Islamabad - A mob led by right-wing Muslim
clerics tore down the dome and minarets of a 100-year old
Pakistani mosque belonging to the marginalized Ahmadi community,
officials and the community said on Thursday.
Ahmadis are one of the most persecuted groups in
Sunni-majority Pakistan, with Islamists and religious hardliners
labelling them heretics, while harsh Pakistani laws ban them
from calling themselves Muslims or using Islamic symbols.
Saleemuddin, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community, said a
mob stormed the mosque complex in Sialkot, near the Indian
border in Punjab province, overnight. He put the number at
several hundred.
He said there was collusion between the mob and local
government officials, but police denied such accusations.
Asad Sarfraz, a police official, said municipal government
officials were at the mosque complex removing what he called
"illegal renovation".
"An emotionally charged mob of people belonging to different
groups and segments of society reached there and damaged several
parts of the building," Sarfraz said.
Sarfraz said about 60-70 people were involved and
authorities were attempting to identify the attackers.
Saleemuddin denied the renovation work was illegal and said
the community had obtained permission from the local government
to upgrade the building. He shared an application approved by
the municipal government with Reuters.
A social media video of the attack's aftermath shows a crowd
cheering a local cleric, who then claims to have ransacked the
mosque.
"I want to thank the Sialkot administration, the DPO
(District Police Officer), DC (District Commissioner), the TMA
(Town Municipal Corporation), from the bottom of my heart," said
the cleric, from the majority Sunni community.
"Because as Muslims it was your responsibility to complete
this work."
The Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslims but their
recognition of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the sect in
British-ruled India in 1889, as a "subordinate prophet" is
viewed by many of the Sunni majority as a breach of the Islamic
tenet that the Prophet Mohammad was God's last direct messenger.