Pak: Dozens of Ahmadi graves desecrated

Lahore: Nearly 40 graves belonging to the minority Ahmadi community have been desecrated by religious extremists believed to be the members of a radical Islamist party in Pakistan’s Punjab province, police said on Monday.

Hateful graffiti targeting Ahmadis also appeared outside their houses in Sheikhupura, some 50kms from Lahore, a Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan official said.

Extremist elements believed to be the members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) demolished the gravestones of nearly 40 graves in Sheikhupura.

Police said that it would take action against those targeting the Ahmadi community’s graveyards. However, the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) alleged that police were complacent as the miscreants carried out demolition of gravestones of Ahmadi graves with impunity.

Dozens of Ahmadi graveyards were vandalized last year by the religious extremists in Pakistan especially in Punjab province but police couldn’t initiate action even against a single suspect involved in the crime.

JAP spokesperson Amir Mahmood strongly condemned the hateful graffiti and the desecration of 40 Ahmadi graves. He criticized the authorities for their inaction, saying that the administration should have acted promptly when gravestone vandalism and inciteful graffiti occurred.

He said the miscreants openly engaging in such acts of hate should be apprehended and tried under the

laws of the land.