Third attack on Ahmadi Muslims in Punjab within a month
On 21 September, at approximately 5.15 pm, Mr Hamid Javed, an Ahmadi Muslim resident of Lathianwala, Faisalabad District, Punjab, was attacked with a knife outside his home.
Mr Javed left his house and saw an unknown young man standing nearby. When he asked the man who he was there to see, the man asked him to confirm his name and then asked whether he was a “Qadiani”, a derogatory term used in Pakistan to refer to Ahmadi Muslims. When Mr Javed confirmed that he was, the man attacked him with a knife and stabbed him in the stomach.
Mr Javed resisted and the two men became locked in a struggle. A non-Ahmadi neighbour who was standing nearby came forward carrying a stick, at which point the assailant fled on a motorcycle.
A non-Ahmadi resident subsequently stated that the assailant had been waiting for an opportunity to carry out the attack, and that he had previously warned Mr Javed and another Ahmadi Muslim, Mr Tariq Azeem, of the danger. The local police have been informed and efforts are reported to be underway to take action.
The exchange that preceded the attack is significant. The assailant established Mr Javed’s identity and his faith before drawing the knife. This was not an opportunistic assault but a premeditated act directed at an individual solely because he is an Ahmadi Muslim, and it appears the intent was known locally in advance of the attack.
This is the third attack on Ahmadi Muslims in Punjab within a month. On 2 September 2026, Mr Mirza Safdar Mahmood, aged 65, was shot dead near Kot Ahmad Shah in Mandi Bahauddin while travelling from his workshop to an Ahmadi Muslim mosque. On 19 September 2026, Mr Malik Mahmood Mubarak, aged 70, and his son, Mr Ayaz Mubarak, aged 40, were shot and wounded when assailants opened fire on their vehicle in Sargodha. These incidents follow the shooting of three Ahmadi Muslim security volunteers outside the Bait-ul-Aqsa Mosque in Rabwah on 5 June 2026.
Faisalabad District has an established record of anti-Ahmadi hostility, including the desecration of Ahmadi Muslim mosques. Sustained clerical incitement, legislation criminalising the practice of the Ahmadi Muslim faith, and the near-total absence of prosecutions for faith-based attacks continue to place Ahmadi Muslims at risk in the course of ordinary daily life.
Source: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK.