ISLAMABAD: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a dentist belonging to Pakistan’s persecuted minority Ahmadi community near Lahore on Saturday.
Police said the killers came on a motorcycle and escaped after killing Dr Zakaur Rehman (53) at his clinic in Lala Musa area of Punjab’s Gujrat district.
“One person entered the clinic and opened fire on the doctor. He took three bullets, in his heart, stomach and arm, and died on the spot,” a police report said, adding Rehman lived alone and his family was abroad.
The assassination has mortified the persecuted community, which faced a backlash and lost several of its members since this Feb when the Supreme Court granted bail to Mubarak Sani, one of its followers, in a blasphemy case.
On Sunday, the Ahmadis condemned the doctor’s murder, calling it part of a larger and intense hate campaign against them. They expressed outrage and disappointment over the govt’s lack of action against such elements.
Community spokesperson Amir Mehmood stressed that the doctor was targeted merely because he belonged to a different faith. Prior to this, Mehmood said two Ahmadis, Ghulam Sarwar and Rahat Ahmad Bajwa, were killed in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin and Hasilpur. Tahir Iqbal Cheema, a local Ahmadi leader, was assassinated in Multan this March.
Police said the killers came on a motorcycle and escaped after killing Dr Zakaur Rehman (53) at his clinic in Lala Musa area of Punjab’s Gujrat district.
“One person entered the clinic and opened fire on the doctor. He took three bullets, in his heart, stomach and arm, and died on the spot,” a police report said, adding Rehman lived alone and his family was abroad.
The assassination has mortified the persecuted community, which faced a backlash and lost several of its members since this Feb when the Supreme Court granted bail to Mubarak Sani, one of its followers, in a blasphemy case.
On Sunday, the Ahmadis condemned the doctor’s murder, calling it part of a larger and intense hate campaign against them. They expressed outrage and disappointment over the govt’s lack of action against such elements.
Community spokesperson Amir Mehmood stressed that the doctor was targeted merely because he belonged to a different faith. Prior to this, Mehmood said two Ahmadis, Ghulam Sarwar and Rahat Ahmad Bajwa, were killed in Punjab’s Mandi Bahauddin and Hasilpur. Tahir Iqbal Cheema, a local Ahmadi leader, was assassinated in Multan this March.