The local administration in Daska, Sialkot, has demolished an Ahmadiyya place of worship built by former foreign minister Zafarullah Khan.

 

According to the administration, the demolition was part of an anti-encroachment campaign.

 

The building was razed on January 16. A notice was reportedly issued two days prior under the Punjab Local Government Act, claiming that the extension of the structure was illegal because it encroached 13 feet onto a public road.

 

However, the local Ahmadiyya community asserted that efforts were made to comply with the notice by removing the extended 13 feet on January 15. Despite their claimed compliance, Daska Assistant Commissioner Maham Mushtaq, accompanied by the police, proceeded with the demolition.

 

The anti-encroachment operation lasted from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the evening, during which the electricity supply to the entire area was cut off.

 

The worship place was built by Zafarullah Khan in his native town of Daska, Sialkot, years before Pakistan’s independence in 1947. He later served as Pakistan’s first foreign minister from 1947 to 1954 and was also a key advocate for the Ahmadi cause in the subcontinent.

 

Incidents of razing Ahmadi worship places in Punjab are relatively high, with data showing that 22 of their worship places were demolished across the province in 2024 alone.

 

A spokesperson for Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan, Aamir Mehmood, accused the government of being complicit in targeting the Ahmadi community, claiming that the local administration continuously targets the community’s properties and ignores their grievances.

 

He also claimed that the demolished building had not been altered or extended since its original construction before the partition.

 

He requested the government to take immediate action to protect their places of worship.

 

Previously, in September 2023, it was reported that the banned outfit Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) threatened to destroy the minarets of the same Ahmadiyya worship place in Daska.

 

The same year, the Lahore High Court ruled that Sections 298-B and 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code criminalise specific acts of the Ahmadiyya community but do not authorise the demolition of structures built before these provisions were incorporated through a 1984 ordinance.