23 Ahmadis arrested for offering Friday prayers in Pakistan's Punjab

23 Ahmadi Muslims arrested in Pakistan for offering Friday prayers, sparking outrage from community and condemnation of extremist actions.

As many as 23 members of minority Ahmadi community were arrested in Punjab province of Pakistan for offering 'Friday prayers,' prohibited for them under law.

The police received a call that 27 Ahmadis were offering juma (Friday) prayers at their place of worship at Daska, Sialkot, some 100 kms from Lahore.

'Ahmadis' prayer leader Arshad Sahi was giving Friday sermon and was reading Islamic verses and other Ahmadis were listening to him, police officer Muhammad Tanzeel told PTI on Saturday.

“As local Muslims' sentiments were hurt, police registered an FIR against those 27 Ahmadis under section 298 C of Pakistan Penal Code,” Tanzeel said and added that 23 of them were arrested.

Section 298 C criminalizes Ahmadis who refer to themselves as Muslim.

Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but were also barred from practising aspects of Islam.

Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) lambasted the police action against innocent Ahmadi men and children. “A group of Ahmadis had gathered for worship within private premises in Daska as per routine. Shortly after, religious extremists assembled outside and began chanting provocative slogans,” it said.