March 1, 2025
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The Ahmadiyya community has fiercely condemned the arrest of 22 Ahmadis from Daska, District Sialkot, who had gathered inside their place of worship or ibadatgah before the beginning of Ramazan.
“Preventing Ahmadis from performing their religious duties is a serious violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of Pakistan,” said the spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya community on Saturday. “There has been continuous desecration of Ahmadiyya places of worship, graves and baseless cases against Ahmadis. It is only tarnishing the name of our country in the international community.”
The arrests were carried out at the behest of religious extremists of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
Forcing arrest
According to details, Ahmadis gathered within their ibadatgah on Friday for their prayers. Very soon the building was surrounded by dozens of religious extremists gathered there who started shouting provocative slogans.
As a response, the Ahmadi community called the police on 15 for help. However instead of providing protection to them, the police carried out a crackdown and took 23 Ahmadis in custody shifting them to the Daska City police station, including children aged 11 and 14 years. Even after the arrests were made, the religious extremists gathered outside the police station and chanted slogans against the Ahmadis, demanding the registration of a case. It was also noted that the police officials along with the TLP has harassed members of the Ahmadiyya community at the ibadatgah.
“The police came under pressure of the religious party, and registered a case,” said an eye witness of the incident. “22 Ahmadis were presented before the magistrate on Saturday, who then sent them to Sialkot Central Jail on judicial remand. Only the 11-year-old child was released by the police at night.”
“All the individuals detained are still behind bars except for one of the minors aged 11,” said a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. “A criminal case has been registered against the Ahmadis on February 28, under the anti-Ahmadiyya laws (FIR No: 487/25). The incident took place at the same venue where on January 16, an entire Ahmadiyya place of worship was destroyed by the authorities.”
The HRCP member who wishes to remain anonymous added that there was yet another incident in Sargodha in similar circumstances.
“The same thing happened in district Sargodha, within the Bhagtanwala police precincts, on the very same day,” said the member of the human rights watch dog. “A criminal case was registered against 23 more Ahmadis under anti-Ahmadiyya laws in an FIR (200/25) dated February 28 within the Bhagtanwala police jurisdiction,” he said adding that the only issue was that they had converged there for prayers on Friday.
‘Not the only ones’
The same modus operandi was used on February 20, at a place of worship called Bait ul Nasir, situated in Malir, Karachi. During Friday prayers TLP activists would gather outside the gate of the ibadatgah and create havoc, eventually pressuring the area police to seal the place of worship. This was done in spite of the fact that the Ahmadi community had repeatedly told the police of their safety concerns and on the day the sealing of the building took place, they had called the police for their security. Instead of providing them with the security, the police did everything the extremists wanted, and sealed the ibadatgah.
Reports from within the Ahmadiyya community say that in January, an Ahmadi woman, Bushra Abid was also arrested in Gujranwala in a baseless case.
In Gujranwala, the police cut down the minaret of a 120-year-old Ahmadiyya place of worship with a grinder, under pressure from religious extremists. When the police officials were asked to provide the orders of the competent authorities and their identification for this illegal action, the police detained five Ahmadis and four other local residents and released them a few hours after demolishing the minaret of the Ahmadiyya ibadatgah.
Meanwhile the Ahmadiyya Jamaat spokesperson, Amir Mehmood, has condemned the growing hatred against Ahmadis in Pakistan and the baseless cases and arrests of patriotic Ahmadis by government authorities under pressure from religious extremists, saying that the human rights of Ahmadis have been violated for a long time.
“The situation has now reached a point where Ahmadis are being deprived of the right to worship even within private quarters,” says the HRCP member. “Freedom of religious beliefs and practice is an established human right, which is recognized and guaranteed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan.”
He said that in the current year, 91 Ahmadi graves had been desecrated in 6 different incidents, while the minarets and mehrabs of five Ahmadi places of worship have been demolished by the police.
“Hatred is being continuously spread against the Ahmadis and they are being harassed and discriminated against, in different parts of the country only for their faith,” he said. “Ahmadi teachers and government employees are being intimidated at their workplaces.”
Mehmood questioned the impunity enjoyed by the TLP when it came to such criminal activities carried out in the name of religion, intensifying their actions against Ahmadis in Pakistan for nefarious interests.
“Instead of providing protection to Ahmadis, the administration is promoting the agenda of extremists,” he said. “Meanwhile in every religious month, including Ramazan and Muharram, these activities by the TLP rise.” who were gathered for performing their religious prayers in their respective prayers centres inside four walls.
The community has requested for all to raise voice to quash the unjust criminal cases registered against Ahmadis as mentioned above.
Daska place of worship
A place of worship in Daska, Sialkot, erected by Pakistan’s inaugural Foreign Minister, Zafarullah Khan, had also been razed by local authorities on January 16, categorizing the building as ‘unlawful encroachment’.
The demolition, executed on January 16th, was preceded by a directive issued two days prior under the Punjab Local Government Act, which asserted that an addition to the structure was in violation of the law, as it extended 13 feet onto a public roadway.
Sir Zafarullah Khan, a member of the Ahmadiyya faith, held the position of Pakistan’s first Foreign Minister from 1947 to 1954. A respected legal professional in pre-partition India, he was a key advocate for the Ahmadi community in significant legal decisions. The religious site in question, established by Khan in his hometown of Daska, predates the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.
The Lahore High Court, in a 2023 judgment, clarified that Sections 298-B and 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which criminalize certain practices of the Ahmadiyya community, do not authorize the destruction of buildings constructed before these provisions were enacted through a 1984 ordinance.
According to members of the Ahmadiyya community, they attempted to adhere to the notice by removing the designated 13-foot section on January 15th. However, Daska Assistant Commissioner Maham Mushtaq, accompanied by law enforcement personnel, proceeded with the demolition later that evening, they stated. The operation, which lasted from 7 PM to 11 PM, also involved the disconnection of electricity to the worship site and surrounding areas.
This demolition is the most recent in a series of actions aimed at the Ahmadi community. Records indicate that at least 22 of their places of worship were destroyed throughout Punjab in 2024.