Radical Islamists set cold storage that kept body of Ahmadi woman on fire in Pakistan

Lahore, May 28 (PTI) Radical Islamists set a cold storage cabin on fire after learning that the body of a woman belonging to the Ahmadi minority community of Pakistan was kept in it, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place in Shakarghar, Narowal, some 150 kilometres from Lahore, on Wednesday.

“Nusrat Bibi, 85, the Ahmadi woman, passed away on May 21 and the body was kept in a cold storage of a private hospital in Shakarghar awaiting the arrival of her close relatives from abroad.

“After her burial on May 26, some religious extremists upon learning that an Ahmadi woman’s body had been stored there, set the empty cold storage cabin on fire after extracting it from the private hospital,” a police official said and added some of the accused belong to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

The Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) has strongly condemned the incident and demanded action.

“Hate knows no bounds. It is disgusting to see the extremists setting a cold storage cabin to fire just because an Ahmadi woman’s body was kept there. When will this cycle of hatred end?” it said.

Ahmadi community is extremely vulnerable especially at the hands of extremist elements like the TLP which is openly targeting the Ahmadis with impunity across Pakistan.

Earlier this month, a senior doctor belonging to the Ahmadi community was allegedly shot dead over his faith in Punjab province, police said.

On May 15, police said around 100 graves belonging to the minority Ahmadi community were desecrated in Punjab province. This incident took the number of Ahmadi graves desecrated to over 250 across the country this year.

In Pakistan, most Ahmadi worship places have come under attack by the TLP activists or in some incidents, police – acting under the pressure of religious extremists — demolished minarets, arches, and removed sacred writings.

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 were 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.

However, there also is a Lahore High Court ruling that states the places of worship built prior to a particular ordinance issued in 1984 are legal and hence should not be altered or razed down. PTI MZ GSP GSP