Punjab police have allegedly desecrated another worship place belonging to the Ahmadiyya Community in Sheikhupura on Sunday. This takes to three the number of Ahmadi places of worship desecrated in as many days.
A representative of the Ahmadiyya community, who shared images and videos of the desecrated structure, said that police officials arrived at the worship place located in Bedaadpur Wirkan near Muridke in District Sheikhupura, and proceeded to demolish the minarets and arches built on the structure.
The representative added that in the past week, four places of worship have been desecrated in the area.
The local Ahmadiyya community argued that the structure had been built before 1984, hence it was protected against the 1984 Blasphemy Laws following a recent verdict from the Lahore High Court (LHC), which deemed structures built before the introduction of the blasphemy ordinance could not be subject to it.
They added that the police have been demolishing minarets of worship places since the Tehreek-e-Labbaik had conducted a large protest consisting of around 1,000 men, outside the district police officer's office in Sheikhupura in late August. The protesters had demanded that the police demolish the minarets constructed atop all Ahmadiyya places of worship in the district before Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, or else they would destroy the minarets themselves.
In recent days, the police in Sheikhupura demolished minarets atop places of worship located in the Kirto and Nano Dogar areas of Sheikhupura.
The structure in Kirto was damaged despite the fact that an affidavit carrying signatures from some 50 multifaith residents was submitted, which stated that the residents did not have any issues with the details of the architecture of the worship place.
However, that affidavit was ignored, as was the LHC order that structures built before 1984 do not violate the law.
The Ahmadiyya community stated that the authorities acted against the structures despite being shown the order.
They urged Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar to take action per his stance to protect all minorities.