LAHORE: Just a week after the murder of an Ahmadi lawyer in Punjab’s Nankana Sahib area, armed men on Friday gunned down another member of the minority community in the province’s capital.
Dr Ashfaq Ahmad, 68 – a veterinary doctor and a PhD in food and nutrition – was on his way to an Ahmadi place of worship to offer prayers when he was targeted in Sabzazar area of Lahore.
SHO Sabzazar Qaiser Aziz told The Express Tribune Ahmad was driving his car when a person asked him to stop the vehicle. “As he stopped the car, the man shot him in the temple at a point-blank range, killing him on the spot,” he said.
Aziz said apparently the attacker had an accomplice with whom he fled the scene unchallenged.
“It is premature to say something about the motive behind his killing. However, Ahmad apparently had no enmity with anyone. No FIR is so far registered as we have not received any application,” he said.
According to Ahmadiyya Jamaat’s spokesperson Saleemuddin, Ahmad’s 11-year-old grandson and a friend were also sitting in the car when the crime took place. “Ahmed’s body was later shifted to a morgue for autopsy. The assailant was wearing a helmet and could not be recognised,” he added.
The community’s spokesperson said the deceased had no personal enmity and he was murdered just because of his faith. “Ahmad’s wife had died two months back and his son lives in Germany,” he added.
Ahmadiyya Jamaat in a statement said Ahmad’s murder was the second of an Ahmadi within 10 days. “Ahmadis are being targeted because of a hate campaign run against them in the country,’ it said.
On March 30, Advocate Malik Saleem Latif – a cousin of Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam – was gunned down in Nankana Sahib while he was going to the courts with his son Malik Awais on a motorcycle.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1377282/ahmadi-veterinary-doctor-gunned-lahore/