The rally organised by various groups to close down Ewan-e-Tauheed.—Photo courtesy by Ewan-e-Tauheed.

LAHORE: The religious persecution of Ahmadis continued on July 10 when police authorities, under the supervision of DSP Sultan Meeran, desecrated Bait-ul-Hamd located near Kabari Bazar, Pul Nullah in Kharian, according to the spokesperson of Ahmadiyya Community.

The instructions were allegedly carried out on the application filed by Saqib Shakeel Ghazi, Syed Iftikhar Kazmi and other members of Tehrik-e-Tahaffuz-e-Islam under Section 298 B and C of the 1984 ordinance.

“The police officials accompanied by Town Municipal Administration (TMA) came during the night and asked us to demolish the minarets, whitewash the Kalima and versus written in praise of the Holy Prophet ourselves,” said Saleemuddin, official spokesperson of Ahmadis in Pakistan.

“We build places of worship throughout the globe and do not believe in destruction. We refused to follow the instructions on which the authorities themselves demolished the minarets and painted over the Kalima,” he added.

Saleemuddin went on to say that Bait-ul-Hamd was built in 1980 before the time Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims as per the constitution of Pakistan. He also said that though the entire procedure was conducted ‘amicably’, however, the desecration remains the worst form of violence that they could have faced.

Ahmadis face retaliation from authorities regularly for calling themselves Muslims or posing as one in Pakistan.

In January 2012, Ewan-e-Tauheed, located in Rawalpindi received numerous threats of demolition from religious authorities whereas Bait-ul-zikar in Lahore was demolished on court’s orders.