Pakistan: 75-year-old Ahmadi Muslim shot dead

A 75-year-old Ahmadi Muslim, Dr. Rasheed Ahmad, well-known for his humanitarian service to the most neglected villagers, was on February 19 shot dead in Goteriala, a village in the Gujrat District, in Pakistan's Punjab Province, The Bitter Winter magazine reported.

International Human Rights Committee (IHRC), a non-profit and non-governmental organization focusing on freedom of religion or belief based in London, broadcasted the news.

Ahmad was hit by several shots in the health centre where he worked, the "Dr. Rashid Jatt Clinic," a homoeopathy clinic that he established to serve the poorest villagers.

The tragedy is an international incident that goes beyond Pakistan's borders. Dr. Ahmad was born in Pakistan but years ago became a Norwegian citizen. In this new hate crime, a foreign citizen was murdered in Pakistan because of his faith, according to Bitter Winter.

Secretary General of IHRC, Nasim Malik, who lives in Sweden, told Bitter Winter, "As a Scandinavian, Ahmad knew me and my work in denouncing the persecution of the minorities in Pakistan and especially the Ahmadiyya Muslims. Dr Ahmad's heart was full of humanity. He was a retired doctor in Norway who travelled back to his native Pakistan to serve the inhabitants of his village, Goteriala, even at the risk of his own life."

According to The Bitter Winter Magazine, the assassination of Dr Ahmad appears to have been premeditated. Those living near the place of the murder, IHRC reported, knew the killer as an outspoken and active opponent of the Ahmadis, a Muslim community that both the Muslim government of Pakistan and private thugs persecute as heretical.

Religion-based hate crimes, including lynching, happen daily in Pakistan. The problem is the tolerance of local police, which sometimes escalates to complicity with the mobs.

Recently, in yet another instance of hatred against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, their place of worship was desecrated in Karachi by unknown attackers.

"Qadiani prayer place being attacked by extremists in Karachi, Hashoo Market Saddar," tweeted The Rise News, a non-profit news organization.

In the video posted by them on Twitter, unknown persons wearing helmets were seen breaking the minarets of the Ahmadi Masjid in Saddar, Karachi, and escaping thereafter.

Police were also present at the spot and as per local sources, the attackers were from Pakistan's Islamic political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

This is the second incident in a month, earlier the minarets of Ahmadi Jamaat Khata on Jamshed Road in Karachi were demolished.

With mob attacks and killings becoming a regular affair against the Ahmadiyya community, Pakistan has become a country where the people of this community are subjected to extensive persecution including hate speech and violence.