PESHAWAR: A professor belonging to the Ahmadi community was shot dead by attackers in the Wazir Bagh area of the city on World Teachers Day on Monday.

Dr Naeemuddin Khattak was a zoology professor at Superior Science College on the outskirts of Peshawar. He was going home in the Regi area from the college when unidentified bikers opened fire on him on Doura Road.

The city police said in a statement that they had collected forensic evidence from the crime scene and were investigating the incident.

A police officer confirmed that the slain professor was Ahmadi and apparently killed after an argument over religion a day earlier.

He said police had registered a case against a relative, identified as Mubasir, and a fellow professor, Saad Farooq, who had argued with the slain professor.

The officer said the two suspects had directly been named in the FIR by the slain professor’s family.

This was the third murder of an Ahmadi in the city since July 29, when Tahir Naseem, an American national, was shot dead by a teenager in a court. On Aug 12, Meraj Ahmed, an Ahmadi trader, was shot dead by attackers in the Gulbahar area.

On Sept 11, a mob besieged the residence of an Ahmadi in the Phandu area of the city and the family was rescued by police. However, one of the family members was arrested and charged with blasphemy.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2020