Unknown persons vandalize Ahmadi place of worship

Third such attack in Karachi, 11th in country in this year alone, says community spokesperson

KARACHI:

An Ahmadi place of worship was vandalized by unidentified individuals in Karachi on Monday.

Community elders lodged a complaint at Shah Faisal Police Station in this regard, seeking action against those responsible as per the law.

According to the complaint, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, the incident took place at around 3.45 pm. Around seven to eight persons entered the site, named 'Baitul Mubarak', and climbed up using wooden ladders and damaged a portion of the building.

The miscreants then fled the site.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesperson of the Ahmadi community, Amir Mehmood, said that the police complaint was registered soon after the incident. “This is the third [such] incident in Karachi and 11th in Pakistan in this year so far,” he said.

He added that the police have not yet arrested any persons involved in the last two attacks in the city. “We have CCTV footage of the attacks and police can easily identify the miscreants,” he said.

According to Mehmood, the site of this recent attack was built in 1948.

Meanwhile, a video of the incident showed a group of men damaging the worship place with hammers while a ladder can be seen leaning against the wall.

“The government has utterly failed to provide security to Ahmadi places of worship in clear violation of Justice Jilani's 2014 ruling,” lamented Mehmood. “Despite a wave of attacks on Ahmadi centres in Karachi, the government [has done] nothing to protect them.”