Pakistan: Intensifying Religious Persecution in Punjab Threatens Mass Violence
Accused of offering Friday Prayers, Ahmadis Face Arrest
The international community, including the European Union, USA and UK must act
The International Human Rights Committee (IHRC) is urgently appealing to Pakistani authorities and members of the international community to intervene as Ahmadi citizens face unprecedented threats to their religious freedom and right to life itself.
A seemingly coordinated series of expulsions from mosques and arrest warrants for Ahmadis 28 February has resulted in Ahmadi citizens afraid not only to worship and displaced from their homes for fear of violence.
Sargodha
A case has been registered under the accusation of offering the Friday Prayers against 23 Ahmadis of Ahmadiyya Community Chak 71 Janubi (South), district Sargodha on 28th February 2025 under FIR No. 200 under Section 298-B and 298-C. The complaint, filed by Furqan Zahid, accused the Ahmadis of gathering unlawfully for worship. As of this writing, no arrests have been made. Extremists have staged a sit-in outside the Police Station Bhagtanwala, demanding that the Worship Place be sealed along with registering the case.
Daska
Also on 28 February, at 1:30 PM, caught on video[1], the extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) stormed an Ahmadiyya Muslim place of worship in Daska, Sialkot district. The mob chanted anti-Ahmadi slogans at the community as 26 Ahmadis gathered inside for Friday Jumma prayers, demanding that they abandon their sacred space.
Rather than protect the worshippers, police arrived and, bowing to the mob’s pressure, arrested the 26 Ahmadis present. An FIR (No. 487/25) was swiftly filed under Section 298-C at Daska Police Station, a law routinely abused to persecute religious minorities. The latest reports confirm that 22 of those arrested are now languishing in judicial jail in Daska, Punjab, their only crime being their faith.
Madrasa Chattha
On the night of 27-28, February 2025 at 02:00 AM, caught on video[2], a large contingent of police came to Madrasa Chatha. The officials climbed onto the roof of the Bait-ul-Zikr to demolish the minaret. Local residents asked the individuals before demolishing the minaret for identification, but the officials refused to reveal their identities.
After some time, the SHO and AC of Alipur Chatha arrived with a heavy contingent of about 200 police officers in buses. On the police officials’ indication that certain individuals had previously obstructed the demolition of the minaret, they took five Ahmadis and four others from Jamaat Ab Aap, including the local Sadr Sahib, into custody and transported them to the Alipur Chatha police station. Later, police officials in civilian clothes used a grinder to cut down the minaret and brought it down. The police called individuals from other villages to pick up the debris and took it with them.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Mosque Madrasa Chatha is distinguished by its establishment in 1904.
A short while ago, the police sent a message to the Sadr Sahib that they are planning to return to completely demolish the remaining minarets. Another Bait-ul-Zikr was built in Madrasa Chatha a few years ago. The police claim that there are Kalimas and other texts written inside it, and they are planning to erase them as well.
An Unfolding Crisis Requires Urgent Intervention
No one can deny or ignore an intensifying pattern of religious persecution and violence that threatens the freedom and safety of hundreds of thousands of peaceful Pakistani citizens from violence by extremists, who are driving local and national authorities to do their bidding in the name of the law.
Pakistan is thus egregiously flouting international religious freedom standards. The IHRC calls upon governments, including that of the European Union, United States and UK, which have affirmed their support for religious freedom, to urgently engage with Pakistani authorities at this critical juncture, when escalating, state-sanctioned religious persecution is rising to unprecedented levels.
[1] Link to a video on social media: https://x.com/i/status/1895915043440771530
[2] Link to a video on social media: https://x.com/i/status/1895910472597324075
