'40 worship places of Ahmadis attacked and destroyed in 2023 in Pak'

LAHORE: At least 40 places of worship of the Ahmadi minority community have either been attacked by radical Islamists or partially demolished by police in different parts of Pakistan during the first 10 months of this year, a body representing the persecuted group said on Tuesday.

Ahmadis in Pakistan are usually referred to as Qadianis, which is considered a derogatory term for them. 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.

''At least 40 incidents of desecration of our worship places have taken place this year between January and October in various parts of Pakistan. Of them, 11 occurred in Sindh and the remaining in Punjab province,'' Amir Mahmood, an official of the Punjab chapter of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan, told PTI.

In Sindh, some Ahmadi worship places came under attack by religious extremists who committed the offence with impunity as police remained silent spectators, he said.

While in most cases, radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) attacked the Ahmadi worship places, in some incidents, police demolished minarets, arches and removed sacred writings from the prayer halls under the pressure of religious extremists, Mahmood said.

The TLP argues that Ahmadi worship places are similar to that of Muslim mosques because they have minarets.

Mahmood said not a single case against the religious extremists has been registered so far for attacking and damaging the Ahmadi worship places. He also blamed Punjab's caretaker government for its complete failure to stop desecration of Ahmadi worship places in the province.

During its tenure, around 30 such incidents took place in the province,he said.

The Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan said the situation is becoming worse day-by-day for the already marginalised community.

''Ahmadis are facing persecution at the hands of the evil elements. The acts of desecration of the places of worship in various areas of Pakistan continues unabated. It is a new norm and the authorities are doing nothing,'' it said.

Earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the destruction of part of Ahmadiyya sites of worship is a brazen violation of the recent Lahore High Court judgment regarding the protection of Ahmadiyya sites of worship.

“It demonstrates yet again that the community is being hemmed in systematically and deliberately by law enforcement and the religious far right alike. According to the 2014 Supreme Court judgment, the police are supposed to protect the community’s right to practice its faith. The government must hold the perpetrators accountable, repair the damage and ensure that this does not recur again,” the HRCP had said.

Although the number of Ahmadis in Pakistan is around a million, unofficial figures put their population much higher.