<p>Lahore: Police in Pakistan's Punjab province allegedly demolished a 45-year-old Ahmadi minority community worship place under pressure from a radical Islamist party, an organisation representing the community said on Wednesday.</p><p>The Ahmadi worship place was located in Bahawalnagar, some 400 km from Lahore.</p><p>According to the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP), extremists had been pressuring the police for the past three years to demolish the minarets of the worship place that was built in 1980. </p><p>"On the pressure of the extremists (a reference to radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan), the police personnel arrived at the site this week. They confiscated the mobile phones of Ahmadis present there and turned off the lights," the JAP said.</p><p>"They carried out the operation and demolished the worship place. After completing the operation, they removed the debris," it added.</p><p>Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is reportedly involved in targeting Ahmadi worship places across the country, claiming that these are similar to Muslim mosques as they have minarets.</p><p>On the other hand, a police official concerned said that police called elders of the local Ahmadi community to demolish the minarets of their worship place themselves, as these were hurting the sentiments of Muslims of the locality.</p><p>"As the Ahmadis didn't comply with the direction, the police had to demolish them," he said.</p><p>JAP spokesperson Amir Mahmood condemned the police’s unlawful action, saying that several such incidents have occurred in Punjab, where the police illegally demolished the minarets of Ahmadi worship places.</p>.Pakistani oppn holds rallies to demand PM step down.<p>He said the police themselves were aware that their actions were unjustifiable, but they did so under the pressure of the religious elements.</p><p>Mahmood further said that the Lahore High Court has already ruled that no alterations can be made to Ahmadi worship places constructed before 1984, and senior police officials must strictly adhere to this judgment.</p><p>A Lahore High Court ruling states that places of worship built before a particular ordinance issued in 1984 are legal and hence should not be altered or razed down. </p><p>Minorities, especially Ahmadis, are very vulnerable in Pakistan and are often targeted by religious extremists. Former military dictator Gen Zia-ul Haq made it a punishable offence for Ahmadis to call themselves Muslims or to refer to their faith as Islam.</p><p>Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the community non-Muslims. A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but were also barred from practising aspects of Islam.</p><p>These include constructing or displaying any symbol that identifies them as Muslims, such as building minarets or domes on mosques, or publicly writing verses from the Quran.</p><p>Amnesty International has called upon the Pakistani authorities to immediately end the harassment, intimidation and attacks on the Ahmadi community and uphold their right to freedom of belief and religion.</p>
<p>Lahore: Police in Pakistan's Punjab province allegedly demolished a 45-year-old Ahmadi minority community worship place under pressure from a radical Islamist party, an organisation representing the community said on Wednesday.</p><p>The Ahmadi worship place was located in Bahawalnagar, some 400 km from Lahore.</p><p>According to the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP), extremists had been pressuring the police for the past three years to demolish the minarets of the worship place that was built in 1980. </p><p>"On the pressure of the extremists (a reference to radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan), the police personnel arrived at the site this week. They confiscated the mobile phones of Ahmadis present there and turned off the lights," the JAP said.</p><p>"They carried out the operation and demolished the worship place. After completing the operation, they removed the debris," it added.</p><p>Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is reportedly involved in targeting Ahmadi worship places across the country, claiming that these are similar to Muslim mosques as they have minarets.</p><p>On the other hand, a police official concerned said that police called elders of the local Ahmadi community to demolish the minarets of their worship place themselves, as these were hurting the sentiments of Muslims of the locality.</p><p>"As the Ahmadis didn't comply with the direction, the police had to demolish them," he said.</p><p>JAP spokesperson Amir Mahmood condemned the police’s unlawful action, saying that several such incidents have occurred in Punjab, where the police illegally demolished the minarets of Ahmadi worship places.</p>.Pakistani oppn holds rallies to demand PM step down.<p>He said the police themselves were aware that their actions were unjustifiable, but they did so under the pressure of the religious elements.</p><p>Mahmood further said that the Lahore High Court has already ruled that no alterations can be made to Ahmadi worship places constructed before 1984, and senior police officials must strictly adhere to this judgment.</p><p>A Lahore High Court ruling states that places of worship built before a particular ordinance issued in 1984 are legal and hence should not be altered or razed down. </p><p>Minorities, especially Ahmadis, are very vulnerable in Pakistan and are often targeted by religious extremists. Former military dictator Gen Zia-ul Haq made it a punishable offence for Ahmadis to call themselves Muslims or to refer to their faith as Islam.</p><p>Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the community non-Muslims. A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but were also barred from practising aspects of Islam.</p><p>These include constructing or displaying any symbol that identifies them as Muslims, such as building minarets or domes on mosques, or publicly writing verses from the Quran.</p><p>Amnesty International has called upon the Pakistani authorities to immediately end the harassment, intimidation and attacks on the Ahmadi community and uphold their right to freedom of belief and religion.</p>