The Parliament of Pakistan had declared the Ahmadiyya community as non-Muslim in 1974. They have been banned from even calling themselves Muslims. Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan official Aamir Mehmood told PTI on Monday that during the last few days, people from Sheikhupura, Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur districts Describing the minarets of the places of worship of the Ahmadiyya community as Muslim mosques, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) workers entered them and broke those minarets.
Police did not stop
With these latest incidents, the number of incidents of attacks by radical Islamists on places of worship of the Ahmadiyya community in various parts of Pakistan or their partial demolition by the police has increased to 31 so far this year. Mahmood said, ‘When TLP workers entered these three places of worship of the Ahmadiyya community, the police did nothing to stop them. The Ahmadiyya community is also being deprived of their basic rights as citizens living in Pakistan. The sad thing is that the police have also been at the forefront in carrying out these acts.
Pakistan’s Ahmadis on the margins
He said that the Lahore High Court has clearly stated in its recent decision that there is no need to change the minarets built before 1984 in the places of worship of the Ahmadiyya community. Mahmood said, ‘These places of worship were built before 1984.’ The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that the destruction of a part of the places of worship of the Ahmadiyya community is a flagrant violation of the recent judgment of the Lahore High Court. Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan said the situation is getting worse day by day for the Ahmadiyya community, who are already marginalized in the country.
The Jamaat said the Ahmadiyya community is facing persecution at the hands of evil elements. Incidents of desecration of places of worship are continuing in various areas of Pakistan. Officials are not doing anything. The Ahmadiyya community is banned from preaching and going to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj and Umrah. The number of people of Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan is around 1 million, while the non-official figure is much higher.