Ahmadi lawyer booked, arrested in Karachi for having ‘Syed’ in his name

A senior lawyer from the Ahmadiyya community was booked and arrested on Thursday in Karachi on the complaint of another lawyer over allegation of using “Syed” in his name.

It was the second time in as many years that Advocate Ali Ahmed Tariq had been booked on similar charges.

The first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was filed at City Court Police Station and invokes Section 298-B (misuse of epithets, descriptions, and titles, etc, reserved for certain holy personages or places) of the Pakistan Penal Code

In the FIR, complainant Advocate Mohammed Azhar Khan stated that during an appearance before a district judge he observed that Advocate Tariq had used “Syed” with his name in the affidavit while pleading a case.

The complainant said that Tariq was an Ahmadi who had deliberately affixed “Syed” with his name. He, therefore, requested for a case to be registered against Advocate Tariq.

City Courts Station House Officer (SHO) Adil Khan told Dawn.com that members of the Ahmadiyya community were not supposed to call themselves Muslims or present themselves as ‘Ahle Bait’ under relevant laws.

He added that Tariq was booked after he “misrepresented himself” as a “Syed” while submitting his affidavit in the court as a lawyer.

“The police have taken action and arrested the lawyer who would likely be presented before the court on Friday,” SHO Khan said.

Ahmadiyya Jamaat, through its spokesperson Amir, expressed its concerns over the lodging of two identical FIRs and at the same police station against the senior lawyer.

Advocate Tariq was booked over similar allegations in November as well.