“Ahmadis: Targeted Even Beyond Death” Mass Desecration of Ahmadiyya Graves in Kotli, Azad Kashmir Continues Amid Silent Genocide and Apartheid
Attention, International Community:
On June 13, 2025, in a harrowing continuation of religious persecution, unidentified assailants desecrated 6 gravestones at the Ahmadiyya Muslim cemetery in Tehsil Sehnsa, Kotli, District Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The attackers struck early in the morning, deliberately targeting symbols of Ahmadi identity, further perpetuating the community’s ongoing suffering and systematic marginalization.
This desecration is not an isolated event but part of an escalating pattern of extremist violence and institutionalized apartheid against Ahmadis in Pakistan. Merely months earlier, on March 21, 2025, all 76 gravestones at the Ahmadiyya graveyard in Kotli city were destroyed, also in a premeditated dawn assault. With these latest attacks, the total number of desecrated Ahmadi graves since March 2025 now stands at 82. These repeated acts illustrate the chilling reality Ahmadis face: a relentless denial of dignity, identity, and peace—even in death. Pictures from the scene below shows the state of the graves before and after the attack.
Link to video on social media: https://x.com/faith_defence/status/1933825914023875021
Prior to both incidents, local administration and religious authorities in Kotli pressured the Ahmadiyya community to alter their worship sites and cemeteries to visibly differentiate them from Muslim practices. These discriminatory mandates were eerily echoed by the subsequent desecrations, indicating complicity and encouragement from state actors.
The persistent failure of the state to protect Ahmadis underscores a silent genocide unfolding in Pakistan, characterized by systematic exclusion, targeted violence, and cultural erasure. Despite international condemnation and clear constitutional obligations, authorities continue their complicity through inaction and tacit support of extremist narratives.
We urgently call upon the Government of Pakistan to:
- Swiftly investigate and prosecute those responsible for the continued desecration of Ahmadiyya graves in Kotli.
- Immediately cease imposing discriminatory mandates on religious minorities.
- Fulfill constitutional and international obligations to safeguard religious freedoms and minority rights.
- Provide robust security measures to protect Ahmadis and their places of worship, including cemeteries.
This ongoing persecution is not just an assault on a single community—it is an attack on fundamental human rights and dignity itself. The silence and inaction of authorities enable genocide and apartheid. Immediate action is imperative to halt this grave injustice.
Silence is complicity.
