70-year-old Ahmadi community worship place demolished in Pak's Punjab
'The police on the pressure of religious extremists have not only demolished the mihrab (prayer niche) of a 70-year-old Ahmadi worship place but also desecrated two Ahmadi graves by breaking their tombstones," the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) said in a statement.
The incident took place at Butala Sharm Singh village in Gujranwala district, some 80 kilometres from Lahore, on Tuesday.
It said during the operation to demolish the Ahmadi worship place, the police also entered the adjacent Ahmadi graveyard and broke the tombstones of two graves that bore sacred inscriptions.
Amir Mahmood, spokesperson for JAP, strongly condemned the 'illegal action", saying the police 'unjustifiably vandalised the 70-year-old Ahmadi place of worship".
He said it is the duty of the police to protect the lives, property and religious sites of all citizens, regardless of their faith.
The spokesperson called on senior police officials to take immediate notice of the incident and ensure that those responsible for damaging the worship place and desecrating Ahmadi graves are held accountable under the law.
On the other hand, a police officer said that the Ahmadi community of the area had been asked to demolish the prayer niche of its worship place and tombstones of the graves as they had Islamic verses inscribed.
Besides, many locals had also objected to Islamic verses inscribed on an Ahmadi worship place and tombstones, he said.
'When the Ahmadi community did not comply with the order, police acted on their own," he said.
Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan's Parliament in 1974 declared the community as non-Muslims.
A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but 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. Amnesty International has called upon the Pakistani authorities to immediately end the harassment, intimidation and attacks on the Ahmadi community and uphold their right to freedom of belief and religion. PTI MZ GSP GSP
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July 30, 2025, 19:30 IST
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