An Ahmadi shrine was vandalized in Karachi’s Drig Road area under Shah Faisal Colony, police and a community spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Korangi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tariq Nawaz said Dawn.com On Monday, around four people destroyed the minarets.
He said the police had taken notice of the matter and asked a member of the community to file a First Information Report (FIR).
A senior official said a person identified as Bilal had contacted the Shah Faisal Colony Station House Officer (SHO) till Monday night and the officer had directed him to submit a report.
He said that the police had received an application regarding the vandalism and the complainant said that he would register an FIR after consulting the Ahmadi community.
Ahmadi community spokesperson Ameer Mehmood also said that an application to register an FIR has been submitted to the police.
About a dozen people entered the shrine around 3:45 p.m. Monday, vandalized the minarets with hammers and placed “hateful graffiti on the walls,” the spokesman said.
He recalled that a few months ago there were two places of worship Saddar And Martin Quarters was destroyed. He said FIRs have been registered in both the cases, but the police is yet to inform about the progress of both.
He said that the place of worship at Drig Road has existed since the creation of Pakistan. The government has totally failed to provide security to Ahmadi shrines, Mehmood said.
Anti-Ahmadi move draws ire of UN bodies
The crackdown on the Ahmadi community, which has become a regular occurrence in Punjab, has not only brought the country into disrepute but has also invited the ire of UN agencies.
Following a campaign last month to prevent Ahmadis from offering sacrifices on Eid-ul-Azha, the latest move against the community involves the demolition of minarets at their shrines. The movement is led by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
A poster released by TLP’s social media wing in Sarai Alamgir, a town near Jhelum, said: “All minarets from Shandar Chowk to Qadiani Center will be demolished.” The poster says that the drive will start on Muharram 10 (July 29) at 10 am from the TLP office in Sarai Alamgir.
On July 14, the TLP pressured the police to demolish the minarets of an Ahmadi shrine in Jhelum. The party’s local chapter later announced that it would demolish the minarets of all Ahmadi shrines in Jhelum district.
Some of these sites are over a hundred years old.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern over the treatment of Ahmadis in Pakistan and called on the government to respond to allegations of violations of international law.
The OHCHR said in its letter: “We would like to bring to the attention of Your Excellency’s government the information we have received about growing discrimination, increasing hate speech, incidents of inciting violence against the Ahmadi religious minority in Pakistan, attacks on places of worship and other intimidation.”
The letter was addressed to Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
“We are deeply concerned about the series of violent attacks against the Ahmadiyya minority and we have previously addressed in several communications that despite our requests for remedial measures from the authorities, the security of the Ahmadiyya minority continues to deteriorate.” OHCHR said in the letter.