These mass arrests took place last Friday when a mob of religious extremists gathered outside the place of worship, chanting inflammatory slogans.

In response to fears of potential violence, members of the Ahmadi community reached out to the police emergency line for assistance. However, instead of dispersing the threatening crowd, law enforcement officials arrested 22 Ahmadis, transported them to the City Police Station in Daska.

Following the arrests, extremists gathered outside the police station, demanding that criminal charges be filed against the detainees. Yielding to the pressure from these groups, authorities subsequently registered formal charges against the arrested Ahmadi citizens.

In a similar incident last week, 23 Ahmadis had criminal charges registered against them in the Sargodha district for gathering at a community space to offer Friday prayers.

Amir Mahmood, a spokesperson for the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, said the situation for the community has become “grave” and that they are being stopped from praying even within the boundaries of four walls.

Pakistan’s law bars Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims, and extremist groups have relied on the legislation to justify attacks targeting the community. They vandalize Ahmadi worship places arguing that they look like mosques. Ahmadi tombstones carrying Islamic terms or titles are also often a target.

A judgement of the Supreme Court authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah in 2022 had asked the authorities not to stop Ahmadi citizens from practicing their faith within the four walls of their homes and worship places. The SC had held that the act of depriving non-Muslims of holding their religious beliefs was “against the grain of our democratic Constitution”.

“To deprive a non-Muslim (minority) of our country from holding his religious beliefs, to obstruct him from professing and practicing his religion within the four walls of his place of worship is against the grain of our democratic Constitution and repugnant to the spirit and character of our Islamic Republic,” stated a nine-page verdict, authored by SC judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in 2022.

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A 40-year-old Ahmadi man was reportedly axed to death in Rawalpindi, in what the community has described as a faith-based attack.

Tayyab Ahmad, who was in Rawalpindi visiting his brother, is survived by a widow.

The incident took place at the workplace of the slain man’s brother, who is a businessman and had been receiving threats from religious extremists. According to a spokesperson for the Ahmadi community, as the attacker struck the victim with an axe, he kept saying, “I have warned you Qadianis to leave this place.”

Earlier, extremists had allegedly attacked his brother’s shop by throwing stones at it and had been issuing threats. Ahmad’s brother had recently moved his family out of Rawalpindi due to these threats. The brother, who was present at the site of the incident, survived the attack.

In a statement, the Ahmadi community spokesperson noted that perpetrators of such hate crimes against the community are never brought to justice. “The government must put an end to the hate speech and violence against the community,” the statement added.

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In the statement, the spokesperson further noted that in most cases, it’s the police that carry out the desecration of Ahmadi graves. There has been a rise in incidents of vandalisation of Ahmadi worship places and graves in the past few months.

On Sept. 23, the Punjab police desecrated more than 70 tombstones of Ahmadis in Daska, Sialkot, in the wee hours.

On Sept. 26, Ahmadi worship places in Sheikhupura and Okara were vandalised in two separate attacks. Moreover, an Ahmadi superintendent of police (SP) faced threats from religious quarters in Mandi Bahauddin during that week. These incidents targeting the community continue to take place despite the Lahore High Court’s recent verdict that barred the police from demolishing Ahmadi worship places that were built before the passage of Ordinance XX in 1984. The ordinance, promulgated by military dictator Zia ul Haq, had made it a criminal offence for Ahmadis to use Islamic terms and titles or “pose as Muslims”. Religious extremists who demolish Ahmadi worship places cite this law to justify their actions, and the authorities often side with the attackers.

On August 21, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar mentioned Ahmadis along with other minorities during his speech condemning the Jaranwala incident where churches and Christian homes were burnt by a mob over blasphemy allegations. But since that speech, several Ahmadi worship places have been desecrated in Pakistan.

This year alone, there were 18 attacks on Ahmadi places of worship in the country. According to the community, the police either take part in the desecration or give a free hand to extremist individuals to attack the worship places.

