Islamabad, Pakistan - Pakistan police have forced a family of the Ahmadi sect in Punjab's Sargodha district to exhume the body of a relative who was buried in a Muslim graveyard. Police officials said they took this unusual step in view of the 'threat to peace' posed by anti-Ahmadi Muslim groups in the area.
Pakistan's constitution bars Ahmadis from identifying themselves as Muslims. Ahmadis, however, consider themselves as equal followers of the faith.
The BBC reported that Shehzad Waraich, a farmer in the Bhalwal area of Sargodha, died on October 30 and was buried in a shared graveyard designated by the government. The next day police approached Waraich's family to remove the body from the Muslim graveyard. The police further said the family was asked to remove the body as the burial was illegal.
"The family complied with the request and exhumed the body. They have now buried it in a different graveyard, reserved for the Ahmadis, several miles away from the village."
The Ahmadi spokesman, Salimuddin, said it was the 30th incident since 1984 in which an Ahmadi body has been forcefully exhumed by the administration to satisfy the opponents of the community.
"The administration always sides with our opponents, and has a convenient argument that they are trying to maintain peace," he said.