LAHORE: Police in Pakistan under pressure from a radical Islamic party on Saturday allegedly destroyed 17 graves of the minority Ahmadi community in Punjab province, the second such incident this week. The incident took place in Bahawalpur, about 400 kilometers from the provincial capital Lahore.
According to Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan, under pressure from Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), the Punjab Police desecrated at least 17 graves in a graveyard of the Ahmadi community in Basti Shukrani in Bahawalpur district.
“TLP workers were threatening the Ahmadi community and pressurizing the police to demolish Ahmadi tombstones. Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan said in a statement on Saturday, “The Ahmadi community living there is feeling unsafe due to the support of law enforcers to the illegal demands of extremists.,
It said the cemetery land was allotted to the Ahmadi community by the Punjab government.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan said that local clerics also accompanied the police personnel while removing stones from Ahmadi graves.
There have been at least 43 incidents of desecration of places of worship of the Ahmadi minority community in Pakistan over the past year, most of them in Punjab.
Most Ahmadi places of worship have been attacked by radical Islamists – including TLP activists – while in other incidents police, under pressure from religious extremists, demolished minarets, arches and removed sacred writings.
There is a decision of the Lahore High Court which states that Ahmadi places of worship built before a special ordinance issued in 1984 are legal and therefore should not be altered or demolished.The TLP says Ahmadi places of worship are similar to Muslim mosques because they have minarets.
The TLP says that erecting or displaying any symbols that identify Ahmadis as Muslims, such as building minarets or domes on mosques, or writing Quranic verses in public, is not acceptable.
Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, in 1974 the Parliament of Pakistan declared the community non-Muslim. A decade later, he was banned not only from calling himself a Muslim, but also from practicing aspects of Islam.
The hate campaign against the Ahmadi community in Pakistan is reportedly at its peak and last week two of its members were shot dead by a teenager in Punjab, allegedly because of the faith.Pakistani authorities on Wednesday demolished the minarets of the minority community's 54-year-old place of worship in Punjab province, an official of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan said.
Under pressure from the TLP, a dozen police personnel were seen demolishing the minarets of an Ahmadi place of worship in Lahore's Jahman Burki area.
According to Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan, under pressure from Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), the Punjab Police desecrated at least 17 graves in a graveyard of the Ahmadi community in Basti Shukrani in Bahawalpur district.
“TLP workers were threatening the Ahmadi community and pressurizing the police to demolish Ahmadi tombstones. Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan said in a statement on Saturday, “The Ahmadi community living there is feeling unsafe due to the support of law enforcers to the illegal demands of extremists.,
It said the cemetery land was allotted to the Ahmadi community by the Punjab government.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan said that local clerics also accompanied the police personnel while removing stones from Ahmadi graves.
There have been at least 43 incidents of desecration of places of worship of the Ahmadi minority community in Pakistan over the past year, most of them in Punjab.
Most Ahmadi places of worship have been attacked by radical Islamists – including TLP activists – while in other incidents police, under pressure from religious extremists, demolished minarets, arches and removed sacred writings.
There is a decision of the Lahore High Court which states that Ahmadi places of worship built before a special ordinance issued in 1984 are legal and therefore should not be altered or demolished.The TLP says Ahmadi places of worship are similar to Muslim mosques because they have minarets.
The TLP says that erecting or displaying any symbols that identify Ahmadis as Muslims, such as building minarets or domes on mosques, or writing Quranic verses in public, is not acceptable.
Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, in 1974 the Parliament of Pakistan declared the community non-Muslim. A decade later, he was banned not only from calling himself a Muslim, but also from practicing aspects of Islam.
The hate campaign against the Ahmadi community in Pakistan is reportedly at its peak and last week two of its members were shot dead by a teenager in Punjab, allegedly because of the faith.Pakistani authorities on Wednesday demolished the minarets of the minority community's 54-year-old place of worship in Punjab province, an official of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan said.
Under pressure from the TLP, a dozen police personnel were seen demolishing the minarets of an Ahmadi place of worship in Lahore's Jahman Burki area.
