Police Detain 22 Worshippers, Including Children, Following Pressure from the TLP

(Daska, Pakistan) – Pakistani police arrested 22 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Daska, District Sialkot, on 28 February 2025 for gathering for Friday prayers inside a private, enclosed place of worship, in one of the largest mass arrests of Ahmadis in a single incident in recent years.

The arrests followed pressure from members of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and marked a further escalation in the criminalisation of Ahmadi religious life in Pakistan.

Shortly after the Friday prayer service began, a mob of religious extremists gathered outside the worship place and began chanting inflammatory slogans. Members of the community contacted the police emergency helpline seeking protection from the crowd.

Instead of dispersing the mob or securing the premises, police entered the site, Police initially detained 22 Ahmadis; they were subsequently remanded into custody. Those taken into custody included children as young as 11.

Following the arrests, members of the TLP and other religious extremist groups gathered outside the police station and demanded that criminal charges be registered against the detainees. Law enforcement authorities, acting under apparent pressure from the protesters, proceeded to register formal cases against the Ahmadis for gathering for prayer inside a private and enclosed space.

The incident formed part of a wider crackdown on Ahmadi worship across Pakistan. On the same day, in Bhagtanwala, District Sargodha, police registered another case against 22 Ahmadis who had gathered for Friday prayers. In Gujranwala, authorities recently supervised the demolition of the minarets of a 120-year-old Ahmadi mosque following similar pressure from the TLP.