Religious extremists attacked houses and shops of Ahmadis over burial of woman in Pak

Lahore, Sep 25 (PTI) Religious extremists led by members of a radical Islamist party attacked the houses and shops of Ahmadis over the burial of an Ahmadi woman in Pakistan's Punjab province, an organisation representing the minority community said on Thursday.

According to Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP), the incident occurred this week in Piru Chak, Sialkot District, approximately 130 km from Lahore.  Ahmadi woman Qudsia Tabassum, 55, died this week. When she was taken to the graveyard of Piru Chak for burial, a group of Muslim extremists reached there and obstructed her burial, it said.

"They said from now on no Ahmadi will be buried in that graveyard," it added.

After the Partition in 1947, this graveyard land was allotted to Ahmadis for the burial of their dead, the JAP said.

It said that when members of other sects living in the area were not allowed by their own communities to bury their dead in their graveyards, the Ahmadi community permitted them to bury their dead in this graveyard. There are 220 Ahmadi graves in this graveyard, while around 100 people from other sects are also buried there, it said.  It said that as the Ahmadis insisted on burying the woman in that graveyard, a large number of extremists led by radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan gathered and attacked the houses of Ahmadis and their shops, in which some Ahmadis were injured.  On the other hand, police officer Muhammad Adnan Bhatti said that the clash between Ahmadis and local Muslims of the village of Piru Chak erupted over the burial of an Ahmadi woman.

He said the Ahmadis also attacked the houses of Muslims, resulting in injuries to some of them. "A case has been registered against 30 Ahmadis under sections 506, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code," he said.  The JAP said the police have registered a case against its community members, but are not entertaining its application on the issue. It said the woman was later buried 14 kilometres away from this graveyard to appease the extremists.

Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan's Parliament in 1974 declared the community to be 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. PTI MZ ZH ZH