The Qadian Diary — Page 102
Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad 88 thus being gradually reduced and we knew that our own tragic fate was fast approaching. 2. In the meantime the local Police were preparing the ground for an attack on Qadian proper which was looked upon as a stronghold of Muslims and whose Ahmadiyya population (90 per cent of the town) was determined to stick to their sacred headquarters un- less forced by the authorities to evacuate. Responsible Ahmadies including two Secretaries of the Central Ahmadiyya Organisation, one Assistant Secretary, two missionaries and several other workers were ar- rested on trumped-up charges, private cars owned by Ahmadies were confiscated, the movement of our men to the neighbouring Ahmadi villages with a view to knowing the fate of their brethren there was stopped, and all communications—railway, telegraphic, tele- phonic and postal—were cut off and road traffic practically closed. The daily swelling number of Mus- lim refugees (which finally reached the figure of fifty thousand and many of whom were fed by the Central Ahmadiyya Organisation) from the neighbouring vil- lages also added to our complications. 3. Then followed attacks on Muslim refugees gathered at Qadian from the neighbouring villages resulting in about 5,000 heads of cattle being looted, several women being abducted and some even raped and a number of men being shot by the Police on flimsy grounds. 4. Side by side with these attacks on Muslim refugees from outside, the Police and the Military resorted to a policy of vexatious house searches at Qadian itself