BADIN: The Tando Bago police have registered a criminal case against four men belonging to the Ahmadi community for allegedly preaching their faith.

Mohammad Ramazan Rustmani, a local cleric, who is also an office-bearer of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), lodged an FIR (96/2014) against the four men — Abbas Gurgez, Idrees Gurgez , Mushtaque Ahmed Gurgez and Mohammad Khan Gurgez — under Sections 298-B (misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles, etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places) and 298-C (person of Quadiani group, etc., calling himself a Muslim or preaching or propagating his faith) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Tando Bago SHO Khuda Bux Panhwar told Dawn on Friday that the FIR was registered on the insistence of local religious leaders.

He said raids were being carried to arrest the nominated men but they had fled the village to avoid arrest.

Since the people nominated in the FIR had gone into hiding, it was not possible to obtain their version on the allegations.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014