Lahore, Sep 18: In a fresh attack on the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, the minarets of three worship places of the minority group in different districts of Punjab province were demolished by radical Islamists who alleged that the minarets signified that of a Muslim mosque.
The incident comes more than a week after arches of a worship place of the Ahmadi community were destroyed in defiance of a high court order banning such actions against the places of worship of the minority community built before 1984.
Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslims. They have even been banned from calling themselves Muslims.
“Identifying the minarets of Ahmadi worship places with that of Muslim Mosque, the activists of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) stormed into three Ahmadi worship places in Sheikhupura, Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur districts of Punjab and demolished their minarets during the last couple of days,” Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan official Amir Mahmood told PTI on Monday.
With these recent incidents, the number of attacks on the worship places of Ahmadis either attacked by radical Islamists or partially demolished by police in different parts of Pakistan during this year has risen to 31.
“As the TLP stormed into these three Ahmadi worship places, the police did nothing to prevent it. Ahmadis are being denied their basic rights as a citizen living in Pakistan. The agony is that police have been at the forefront of committing these acts as well,” Mahmood said. (PTI)
