A group of 150 people on Thursday vandalised and set on fire an Ahmadi place of worship in Mirpurkhas, according to a spokesperson of the community.
He said that that the incident occurred in Dholanabad area where the group destroyed the minarets of the worship place and caused extensive damage to its interior.
The spokesperson further said that the police "are not registering a case of the incident" and lamented that state institutions are delaying action against the extremists, to the anguish of the oppressed.
He highlighted that during 2023, in Sindh, extremist elements attacked five different worship places of the community.
A file photo of the worship place in Mirpurkhas.
The spokesperson shared a brief timeline of these attacks in Sindh, as follows.
Feb 4: Gunshots fired at worship place in Satellite Town, Mirpurkhas, while people were still inside.
Feb 3: Minarets of Bait-ul-Zikr, Goth Chaudhry Javed Ahmed Mirpurkhas destroyed and set on fire. Also, worship place in Noor Nagar, Umerkot set on fire.
Feb 2: Ahmadi Hall vandalised in Karachi's Saddar.
Jan 18: Attack on Bait-ul-Zikr, Martin Road by a group of assailants.
Detained for a name
Nearly a week ago, an Ahmadi lawyer was detained in Karachi for having ‘Syed’ prefix in name, according to a spokesperson of the community.
Syed Ali Ahmad Tariq – an advocate of the Supreme Court – was arrested in the City Court Police Station and a First Information Report (FIR), No. 54/23 was registered against him.
The lawyer was booked under Section 298 B & C of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the same grounds last year.
The community had highlighted that the two cases were filed against Tariq in the same police station for the same reason.
The persecution of Ahmadis has been on the rise in different areas of Pakistan for some time now, with the Punjab province being the centre of it.
