The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said strongly condemned the desecration of an Ahmadiyya site of worship in Punjab province’s Wazirabad district and called for the protection of such sites of religious minorities in the country.
“HRCP strongly condemns the desecration of a historical Ahmadiyya site of worship in Wazirabad, allegedly by the district administration on 10 January,” the rights group said in a statement posted on its Twitter handle.
According to HRCP, the Wazirabad administration must compensate the local Ahmadiyya community for its action and ensure such an incident does not recur.
This week, the Express Tribune newspaper reported that a historic worship place of the Ahmadi community in Wazirabad was allegedly desecrated by the district administration.
A local Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader had filed a complaint stating that the Ahmadi community had established a room similar in looks to a nearby mosque with minarets on it.
“The vague nature of the complaint filed by a local TLP leader should drive home the urgent need for a special task force to protect all religious minorities’ sites of worship, as envisaged by the 2014 Supreme Court judgement,” the HRCP statement added.
Speaking to the Pakistani daily, a representative of the Ahmadi community condemned the action and said the act of desecration is “tantamount to discrimination against them as well as against the Supreme Court’s verdict.”
Rights groups say that Pakistan’s Ahmadi Muslim community has been a victim of consistent systematic discrimination, harassment and attacks for several decades. This development comes a month after a similar incident was reported in Gujranwala last month.