In Bahawalpur, the Ahmadiyya community faces a heartbreaking and unjust assault on their dignity and peace. On June 6, 2024, representatives of this marginalized community were summoned by local authorities who relayed the disturbing demands of their adversaries. Members of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had allegedly pressured these authorities to remove the tombstones from the graves of Ahmadiyya’s loved ones in Basti Shukrani.
Despite assurances from the authorities that only specific inscriptions would be carefully removed without harming the tombstones, the community’s trust was cruelly shattered. Around midnight on June 12, 2024, a heavy contingent of police descended upon the graveyard. In a vile act of betrayal, they desecrated and demolished 17 tombstones, carting away the debris and leaving behind a scene of devastation.
This act of desecration, allegedly facilitated by certain clerics accompanying the police, left the Ahmadiyya community in shock and mourning. This violation of their sanctity was compounded by threats from elements purportedly linked to the TLP, deepening the community’s sense of vulnerability and isolation.
Adding to their sorrow, earlier that week, the district administration in Lahore illegally demolished the minarets of an Ahmadi worship place, which had stood since 1970, well before the blasphemy laws targeting Ahmadis were introduced. This action blatantly disregarded a Lahore High Court order that prohibited the destruction of religious structures belonging to the Ahmadiyya community built before 1984, highlighting the relentless and unlawful persecution they endured.
The Ahmadiyya community’s grief is profound. They are left to mourn not just the physical destruction of their tombstones but the ongoing assault on their religious freedom and human dignity.