Two suspects have been arrested for the alleged murder of an Ahmadi man and injuring another in Punjab’s Kasur district, the police said on Friday.
The first information report of the incident was lodged at the Saddar Phool Nagar Police Station of Kasur under Sections 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 302 (murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The complainant said his son and nephew were fired at by five assailants, adding that his nephew died of his wounds while being taken for medical treatment while his son was injured and referred to Lahore for treatment.
Kasur District Police Officer Essa Khan told Dawn.com that subsequently, “two out of five nominated were arrested, while raids are being conducted to arrest the other suspects.”
He said that “one of the suspects is a member of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who had tried to use religious sentiments to settle personal scores in 2022. The current incident, however, occurred due to personal enmity.”
A statement from a spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya community, Aamir Mahmood, claimed that “extremists opened fire in Bhalir Kasur, killing a youth named Muhammad Asif, 19, while another person was seriously injured”.
The statement added that a “campaign against the Ahmadiyya place of worship had been going on in the area for a long time, and harassment was being carried out”.
“Extremist elements had been harassing Ahmadis in various ways in the Bhalir area of Kasur district for the last two years,” the statement further said, adding that a campaign was launched against their place of worship and demands were made to dismantle it.
“Direct firing had been carried out twice before yesterday’s incident, which damaged the walls of many houses,” it added while listing down previous instances of attacks on members of the Ahmadi community in the area.
Expressing concern over the increasing incidents of violence against his community members, Mahmood demanded that the higher authorities protect Ahmadis as per the law.
“While protecting Ahmadis according to the law, those who are carrying out hate campaigns should be brought to justice,” the spokesperson said, according to the statement.
Earlier this month, a 46-year-old businessman was lynched when a few hundred supporters of the religiopolitical party TLP stormed a place of worship belonging to the Ahmadi community in Karachi’s Saddar area on Friday to prevent it from observing religious rituals, according to officials.
Last month, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it had observed a growing trend of mob-led attacks on the homes of families belonging to religious minorities, as well as their places of worship.
The report, titled Under Siege: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2023-24, said over 750 persons were in prison on charges of blasphemy, as of October last year. It documented at least four faith-based killings, three of which targeted the Ahmadi community.
