120-year-old Ahmadi place of worship demolished in Pakistan's Punjab: Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya

Ahmadi worship place demolished in Pakistan, sparking outrage and highlighting ongoing persecution of the minority community.

A 120-year-old worship place of the minority Ahmadi community was demolished by police on the pressure of a radical Islamist party in Pakistan’s Punjab province, a community organisation said on Monday (March 3, 2025).

The police also detained five Ahmadis for protesting the demolition of their worship place in the Chatha area of Gujranwala, some 80 km from Lahore.

“A team of police personnel along with the members of the radical Islamist party (Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan) entered the Ahmadi worship place last week and demolished it. They cut down minarets with a grinder,” Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) said.

“The police team also detained five Ahmadis for protesting against the illegal action,” it added.

Under the law, the Ahmadi worship places built before 1984 cannot be demolished. “And this structure was built 120 years ago,” the JAP said.

The Gujranwala police said that it demolished the Ahmadi worship place on complaints that it had minarets like that of a Muslim Mosque, which cannot be allowed.

Police said it released the detained Ahmadis whom they picked up from the site.