Over 350 people vandalise two worship places of Ahmadi community in Pak’s Punjab: Police

Lahore, Aug 15 (PTI) Over 350 people allegedly vandalised two worship places of the Ahmadi minority community in Pakistan’s Punjab province, setting one of them on fire, police said on Friday.

The mob allegedly led by members of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) targeted the two worship places of Ahmadis in Chak-275, Kartarpur village in Faisalabad, some 130 kilometres from Lahore, on Thursday.

The Ahmadis present there allegedly ran for their lives while police reached there after both worship places were razed.

Police officer Rashid Qamar said 350 suspects have been booked for attacking, damaging and setting on fire two Ahmadi worship places under sections 295, 436, 440, 380, 144 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

According to the FIR, TLP leader Hafiz Rafaqat, Rana Zulfiqar, Hafiz Ashiq, Muhammad Umair Ahmad Raza, Qari Zahoor and some others incited the people of the village to attack the two worship places of Ahmadis.

"They also incited the participants of the Independence Day rally to take part in the attack. They stoked hatred against Ahmadis through inflammatory speeches and resorted to violence," the FIR says.

Both places of worship had been built prior to 1984. The violent crowd continued its rampage for nearly two hours in which one worship place was set on fire after demolition of its minarets.

"The attackers also targeted nearby Ahmadi homes, pelting stones at houses, shattering windows, and spreading fear and panic among residents," the FIR says.

Spokesperson for Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan Amir Mahmood, strongly condemning the attack, said that while Ahmadis were celebrating Pakistan’s Independence Day, extremists launched violent assaults against them.

“This is not the freedom envisioned by the founders of Pakistan,” he said and demanded exemplary punishment to those involved in the mob violence.

"Until those who commit such acts face justice, intolerance will grow. Authorities must act swiftly to protect all citizens," he said.

Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the community as non-Muslims.

A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but also barred from practising aspects of Islam.

These include constructing or displaying any symbol that identifies them as Muslims such as building minarets or domes on mosques or publicly writing verses from the Quran. Amnesty International has called upon the Pakistani authorities to immediately end the harassment, intimidation and attacks on the Ahmadi community and uphold their right to freedom of belief and religion. PTI MZ GSP GSP