ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police demolished six minarets of persecuted minority Ahmadi place of worship in the country’s Punjab province on Tuesday night.

Reports said the demolition took place at Kharian in Gujrat district on the insistence of a conglomerate of religious organizations. "Members of the organization had filed an application asking the police to take action in accordance with the constitution, which had declared it illegal for Ahmadis to act or look like Muslims, to practice or propagate their faith and to call their worship place a mosque,’’ said Raja Basharat, Gujrat’s top police officer.

About a million Ahmadis in Pakistan are prohibited by law from identifying themselves as Muslims, and their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances and constitutional amendments.

Another police officer Raja Zahid said that everything was done amicably. "The decision to demolish the minarets and other similar actions taken regarding Bait-ul-Hamd, the place of worship, were done after a mutual consensus of the parties involved. The members of Qadiani (Ahmadi) community were very cooperative," Zahid said.

The Quranic verses and complimentary quotes about Prophet Muhammad written on the front of the worship place’s entrance were also removed. Ahmadi community spokesperson Nasir Dar said the police took action on the application of one Saqib Shakeel Ghazi without registering any FIR.