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Ahead of Eid, police authorities in Punjab had vowed strict action against Ahmadi citizens found offering the ritual sacrifice, amid threats to the marginalised community by extremist groups. The first day of Eid al Azha was marked on June 29 in Pakistan.

A spokesperson for the Ahmadi community told Dissent Today that extremist individuals kept peeking inside houses of Ahmadi residents in Faisalabad to see if they were slaughtering sacrificial animals. Sacrificial goats and cows were seized by the police in raids conducted on complaints of extremist individuals.

A video doing the rounds on social media, purportedly from Faisalabad, shows two men introducing themselves as workers of the TLP, and announcing that they called the police when they found out sacrificial goats were being kept inside an Ahmadi house in their neighbourhood. “We have informed the police, and a contingent has arrived,” they said, adding that if the police did not act against the Ahmadi residents, they would call workers of the TLP.

On the complaint of Tehreek Labeek activist, Punjab Police raided the house of Ahmadiyya community in faislabad and seized Eid animals.
Ahmadis are not allowed to perform Qurbani even in their homes, pic.twitter.com/Z3eYtnAtlb

— adnan luqman (@adnan_luqman) June 29, 2023

The video ends with policemen coming out of the house with two goats, and the complainants announcing that two goats have been “recovered”.

The harassment of the Ahmadi community intensifies around Eid al Azha every year, but this crackdown appears to be severer this year. TLP’s leaders and supporters on social media had threatened to lodge cases against the community’s members if they slaughtered sacrificial animals on Eid. In a viral video released ahead of Eid, a leader of the group could be seen warning that if the ritual is performed inside the house, the women of the family would have cases registered against them.

These warnings did not just come from extremist quarters, but lawyers in Punjab had also urged the authorities to stop the community from marking Eid al Azha. Lahore High Court Bar Association and Islamabad Bar Association wrote separate letters to the secretary Home Department and Inspector General Police respectively, wherein the lawyer bodies urged “preemptive and preventive” action to stop the Ahmadi community from performing the ritual sacrifice on Eid al Azha. The letters separately issued by both associations were dated 22nd and 24th June.

Pakistan’s Constitution declares Ahmadis “non-Muslims”, and they are prohibited from “posing as Muslims”. Ahmadis seen posing as Muslims or using Muslim symbols or titles can be jailed for three years. These laws are often used as a tool to harass the community.

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A representative from the Ahmadiyya community’s press section confirmed the news with Dissent Today.

احمدیوں کی عبادتگاہوں پر ایک اور حملہ
سیٹیلائٹ ٹاون میر پور خاص میں گذشتہ رات 4فروری ساڑھے آٹھ بجے نامعلوم فرد نے فائرنگ کی . جس کی گولیاں دروازے اور دیوار پر لگی ہیں۔اس وقت چند احمدی اندر موجود تھے@BBhuttoZardari @sindhpolicedmc8
احمدیوں کو تحفظ فراہم کریں@AAliZardari pic.twitter.com/GMymOZ00mc

— AmirMahmood (@IamAmirMahmood) February 5, 2023

There were a few people inside the worship place at the time of the incident.

Journalist Bilal Farooqi also urged the authorities to stop the “ugly trend of targeting Ahmadi ‘worship places'”.

On Saturday at 8pm in Satellite Town, Mirpurkhas, miscreants fired gunshots at an Ahmadi ‘worship place’. Bullets struck its gate & wall. There were few Ahmadi worshippers inside at the time. Ugly trend of targeting Ahmadi ‘worship places’ continues & authorities need to stop it pic.twitter.com/4fdoGxQfoA

— Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) February 5, 2023

There has been an increase in attacks against Ahmadi worship places recently.

