Ahmadiyya Community denounces violent desecration of Muslim graves in Pakistan
The Ahmadiyya Community issued an official statement denouncing that government officials and police forces in Pakistan are carrying out reprehensible acts such as the desecration of graves of Ahmadi Muslims.
The official statement of the Ahmadiyya Community is reproduced below:
It is regrettable to inform you that Pakistani government officials and police forces are committing reprehensible acts such as desecration of graves of Ahmadi Muslims. Government-sponsored persecution of Ahmadis is widespread, and the lives of Ahmadis have become a living hell as they are denied all their human and civic rights. The government does not leave the Ahmadis alone even after they are dead.
We have been informed that the Station House Officer (SHO) of Pero Chak station in Sialkot district, where the Motra Police Station is located, destroyed the tombstones of the graves in the local cemetery at the request of the local anti-Ahmadi groups, who had earlier broken two of the tombstones. When asked to show the relevant permission to do so, they were forced to leave without it. The latest news in this regard in the Sialkot district is very worrying. The Pero Chak cemetery had been shared by the Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis since 1948. The Ahmadis had been buried in the part of the cemetery allocated to them, while the non-Ahmadis were buried in the other part. On 6 April, the deputy commissioner of Daska along with the SHO of Motra police station and his unit reached the site and broke the rest of the gravestones of 43 graves.
During the incident, the commissioner was informed - on the spot - that this cemetery had been functioning as a joint burial place of Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis for the past 71 years, and that, until recently, all residents lived in peace at the site. This peace was recently disturbed by the instigations of a local cleric by the name of Maulawi Irfan Asad. Ignoring these facts and the pleas and requests made, the commissioner continued the process of destroying the gravestones. Thus, the persecution against the Ahmadiyya Community of Pakistan is not limited to those who are alive. The Ahmadis who have passed away are also not safe in their graves.
The illegal act carried out by the Police against the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan is not only an act of violation of elementary human rights, but it is an act that further darkens the face of Pakistan in the eyes of the International Community. The international community must take serious note of these grievous criminal acts against humanity and put an end to what is unacceptable.
On 13 July 2021, UN human rights experts expressed their deep concern at the lack of attention to the grave human rights violations perpetrated against the Ahmadiyya Community worldwide, and called on the international community to redouble its efforts to end the ongoing persecution of the Ahmadis.
We therefore urge our authorities to demand that the Government of Pakistan fulfil its responsibility to provide effective protection and freedom of religious practice to the Ahmadis, and that the perpetrators of these attacks be brought to justice, so that its laws and practices conform to international standards, as set out in Articles 20, 2 and 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 25 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
