The Qadian Diary — Page 56
Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad 42 circulated in public that in connection with the present disturbances in the Gurdaspur district the Ahmadiyya Community of Qadian has been sending out its Jeep cars to the neighbouring Muslim villages in order to incite them against the Sikhs and organise Muslim Jathas to attack Sikh villages. This allegation which, to say the least, is baseless and unfounded, seems to have arisen from the fact that when Ahmadi villages (which are found in quite a large number roundabout Qadian) were threatened by Sikh Jathas the Headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Community which was naturally anxious about the safety of its members had to send out their motors in order to know the fate of their co-religionists in these villages with a view to submitting reports, if necessary, to the authorities for necessary action. Thus an innocent act, justified and permitted by law, was misconstrued or misrepresented as an act of aggression. As soon, however, as the authorities banned the use of Jeep cars outside Qadian even these lawful activities were stopped and the collection of anxiously await- ed information was thereafter confined to pedestri- ans risking their lives across dangerously disturbed countryside. In this connection it may also be stated that one of our cars (owned by an Ahmadi) moving on a similar duty and returning from the threatened village of Faizullah Chak was wrongfully captured by the Police and has not so far been returned. 2. When the running of trains coming to and going from Qadian was stopped and our telegraphic as well as telephonic communication with the outside world was practically cut off we had to make increasing