Gravestones of sixteen Ahmadis destroyed by the police in Kot Diyaldas, District Nankana

Kot Diyaldas, District Nankana; March 2021:   For some time now, opponents of Ahmadis are engaged in extensive anti-Ahmadi activities here. On January 15, the police, acting on the call of the opposition, destroyed the niche of the Ahmadiyya place of worship and built a wall around its minarets.

In February, an Ahmadi Mr. Akhlaq Ahmad received a call from Mr. Ghulam Murtaza Teli who demanded a portion of land which Mr.

Sixteen Ahmadis’ gravestones destroyed by the police in Kot Diyaldas, District Nankana

Ahmad owns and uses for his cattle. Teli threatened Ahmad with land grabbing otherwise.

On February 21, an Ahmadi lad, Mahmood Ahmad, passed by the house of Teli and was assaulted by the youth of his family. When home, he told his family about this. Some Ahmadis went over to Teli’s house where he opened fire on them from his rooftop. Meanwhile, someone called the police. The police sent for both the parties to the police station the next day and arranged a settlement. The police took an affidavit from Ahmadis against any repetition and sent the parties back.

On February 24, one Asghar Ali, from a nearby village, wrote a complaint to the police station alleging that Ahmadis had called themselves ‘Muslim’ in the affidavit submitted by them to the police. In fact, the SHO police himself had written the full statement of the affidavit and used the word ‘Ahmadi Muslim’ in it. Therefore, the police took no action on Ali’s complaint.

On the night of February 27, some unknown persons fired shots at the house of an Ahmadi Mr. Ejaz Ahmad, a cop. He called the police. The police arrived, inspected the scene, and remained there throughout the night. The next day, a complaint was filed in the police station.

On February 28, Naseer Ahmad, an Ahmadi school teacher, was on his way to his farm when some non-Ahmadis stopped him and badmouthed him. Mr. Ahmad reported the incident to the police.

On March 1, the police sent for both the parties in connection with the incidents that occurred on February 27 and 28. All the incidents were discussed in this meeting. Opponents expressed ignorance about the firing incident at Mr. Ahmad’s house. The police decided to investigate the incident further and directed the parties to live in peace. On return, an opponent tried to stop Mr. Naseer Ahmad and punched him. At this, Mr. Ahmad went back to the police station and reported it. At that, the police kept him in the police station for three hours to avoid any mishap. Later Mr. Ahmad was allowed to leave; he changed his route and returned home.

On March 2, the police visited the village for investigation of firing incident at Mr. Ahmad’s house.

The opponents thereafter changed their plan, and used the religion weapon. They filed a complaint with the police against Ahmadiyya cemetery alleging that Islamic inscriptions were written on Ahmadis’ tombstones; these should be removed. On March 11, 2021 at about 9 p.m., the police took action on their complaint, without even contacting and consulting Ahmadis, and tore down 16 gravestones and took away the debris with them.

Ahmadis are treated as step-children of the Pakistani state — a violation of the Constitution by the State.