16 graves of minority Ahmadi group desecrated in Pakistan’s Punjab province 

Sixteen graves of the Ahmadi group in Pakistan’s Punjab province have been allegedly desecrated by non secular extremists for utilizing Islamic symbols on gravestones at a cemetery, a spokesman of the minority group mentioned on Wednesday.

According to Jamaat Ahmadiya Punjab spokesperson Aamir Mahmood, on August 22, unidentified individuals desecrated 16 graves of Ahmadis in a walled communal graveyard in Chak 203 RB Manawala, Faisalabad district, some 150 kms from Lahore.

The Islamic verses are inscribed on the tombstones of quite a lot of graves within the graveyard of the group.

Talking to PTI, Mahmood mentioned this graveyard is 75 years previous and no such incident had taken place earlier than this. He alleged that Muslim clerics of the realm had been stoking hatred towards Ahmadis that resulted within the desecration of their graves by the hands of spiritual extremists.

“This act has caused immense grief amongst the bereaved families who are looking to the government for justice. This act is not only illegal but is clearly against all human values,” he mentioned.

There had been quite a lot of such incidents in numerous components of Pakistan wherein the graves of the Ahmadi group members had been desecrated by non secular zealots up to now. “A total of 185 Ahmadi graves were desecrated this year alone,” Mahmood mentioned.

He additional mentioned, “this continuous persecution” testifies to the utter disregard of Ahmadi group rights and creates a way of deep insecurity among the many minority individuals. He urged the federal government to take efficient measures to cease this onslaught and maintain the culprits accountable.

Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadi group as non-Muslims. A decade later, they had been banned from calling themselves Muslims. They are banned from preaching and from travelling to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage.

In Pakistan, round 10 million out of the 220 million inhabitants are non-Muslims. The minorities in conservative Muslim-majority Pakistan usually complain of harassment by the extremists.