A place of worship belonging to the Ahmadiyya Community was broken into and vandalised in Karachi on Thursday.
The community said that around eight to 10 people broke into the worship place located on Martin Road near Teen Hatti Flyover.
The extremists, Ahmadiyya community members said, proceeded to damage the belongings of community members contained there apart from damaging place of worship, including smashed window panes, glass and wooden doors, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, LED monitors, tables, chairs, a wooden dais and other items. The community members added that the assailants vandalised the pictures of their religious figures.
Two minarets erected atop the structure were also demolished.
Community members said this is the second time this year that the place of worship was attacked. In the previous attack on January 18, 2023, the vandals had demolished two minarets while two were left.
Community members said that they had called the police, but the assailants had fled by the time they arrived. However, the assailants left their ladder behind.
The community said they were negotiating with the police to register a case for the break-in and the vandalism.
About the previous attack, community members said that around eight to 10 assailants had managed to access the roof of the building, where minarets were demolished while the structure of the place of worship was also damaged.
A case for that attack had been lodged at the Jamshaid Quarters Police Station, but the police failed to take any action against the suspects.
According to our knowledge, no arrest was made in this regard, a community member said.
The community member said that if action was taken against the vandals, a repeat of the incident could have been avoided.
This is the fifth incident where an Ahmadi place of worship has been attacked in Karachi over the past nine months and appears to be part of a wave of violence targetting the Ahmadi community nationwide.