KASUR, March 26: The district administration deployed a police contingent in Shamsabad village in the wake of a tension originating from an attack on the house of an Ahmadi family.

Late Monday night, some unidentified persons threw a brick at the house of Malik Maqsood, a member of the Ahmedia community, say reports gathered from various sources.

As Maqsood’s wife came out of the house shouting loudly, an altercation between the couple and some two dozen people from the area followed, which degenerated into a scuffle and then an attack on the couple’s house.

The house was ransacked and allegedly valuables worth more than Rs100,000 taken away. Both Maqsood and Hajran were injured in the incident and shifted to the local government hospital.

Some local residents accused the Ahmedis of preaching their religion, which they said was against the law, and also offering those willing to convert money. They alleged two lady health workers and a male schoolteacher were recently suspended from service over charges of preaching Ahmedi religion.

According to some villagers, the bone of contention was three houses which the “Ahmedis had occupied illegally”.

Ahmedi spokesmen Malik Yousaf and Malik Saleem Shahid told Dawn by telephone that the Shamsabad village had some 18 houses belonging to the Ahmedis since the establishment of Pakistan. For the last few years, they added, these Ahmedis were being socially boycotted and now an effort was on to expel them from the village.

Ahmedis in Shamsabad demanded protection of life and property.

Dawn learnt that some elders in the village were trying to defuse tension.