Ahmadi grave sites in Pakistan attacked as part of 'systematic hate campaign'

The minority Ahmadi community in Pakistan said on Tuesday that their places of worship and graveyards were grievously attacked as part of a slew of religious hate crimes.

Amir Mahmood, a spokesperson for the Ahmadi community, told Al Jazeera that there was an exponential rise in anti-Ahmadi hate campaigns.

Mahmood said that 74 graves were vandalised in the eastern city of Daska in Punjab province just last week- in addition to the demolition of minarets in two Ahmadi places of worship near Lahore. 

Ahmadiyya are a Muslim religious sect which was founded in the 19th century. They believe that their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the promised Messiah. In 1974, the Pakistani government declared that they were non-Muslims and they have faced widespread discrimination and persecution in Pakistan.

Mahmood said that police and administrative officials should be held to account for the destruction of Ahmadi religious structures and graves, as well as the far-right religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who Mahmood accused of threatening the local administration with ‘serious consequences’ if the minarets of Ahmadi places of worship were not destroyed by Friday.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan released a post on X, formerly Twitter, stated that at least 34 coordinated attacks against the Ahmadi community and their holy sites have been ongoing since January.

The HRCP called on the government to stand against any individuals or groups who attack Ahmadis and destroy their religious sites. 

The HRCP urged the Pakistani government to "immediately assign special police units to protect these sites in accordance with the 2014 Jillani judgement".

Reports from the Ahmadiyya community of at least 34 incidents since January, in which their sites of worship have been desecrated - including with the complicity of the police - should sound alarm bells for the government and for all progressive-minded people. No other community…

— Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) September 25, 2023

The 2014 Jillani judgement was a landmark Supreme Court ruling that legally protects the rights of religious minorities and promotes religious tolerance, as authorised by former Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.

However, the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan goes beyond desecration of their graves and religious sites. They are at serious risk of violent attacks and even death.

According to data compiled by members of the Ahmadi community, at least three Ahmadis were killed over their faith in 2022, while another 108 people were targeted, as cited by Al Jazeera.

Additionally, community members claim that at least 14 mosques and 197 graves that were linked to the community were desecrated last year.  

A Daska-based police official denied the recent allegations of the police’s involvement in desecrating Ahmadi graves to Al Jazeera and claimed that the police are ensuring law and order in the city is maintained ahead of celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday this Friday.