Not even the human piety towards the parents of a child who died at the tender age of seven months stopped the enemies of the Ahmadis who vandalize their cemeteries in Pakistan.
At the end of last month, a cemetery in Chak 203 R.B. Manawala, in the District of Faisalabad, in Punjab, was attacked, and 16 Ahmadi graves were desecrated. The local Ahmadi believers connect the attack with incendiary sermons against their religion by Sunni Muslim clerics.
They noted that Ahmadis have been living in Chak 203 R.B. Manawala since the establishment of Pakistan, without incidents, and that the Ahmadi section of the cemetery is walled and should not disturb anybody.
The total number of Ahmadi graves desecrated in Pakistan since the beginning of the year 2022 has now reached 185.
The Ahmadiyya Movement was founded within Islam by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908). Conservative Muslims accuse Ahmad of having proclaimed himself a “prophet,” thus denying the Islamic doctrine that there can be no prophet after Muhammad. In fact, the Ahmadis regard their founder as “both a prophet and a follower of the Prophet [Muhammad],” but this is not good enough for radical Muslims.
In Pakistan, the law prohibits the Ahmadis from declaring themselves Muslims and using Muslim symbols. Radicals believe that the Ahmadi graves carry inscriptions that refer to Islam, thus offending orthodox Muslims.
Last month, the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCRIF) issued a strong report on religious liberty in Pakistan. It denounced inter alia the persecution of the Ahmadis, including the desecration of their graves. It continues, however, and not even children are spared.
