A viral video shows an elderly Ahmadi community leader being harassed by a mob of over 100 men outside the community’s worship place in Kasur. The incident took place on Friday when the mob comprising workers of the extremist outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) forcibly stopped the community from offering Friday prayers, and threatened to occupy the worship place if they go ahead with the prayers. They also threateningly asked the community leader to remove ‘Muhammad’ from his name.
The incident comes amid a rise in attacks on Ahmadi worship places, as well as the desecration of their graves.
Since the start of this year, as many as five worship places of the persecuted religious community have come under attack. In two such incidences, local administration was directly involved in destroying the minarets of a worship place, as per a report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
The family of the elderly man told Dissent Today that they have been offering prayers in that worship place for the last 60 years.
“We have been offering prayers in that worship place for the last 60 years, however, on Friday when we reached there to offer the prayers, the mob had already gathered and threatened us that they are going to forcibly occupy this worship place if we go ahead with our prayers,” they told Dissent Today.
In a video that is being widely circulated on social media, the mob questions the community leader: “What’s your name?”
The family of the community leader told Dissent Today that he initially refused to give his name away but the mob already knew the name.
“They told him to change his name and remove ‘Muhammad’ and they told another Ahmadi, who was there to remove ‘Ahmad’ from his name,” the family added.
According to the family members, the mob was violent but due to an intervention of a few locals, the two Ahmadis managed to escape. However, the mob remained outside the worship place and the community did not offer prayers there.
The police are yet to register a First Information Report (FIR).
