Pakistan: Attackers booked for damaging Ahmadiya places of worship

Sep 23, 2023

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 23 : Attackers were booked on Friday for vandalizing worship places of Ahmadiya community, reported The News International. 
The Jamshed Quarters police registered a case against the attackers, however, no arrest has been made yet. 
The Jamshed Quarters police booked a case against them as some people attacked a worship place in Karachi's Martin Road area yesterday, reported The News International. 
This came to light after members of an extremist group attacked and desecrated the places of worship belonging to the Ahmadiyya community at multiple localities in Pakistan’s Punjab. 
Moreover, the police have registered the FIR under sections 147, 148, 149, 427, 504, 506-b, 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 on the complaint of a person belonging to the community, namely Zaheer. 
The Station House Officer Muhammad Sarafarz said that the police had initiated the investigation and were looking for the suspects involved in the incident, according to The News International. 
Ahmadiya community spokesman Amir Mahmood stated that a group of eight to ten people entered the premises of the worship place while using a ladder at around 11:30 am on Thursday.
Moreover, he said the attack caused damage to a window, glass doors, a wooden door, cameras, tables and chairs. 
The first attack came in Bahawalpur where some Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) members attacked a worship place in Chak 183 Murad on September 13.
The assailants scaled the building and demolished the minarets atop.
Similarly, the following day, on September 14, an Ahmadi worship place in Narang Mandi in Sheikhupura was attacked, as per The Friday Times.
On September 15, the assailants scaled the worship place located in Chak 168 Murad in Bahawalnagar and desecrated the minarets.
According to community members, such incidents create a hostile environment for Ahmadis living in Pakistan, who are denied their basic rights of liberty to life, property and religion as equal citizens.
"The agony is that the police have been at the forefront of committing these acts, or they are the ones forcing the Ahmadis to do this," a community member stated, adding that the state is nowhere to be seen while the police, instead of providing protection, has been acting as an aide to the extremist elements, as per The Friday Times.
"The minarets of these worship places have been there way before Ordinance XX of 1984," the community member said, lamenting that the court's order is not being followed.
The community member added that after the Jaranwala incident and in subsequent television interviews, Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had assured that the state would protect the worship places of all citizens. But thus far, that promise has yet to materialise.