the efforts of the Hindu organisations.
Chakki said a team of volunteers had been dispatched to Khavada to stop
the Ahmediyas. "Muslims will prefer to die but won't accept relief from
them.
There is no way we can allow Ahmediyas,
who denigrate lslam, to offer relief to Muslims," Chaki said. The sect
has a following in few pockets of India but had no presence in Kutch before
the earthquake.
A few days ago, volunteers of Muslim
organisations from Bhuj learnt that the group was distributing religious
literature along with relief in Khavada, where the majority is Muslim.
Mohammed Umar, Vohra, a deputy engineer
with Gujarat Electricity Board and in-charge of Jamat-e-Islami, Kutch,
told The Indian Express on Saturday that the group had found a soft target
in Khavada, on Pakistan's border, because government help took time to
reach there.
The area is facing a second successive
drought and given that government relief has not reached there, the sect
has found an opportunity to try and spread its tentacles, said Ahmed Bundi,
another Muslim leader.
