The Qadian Diary — Page 23
23 though the Indian Union authorities publically claim that Muslims who wish to continue to live in India as peaceful and law-abiding residents are not only welcome to do so, but will be afforded the fullest protections from the government, these statements are at variance with the realities on the ground. Instead, even though the Ahmadiyya Community has repeatedly made it clear that loyalty to the government and the state is one of the fundamental tenets of our faith, and therefore, those Ahmadis who stayed in Qadian were duty-bound to act as loyal citizens, the Ahmadis there con- tinued to be brutalised, maltreated, and forced to leave their sa- cred centre. Unfortunately neither the East Punjab nor the Indian Union government have had anything to say in response to our remonstrations, and not even a single word of sympathy has been extended to us. We, therefore, now look only to God and He is the best of friends and the best of protectors. Lest anybody think that the account recorded in this diary is prejudiced, through sheer good fortune, we happen to have in our possession explicit testimonies to support our version of events from impartial witnesses and foreign visitors to Qadian. In the first instance, 14 non-Muslim individuals have recorded written testimonies that Qadian did indeed come under attack from Sikh militias and was victim of widespread murder, loot and destruction. All of these testimonies have been preserved and can be ascertained by anyone who is genuinely curious to do so. Secondly, during these turbulent days there happened to be in Qadian an English convert to Islam, Lt Brian Orchard, who was a direct eyewitness to many of these events. He returned to England in October of last year and published various accounts of what he had seen. For some of these accounts please see the South Western Star , London, of 10 October 1947 and the Evening Post , Bristol, of 11 October. There also happened to be in the town during these days a respectable