Police razed minarets of a place of worship belonging to Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya, in Wazirabad, according to a spokesperson of the community, on Wednesday.
The razing, the second such incident in the province in less than a month, took place on Tuesday night in the Moti Bazaar area.
Pointing to a "discriminatory approach", the spokesperson termed the act was against the 2014 verdict of the top court, given to protect the places of worship.
A view of the place of worship in Gujranwala. PHOTO: TFT
"Such actions [of desecration of places of worship] are bringing a bad name for Pakistan in the world," the spokesperson said.
A copy of the request earlier filed with the assistant commissioner for the razing.
On Dec 10, the JA claimed that a police team razed minarets atop their worship place in Baghanpura area of Gujranwala.
The incident had transpired between the night of December 7 and 8, according to JA. Opponents of the community, the minority said, had approached police in connection with the structures six months earlier. The community had then had the minarets concealed.
A police party, however, arrived at the spot at the aforementioned time and quickly razed the structures after blocking a road leading to the worship place and turning off lights in the area. The team departed with the rubble after razing the structures.
The minarets, the JA had said, predate the promulgation of the Ahmadiyya-specific Ordinance XX.
Subsequently, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) had directed the City Police Office (CPO) Gujranwala to look into the incident and compile a report of the incident within seven days for necessary action.
Pakistan’s tiny Ahmadi community is routinely subjected to discrimination which often enjoys legal and state sanction.
Last year, an Ahmadi man was booked by Karachi police for using ‘Syed’ as a prefix. The suspect, a lawyer, had been representing other Ahmadis before a court. The man had submitted some documents in connection with the case. The documents, it was claimed, featured Islamic terms. His name featured alongside.
Moreover, a school in Punjab’s Attock district expelled four Ahmadi students for simply being Ahmadi. A relative of a student had said that their class fellow had been harassing them for some time. The students, he had said, were expelled after some parents reached out to the school principal.
