In yet another hate crime against the Ahmadi community, a place of worship belonging to the community was reportedly vandalised by a mob that destroyed the minarets of the worship place with hammers, putting hateful graffiti on its walls.
Named ‘Bait ul Mubarak’, the place of worship was built before the creation of Pakistan. According to a spokesperson of the community, this is the eleventh attack on an Ahmadi place of worship this year.
“The government has utterly failed to provide security to Ahmadi places of worship in a clear violation of the Supreme Court 2014 ruling,” the spokesperson said. The statement added that the government of Sindh failed to act despite “a wave of attacks on Ahmadi centers in Karachi”.
Earlier this month, Punjab police demolished the minarets of an Ahmadi place of worship in Jhelum following a campaign in the area by extremist outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) seeking destruction of the minarets. The incident took place in the Kala Gujran area of the Jhelum district.
Asim Ashfaq Rizvi, a TLP leader, had threatened the District Police Officer (DPO) Jhelum that if the administration did not bring down the minarets by 10th Muharram, the TLP will gather people and do it themselves.
Prior to these recent incidents, the Ahmadi community was harassed by the police on Eid, with a number of members being arrested for trying to perform the ritual sacrifice of Eid.
There has been a rise in instances of harassment of the community over the past few months, especially in the Punjab province.
