LAHORE: Police on Monday claimed to have arrested 30 suspects out of around 250 people, who were allegedly involved in vandalising farmhouses and shops belonging to members of a minority community in Sialkot a couple of days ago.

According to police and locals, five members of the Ahmadi community were injured when a mob attacked them in the Pirochak area of Sialkot district. One victim sustained a bullet wound while four others were beaten with rods.

Tensions erupted on Sept 21 after a woman from the non-Muslim community passed away and locals opposed her burial in a graveyard established in 1945. Members of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) gathered at the site, attacked two people standing outside a farmhouse, while also firing into the air.

The TLP activists, carrying guns and batons, allegedly doused the properties of the community with petrol and set them on fire. They also torched motorcycles and tractors parked at the farmhouses as well as shops.

A heavy police contingent later reached the scene, dispersed the TLP activists and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital.

Mob violence erupted after row over burial of Ahmadi woman; FIRs filed by both sides

Ahmadi community spokesperson Aamir Mahmood claimed hundreds of TLP supporters attacked members of their community and set their farmhouses and shops ablaze in the presence of police officials. He said that locals did not allow the woman’s burial in the graveyard and also assaulted her relatives. Moutra police registered a case on behalf of the state under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Faisal Shehzad told Dawn that 30 suspects involved in the attack on the community were arrested. He said that some of those arrested were named in the case and that raids were underway to arrest the remaining suspects.

The DPO added that the situation had been normalised after police deployment in and around the Ahmadi community’s homes.

He said eight people were injured in the incident — five from the Ahmadi community and three from the TLP.

The DPO said that the authorities were holding meetings to resolve the graveyard dispute. He explained that the DC office had issued an order for construction of a wall around the Ahmadi community’s graves, and the state would provide land to expand the graveyard and create more space for the community.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2025