Another #Ahmadi place of worship shot at, the night of February 4 in Satellite Town, MirPur Khas, per #Ahmadiyya press office. Fourth attack at an Ahmadi place of worship in Feb 2023, and 6th of this year. 5 of this 6 attacks are in Sindh. @nchrofficial @mohrpakistan pic.twitter.com/CjeavvlDKW

— Rabia Mehmood – رابعہ (@Rabail26) February 5, 2023

Earlier, unknown miscreants vandalised a place of Ahmadi worship in Karachi, a video of which was widely circulated on social media. The video showed that the policemen deployed outside the site tried to keep away the miscreants but were unable to control the charged mob.

پریڈی اسٹریٹ تھانے کراچی میں احمدی ہم وطنوں کی عبادت گاہ کے مینار اور محرابیں توڑ دی گئیں۔ لاکھ لعنت ہے ان آئی ایم ایف والوں سے بھیک مانگنے والے مطالعہ پاکستان کے سوزاک میں مبتلا جاہلوں پر۔ pic.twitter.com/WalVQg99uO

— Wajahat Masood (@wajahatmasood) February 5, 2023

A representative from the Ahmadi press section also shared a list of attacks on Ahmadi worship places this year with Dissent Today.

According to the list, police in Wazirabad destroyed the minarets of a worship place on January 10th; miscreants destroyed the minarets of a worship place in Karachi on January 18th. In a similar attack, minarets of a worship place in Saddar Karachi were also destroyed on February 2nd. Miscreants also set fire to two Ahmadi worship places in Umerkot and Mirpurkhas, respectively, on February 3rd.

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Pakistan has no money, no electricity, no political stability, no international standing, crumbling health and education facilitiies, but as long as people can denounce the founder of the Ahmadi community and his followers before getting married all is right with the world. pic.twitter.com/RG5U10pulo

— Usman (@UsmanAhmad_iam) January 24, 2023

Last year, the Punjab government made it mandatory to include the oath of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Finality of the Prophethood) in the marriage certificate form (Nikahnama). By swearing that they believe in the Finality of Prophethood, brides and grooms will swear that it is part of their faith that Muhammad is the last in a series of prophets that started with Adam, and that there can be no prophets after Muhammad. 

پنجاب حکومت کے حکم پر نکاح نامہ میں ختم نبوت ﷺ کا حلف نامہ لازم قرار دے دیا گیا: pic.twitter.com/34kOgTjMuA

— Government of Punjab (@GovtofPunjabPK) October 14, 2022

Shortly after his election, former Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi instructed all marriage registrars on July 30, 2022, to amend the marriage certificate form based on an ordinance of the previous Punjab administration. He declared that registrars who will allow persons who had not sworn the Finality of Prophethood affidavit to marry will go to jail.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1702386/updated-form-a-must-for-solemnising-nikah-in-punjab

Netizens have questioned the validity of nikkahs officiated before this requirement was instituted in Punjab. 

What is the Status of old Nikahs where these words werent recited…do the Nikah still stand.? pic.twitter.com/3c1AoE1yj3

— Mahir Ahmad (@Mahir1786) December 24, 2022

The mandatory nature of this clause has also been called into question. 

I have had my Nikkah in Lahore, Punjab. Filled the Nikkah form with my wife without the involvement of families and Nikkah khuwan. Weirdly there were no Ahmadi etc clauses in the Nikkah form and neither the Nikkah khwan asked us such questions at the time of Nikkah. https://t.co/8sY77z12A2

— Shaheer Ahmad (@Shaheer_Ahmad1) December 26, 2022

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According to a press release issued by the community spokesperson, the attackers also tried to set fire to the coffins and some other items at the graveyard.

Earlier in November, a similar attack was carried out in the same graveyard where unknown miscreants removed gravestones from 3 Ahmadiyya graves. The incident was reported to police who didn’t register an FIR.

The press release from the community spokesperson said, “Time and again, Ahmadiyya graves are desecrated with or without the assistance of the police officials with complete impunity to the culprits. It is disheartening to observe such disregard of the Community’s fundamental rights.”

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