The Qadian Diary — Page 60
Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad 46 ascribed to them. Towards the end it may again be submitted that it is one of the cardinal beliefs of the Ahmadiyya Community to remain loyal to the Government under which its members happen to live and for this belief or others of its peaceful ideals it has, for years, suffered persecution from all quarters, and even from a section of their Muslim co-religionists, and in pursuance of these ideals we willingly offer our full co-operation to the Government under which we have now been destined to live and we request that in return we may at least be assured the protection of our lives and honour and the free exercise of our religious practices and civil rights. P. S. —Incidentally it may be mentioned that some misun- derstanding seems to exist about the four weapons (two shot guns and two revolvers) belonging to three respectable men of our Community and taken hold of by the Gurdaspur Police. All these weapons it must be stated were licensed ones and the licence holders possessed duly granted permits for carrying them. Moreover the licence holders are highly respectable men—one being a Secretary of the Central Ahmadiyya Organisation and the other two being retired Government Officers (a D. S. P. and an S. D. O. ) who had gone to Gurdaspur to see the Deputy Commissioner and the Officer Commanding incharge of the Military at Gurdaspur. They carried these weapons for self-protection which is a real necessity in these highly disturbed days. ( This letter has so far remained unanswered )