At least 28 places of worship of the Ahmadi minority community have either been attacked by radical Islamists or partially demolished by police in different parts of Pakistan so far in 2023, a report said on Tuesday. The report, brought out by the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan, representing the persecuted community, said that since January 2023, at least 28 incidents of desecration of its places of worship have taken place across the country with 10 of these occurring in Sindh and remaining in Punjab province. “Some Ahmadi places of worship came under attack by a radical Islamist party while in other incidents, police, under the pressure of religious extremists, demolished minarets and arches and removed sacred writings,” the report said. The latest such incident was on Friday, September 8, when the arches of a place of worship of the Ahmadis were destroyed by the police in Punjab province, in defiance of a high court order banning such actions against the places of worship of the minority community built before 1984. The radical Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is reportedly at the forefront of stoking hatred against Ahmadis and exerting pressure on police action against its places of worship. However, not a single case against the TLP activists has been registered for their alleged involvement in any such incident so far. Earlier, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said the destruction of part of Ahmadiyya sites of worship is a brazen violation of the recent Lahore High Court judgment regarding the protection of Ahmadiyya sites of worship.
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