October 1, 2025
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The minarets on an Ahmadi place of worship were demolished by the area police between the 29 and 30 September. The incident took place in a Chak along the river known as 11/FW, which falls in Chishtian tehsil, in District Bahawalnagar.
According to a local from the area, RF* (name hidden for privacy), spoke to Voicepk, and gave details about the incident. He said that the place of worship or ibadatgah, was old, built in 1980.
“It was built by an Ahmadi man Chaudhry Attaullah, but later on, in 1999, some private parties filed an FIR against the place of worship pointing out that the minarets were Islamic, and that Ahmadis could not use any Islamic symbols or motifs” he said. “A case was filed under Section 295-B, against Attaullah, and he was convicted too.”
RF highlighted that the area was such that there were no other people from any other sects who lived in the area. In fact there were many Ahmadis who inhabited the area and the place of worship had been there since decades. However ever since the case on it in 1999, there had been pressure to demolish the minarets.
“Even though no hardline elements were present themselves, when this happened in the dark of the night, we know that there has been regular pressure exerted on the government, and the police acted under this pressure and carried out the demolition,” he told Voicepk. “We have not filed any complaint because who do we complain to when the government is doing this itself?”
Neither did the police respond to any calls made to them.
RF who is a lawyer by profession says that those opposing the minarets on the ibadatgah used the anti-Ahmadi Ordinance XX 1984 which aims at prohibiting Ahmadiyya community from practicising Islam, or using any Islamic motifs, texts or symbols. Under this Ordinance, promulgated by Zia ul Haq, the minarets were also part of motifs/architectural designs that are associated with Islam and therefore banned for use by Ahmadis.
“In Punjab, particularly, there have been several incidents in which the police, taking unlawful action, demolished the minarets of Ahmadi places of worship,” said Amir Mehmood, spokesperson of the Ahmadi community. “The police’s act of demolishing the minaret of an Ahmadi place of worship under the cover of darkness clearly shows that they themselves are aware that their action is not justified in any way. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has already ruled that there is no legal provision for making any alterations in Ahmadi places of worship constructed before 1984, and yet they keep invoking this Ordinance and keep carrying out this act of violence. Senior police officials should fully comply with this ruling,” he said.
Meanwhile violence against the Ahmadi community has once again increased since the last few days especially after September 23 when an elderly Ahmadi woman passed away and her burial was obstructed in the area of Sialkot’s tehsil Piro Chak. Tension brewed there in the next week, and on September 28, a mob of TLP supported individuals set fire to Ahmadi posessions, property, including animals owned by them, and a few dairy farms, where vehicles were burnt. Some of the shops and houses owned by Ahmadis were also set alight.
The community is afraid more might follow.