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In a yet another instance of hatred against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, their place of worship was desecrated in Karachi by unknown attackers on Friday.
"Qadiani prayer place being attacked by extremists in Karachi, Hashoo Market Saddar," tweeted The Rise News, a non-profit news organization. In the video posted by them on Twitter, unknown persons wearing helmets were seen breaking the minarets of the Ahmadi Masjid in Saddar, Karachi, and escaping thereafter. Police were also present at the spot and as per local sources, the attackers were from Pakistan's Islamic political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). This is the second incident in a month, earlier the minarets of Ahmadi Jamaat Khata on Jamshed Road in Karachi were demolished. With mob attacks and killings becoming a regular affair against the Ahmadiyya community, Pakistan has become a country where the people of this community are subjected to extensive persecution including hate speech and violence. The Geneva Daily, an online publication that provides in-depth coverage of issues relating to human rights violations and child abuse, reported that the approximately 4 million-strong Pakistani Ahmadiyya community is subjected to extensive torture, religious persecution by self-declared Islamic leaders, and discrimination by institutions and the general public. Recently, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) strongly condemned the desecration of an Ahmadiyya worship site in Punjab province's Wazirabad district and called for the protection of such places 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. 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 TLP leader had filed a complaint stating that the Ahmadi community had established a room similar 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. Pakistan's Ahmadi Muslim community had faced consistent systematic discrimination, harassment and attacks since 1974 when then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced a Constitutional Amendment which specifically targeted the community by declaring them non-Muslims. In 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq introduced the Ordinance, which further stripped the community of the right to identify themselves as Muslims and the freedom to practice their religion freely. (ANI)
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