Ahmadi place of worship vandalised in Karachi as minorities continue to suffer in Pakistan

Minority communities in Pakistan continue to suffer a harrowing fate. On Monday, minarets of a worship place belonging to the minority Ahmadi community were destroyed by unknown men. Apart from the demolition, "hateful" graffiti was drawn on the walls, a spokesperson of the community said.

The incident took place in Karachi's Drigh Road area within the limits of Shah Faisal Colony. Around a dozen people entered the place of worship around 3:45 pm on Monday and destroyed the building using hammers, before fleeing the scene.

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“Initial reports suggest that around four people climbed up and damaged the minarets with hammers,” said senior police official Tariq Nawaz, adding that a FIr had been registered.

Amir Mehmood, a spokesperson of the community, said the worship place, Baitul Mubarik, hasexisted since partition. Mehmood added it was the third attack on an Ahmadi worship place.

“Two months back, two of our worship places in Saddar and Martin Quarters areas were also vandalised," said Mehmood. “The government has utterly failed to provide security to Ahmadi places of worship."

Watch |Hindu temple in Pakistan's Sindh attacked with rocket launchers

The entire Ahmadi community is highly discriminated against in the South Asian country. In 1974, the Pakistani parliament declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslim. Since then, radical political leaders and parties have routinely targeted the community to earn their stripes.

“We have seen it in the past too that political parties use the religious card to woo voters by whipping up emotions,” added Mehmood.

UN condemns Pakistan

Earlier this month, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a letter to Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland expressed concern over the treatment of Ahmadis.

“We would like to bring to the attention of your Excellency’s Government the information we have received concerning growing discrimination and rising incidents of hate speech and incitement to violence against the Ahmadi religious minority in Pakistan, including attacks against places of worship and other acts of intimidation," read the letter.

The destruction of Ahmadi place of worship comes barely a week after reports emerged of the demolition of a century-old Hindu temple in Soldier Bazaar of Sindh province.

The Hindu community had claimed that 150-year-old Mari Mata Temple in Soldier Bazaar was demolished after the property was sold to a builder allegedly by using ‘fake documents’.

(With inputs from agencies)

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