Nearly 40 graves of Ahmadi community desecrated by religious extremists in Pak

Lahore, Jan 27: Nearly 40 graves belonging to the minority Ahmadi community have been desecrated by religious extremists believed to be the members of a radical Islamist party in Pakistan’s Punjab province, police said on Monday.
Hateful graffiti targeting Ahmadis also appeared outside their houses in Sheikhupura, some 50kms from Lahore, a Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan official said.
Extremist elements believed to be the members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) demolished the gravestones of nearly 40 graves in Sheikhupura.
Police said that it would take action against those targeting the Ahmadi community’s graveyards. However, the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) alleged that police were complacent as the miscreants carried out demolition of gravestones of Ahmadi graves with impunity.
Dozens of Ahmadi graveyards were vandalized last year by the religious extremists in Pakistan especially in Punjab province but police couldn’t initiate action even against a single suspect involved in the crime.
JAP spokesperson Amir Mahmood strongly condemned the hateful graffiti and the desecration of 40 Ahmadi graves. He criticized the authorities for their inaction, saying that the administration should have acted promptly when gravestone vandalism and inciteful graffiti occurred.
He said the miscreants openly engaging in such acts of hate should be apprehended and tried under the laws of the land.
“Those responsible for hate-motivated graffiti and the desecration of Ahmadi graves be brought to justice under the law,” he demanded and emphasized the need to protect the rights and dignity of peace-loving Ahmadis.
In Pakistan, religious extremists are ramping up their hateful campaigns against Ahmadis, leading to increasing harassment at workplaces, job dismissals, and public calls for boycotting Ahmadi shopkeepers.
Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were banned from calling themselves Muslims. They are banned from preaching and from travelling to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. (PTI)