Police demolished the minarets erected atop two Ahmadi places of worship in Sheikhupura District on Saturday, the community has said.
In a statement issued by the Ahmadiyya community on Sunday, the minarets atop a place of worship (Baitul Zikr) were demolished by police in Kirto area, within the remits of the Narang Mandi police station in Sheikhupura.
The local SP arrived at the place of worship at around 9:30 PM and used a hammer to demolish the top part of the minarets and ordered to cover the remaining portion of the minarets, the community said.
The second worship place targeted was in the Nano Dogar area, within the remits of the Sharqpur Police Station in Sheikhupura.
The community said that the local SHO, along with others, arrived on Saturday night and demolished the minarets. The opponents threatened the local community president, stating that there was no other option except to tear down the minaret.
Police ignore peace petition
The community said that their members resident in Kirto have been under tremendous pressure from the police and local authorities to bring down the minarets atop their worship places.
"All of this was done to please a religious extremist group known as the TLP," the community said in a statement, adding that the plight of Ahmadis has to stop. The authorities must look into the landmark decision of the Lahore High Court that there is no need to alter or demolish the minarets of the Ahmadiyya Worship Place built before 1984.
In this regard, residents of Kirto had earlier in the week signed a petition on an Rs100 stamp paper carrying around 50 signatures from residents belonging to different faiths and sects, certifying that they had no objection to the place of worship and that no action was required against it. Further, they argued that the building had been constructed in 1963, and thus, per a recent order of the Lahore High Court, those buildings older than 1984 cannot be subject to the law.
The petition had been submitted to the SHO of Narang Mandi police station and was addressed to the Shiekhupura District Police officer. Despite the petition, the police proceeded to demolish the minarets.
The community said that a new trend had been observed where the police demolish the minarets rather than the extremists and that it is becoming more and more evident that the police are the ones carrying out the desecration of the minarets of the Ahmadiyya Worship Places instead of providing protection and safeguarding it.
The community said that since January 2023, there have been at least 34 incidents of desecration of minarets and arches of Ahmadi places of worship throughout Pakistan.
"The authorities must look into this matter and take prompt action in this regard before the matter gets out of hand," they said.
The state has to look into the matter of protecting the worship places of the Ahmadis in Pakistan, as mentioned by Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar in his speech in Jaranwala, they demanded.