A place of worship of the minority Ahmadi community, built much before Pakistan was born in August 1947, has been demolished in Daska area of Sialkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province. This place of worship, called a mosque by the Ahmadi community who call themselves Muslims, was built by Zafaralluh Khan, the first foreign minister of Pakistan (1947-54), according to a Dawn report.
The demolished structure, built by Zafarullah Khan’s family before Pakistan’s creation, had not been altered or extended since its original construction, Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson Aamir Mahmood said. Mahmood said that a notice was issued by authorities earlier declaring that the mosque was an encroachment on a public road. According to members of the Ahmadiyya community, efforts were made to comply with the notice by issued on January 15 by removing 13 feet area which was marked as encroachment.
The entreaties of the Ahmadi community went unheard and despite demolishing the portion marked as encroachment, the entire structure has now been demolished. Hectic efforts were made by the community members to get relief from different quarters. However, Daska Assistant Commissioner Maham Mushtaq, accompanied by police, proceeded with the demolition late on Thursday evening. The demolition operation was carried out for four hours between 7 pm and 11pm. During this demolition exercise, electricity to the worship place and surrounding areas was cut off, members of the community lamented.
The demolition is the latest in a series of actions targeting the miniscule Ahmadi community which has been facing persecution in Pakistan for a long time. According to data regarding the selective targeting of Ahmadis, at least 22 of their worship places were demolished across Punjab in 2024 alone. There are reports that their places of worship all over the country, including at so-called cosmopolitan cities like Karachi, have often been vandalised.
Members of the Ahmadi community expressed frustration and alleging that state institutions, including the police, the judiciary and executive, were hand in glove when it comes to targeting them. Instead of protecting vulnerable groups like them, these institutions vandalised their places of worship.
Aamir Mahmood said the government should take immediate action to protect their places of worship and prevent such acts in the future. He stressed that these acts constituted criminal offences and should be dealt with according to the law. However, several members of the community claimed that they cannot hope to get justice in Pakistan.
Some civil society groups, human rights organisations and various religious leaders have expressed solidarity with the Ahmadiyya community. They also called for the protection of their rights but it is unlikely their voices will get heard by the powers that be.
Incidentally, the Punjab province is ruled by Mariyam Nawaz Sharif, niece of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It is the most powerful and largest province of Pakistan. It is here that most vengeful and sinister targeting of Ahmadis has happened in the last couple of year.
A couple of years ago, several places of worship used by the Ahmadi community were vandalised in Karachi. The first to face defacement and part demolition was a mosque at Drigh Road. In the later days, two more places of Ahmadi worship located at Saddar and Martin Quarters were targeted. The community members had lodged First Information Reports (FIRs) as advised by the police. However, nothing concrete has happened till date and the community members have not been kept updated about investigations into the cases, Aamir Mahmood said.
The intense hate drive against the Ahmadi community, which has become a regular feature in Punjab, as also some other provinces, has invited the ire of United Nations (UN) bodies. However, repeated condemnations and warnings issued by various UN bodies have been ignored by the Federal and the provincial governments.
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