Pakistan's Punjab police remove inscriptions from Ahmadi gravestones following pressure from religious extremists

Police in Punjab province of Pakistan allegedly defaced the inscriptions on gravestones of the Ahmadi minority community in a cemetery by covering them with black paint following pressure from religious extremists, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) said on Monday.

''Police responding to demands from extremists erased sacred inscriptions on Ahmadi gravestones in a cemetery in Vehari,'' JAP official Amir Mahmood told PTI.

He said Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was pressuring the authorities to remove the sacred inscriptions from Ahmadi gravestones in Vehari, about 330 kilometres from Lahore, or else they would do the job themselves.

The police, however, assured the law enforcement personnel would handle the matter and no religious group's involvement was needed, Mahmood said.

He said a police team consequently reached the Ahmadi cemetery and blackened the sacred inscriptions on the gravestones by applying paint.

In Pakistan, religious extremists have intensified their hateful campaigns against Ahmadis, leading to increased harassment at workplaces and dismissals from jobs, the JAP said.

''Similarly, the public is being encouraged to boycott Ahmadi shopkeepers. The government needs to take immediate and effective action against these religious extremists and ensure the protection of Ahmadis,'' it demanded.

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