CHINIOT: A Pakistani-American cardiac surgeon belonging to the Ahmadi community was shot dead in Chenabnagar (Rabwah) on Monday. He was 50.

Dr Mehdi Ali Qamar, who settled in the US during the 1990s, had come to Chenabnagar town two days ago to serve in Jamaat Ahmadiya-run Tahir Heart Institute.

He, along with his wife and two children, visited the graves of his ancestors in a nearby graveyard in the morning. On his return, he was fired upon by two armed men riding a motorcycle at the exit gate of the graveyard.

Police said Dr Qamar died on the spot and the assailants managed to escape. Chenabnagar police registered a case under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and started investigation.

According to his autopsy report, the surgeon received nine bullets.

Chenabnagar SHO Rana Anwar said police were investigating and it was premature to say if it was a result of family enmity or target killing.

Saleemuddin, a spokesman for the Jamat Ahmadiyya, said in a press release that Dr Qamar had returned to the country to serve people.

“The incident is an outcome of religious hatred and part of the ongoing anti-Ahmadi target-killing campaign,” he said.

The spokesman said the cardiologist had no enmity with anyone.

“The murder of the doctor who served fellow human beings without discrimination is most painful. Murder of a doctor who had recently come to serve his compatriots was a crime against humanity. This painful incident is part of the ongoing anti-Ahmadi killing campaign. Anti-Ahmadi activists openly publish hate material calling for murder of Ahmadis. In the past hateful leaflets declared that getting treatment in Tahir Heart Institute was haram. In order to put a stop to murders in the name of faith it is essential to ban hate-promoting literature, and those who issue fatwas legitimising murder of innocent people should be brought to justice,” he said.

He demanded that authorities trace the killers of Dr Qamar and punish them in accordance with law.

Dr Qamar left behind a wife and three sons.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2014