The Sindh police said on Friday they were looking into the death of an Ahmadi man in Mirpurkhas.

The Ahmadiyya sect has been persecuted for decades in Pakistan but threats and intimidation have risen in recent years.

Mirpurkhas Senior Superintendent of Police Shabbir Ahmed Sethar told Dawn.com: “We are lodging a first information report and an investigation is underway,covering all aspects.”

He said a special team was also constituted for the task under the Crime Investigation Agency’s deputy superintendent of police.

Earlier, a statement from Ahmadi community spokesperson Amir Mehmood said 40-year-old Ameer Hassan Mardani was on his way back with his son from worship in the morning when he was gunned down by two unknown motorcyclists in the district’s Fazal Bhambro area.

It said the father and son had nearly reached their home when the two suspects came, asked Mardani’s name, shot him in the chest and killed him on the spot upon identifying him, fleeing thereafter.

The statement said he had no enmity with anyone and was a local official of the Ahmadiyya community who allegedly faced opposition in the area due to his religious identity.

“Violent incidents against Ahmadis are increasing. Innocent Ahmadis are being targeted.

“A provocative campaign is underway against Ahmadis across the country. The government should take immediate action,” Mehmood demanded, saying that a “feeling of insecurity” was rising in the community.

Mehmood demanded that it was the responsibility of the authorities to provide protection to the “patriotic and peaceful” community.

“State institutions should root out extremists who incite against Ahmadis and bring the criminals who carried out murderous attacks on Ahmadis to justice and punish them according to the law,” he said.

In August, the Anti-Terrorism Court, Sahiwal division, awarded the death sentence and a Rs500,000 fine to a villager for killing a member of the Ahmadiyya community near Chack Fojianwala.

United Nations experts had voiced grave concern in July at reports of surging discrimination and violence against the community, including extrajudicial killings and attacks on places of worship.

There are around 500,000 Ahmadis in Pakistan according to their community leadership.

The Constitution has branded them non-Muslims since 1974, and a 1984 law forbids them from claiming their faith as Islamic or openly practising Islamic rituals.