20 November 2020
- Fatal attack in broad daylight on Ahmadi Muslim worshipers at home.
- 31-year-old Dr Tahir Ahmed was shot dead by a teenager while his father Tariq Ahmed is critically injured and currently fighting for his life.
- Ahmadis in Pakistan are the target of an organised hate campaign that openly instigates violence and death.
On Friday 20 November 2020, family members had gathered in their home in Murh Balochan – Nankana Sahib in Punjab, Pakistan, to offer their Friday prayers. Unknown to the family, a gunman was waiting outside their home and opened fire as soon as the family opened the front door to leave home after prayers.
Dr Tahir Ahmed* (aged 31) was shot dead on the spot and his father Tariq Ahmed (55) is currently fighting for his life in a critical condition at hospital. Two more family members received gunshot wounds but are currently in a stable condition. The family remain extremely traumatised by events and remain in fear for their lives.
The murder of Dr Tahir Ahmed represents the fourth murder of an Ahmadi Muslim in a period of four months in Pakistan.
Mr Saleem ud Din, spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Pakistan, said,
“In Pakistan Ahmadis are not even safe inside their own homes. They cannot perform their basic religious obligations inside the four walls of their home. They are killed at their doorsteps as there is little protection. While the hate campaign is going on unchecked.”
There has been an increasing wave of hate and instigation of violence towards the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan, to the extent that extremist clerics are openly encouraging event participants to kill Ahmadi Muslims on grounds of faith.
There is no safe haven for Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan and the Government must take action to protect the community from further persecution.
The attack is part of a wider pattern of escalating state-sponsored persecution of Ahmadi Muslims across Pakistan.
On 15 November a gunman opened fire on an Ahmadi Muslim business in Qissa Khwani Bazaar Peshawar. The Ahmadi Muslim owner escape the attack but sadly his non-Ahmadi salesman was shot dead.
The Government of Pakistan must reign in the hate preachers that are operating with impunity. The safety and security of every citizen in Pakistan is the responsibility of the government; Ahmadi Muslims are law abiding citizens who should get the same rights and protection as any other citizen of Pakistan.