Pakistani man from minority Ahmadi community stabbed to death over faith: Police

Lahore, May 18 (PTI) A 35-year-old Pakistani man belonging to the minority Ahmadi community has been stabbed to death by a “religious fanatic” over his faith in the country’s Punjab province, the police said on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the Ahmadi community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were banned from calling themselves Muslims. They are banned from preaching and from travelling to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage.

The latest incident took place in Okara district, some 130 km from here, on Tuesday.

Abdul Salam, a member of the minority Ahmadi community, was brutally stabbed to death by “religious fanatic” Hafiz Ali Raza apparently because of his faith, senior police officer Muhammad Saddique told PTI.

“When Salam was returning from his agricultural land, Raza attacked him with a knife. Salam died on the spot with multiple wounds on his body. Raza managed to flee after raising religious slogans,” the officer said.

A case has been registered under murder and terrorism charges against the suspect.

The police officer said that the alleged killer was a seminary student and had no other apparent reason to kill Salam except his faith.

Since Salam’s murder created terror in the locality, the suspect has also been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Salam’s uncle Zafar Iqbal told the police that Raza had killed his nephew “for his religious hatred against Ahmadis”.

He said that his nephew had no enmity whatsoever with anyone, including the killer.

“Raza is a member of radical Islamist party, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) which promoted religious hatred in the area. After the incident, the Ahmadi families living in the Okara district are feeling highly insecure,” Iqbal said.

He urged the police to arrest the culprit at the earliest and provide security to the Ahmadi community.

“Attacks on Ahmadis are increasing with every passing day. It is becoming more difficult for Ahmadis to do even basic things like running their business or going to their work. The government is not interested in curtailing hate speech or apprehending those behind this violence,” Jamaat Ahmadiya Pakistan spokesperson Saleemuddin said on Twitter.

Minorities, especially Ahmadis, are very vulnerable in Pakistan and they are often targeted by religious extremists.

Former military dictator Gen Zia-ul Haq had made it a punishable offence for Ahmadiyyas to call themselves Muslims or to refer to their faith as Islam.

In Pakistan, around 10 million out of the 220 million population are non-Muslims.

According to the 2017 census, Hindus constitute the largest religious minority (5 million) in Pakistan. Christians make up the second largest religious minority, with almost the same number (4.5 million) and their concentration is mostly in urban Sindh, Punjab and parts of Balochistan.

The Ahmadis, Sikhs and Parsi are also among the notable religious minorities in Pakistan. PTI MZ CPS AKJ CPS

This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

Read the original story HERE.

We are using cookies to give you the best experience. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in privacy settings.
AcceptPrivacy Settings

GDPR

This Cookie Policy explains how Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK (AMA UK)  Limited (“company”, “we”, “us”, and “ours”) use cookies and similar technologies to recognize you when you visit our websites, including without limitation www.ahmadiyyauk.org and its mobile or localized versions and related domains / sub-domains (“Websites”) and/or our mobile application (“App”). It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.

What are cookies?

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or mobile application. Cookies are then sent back to the originating site on each subsequent visit, or to another site that recognizes that cookies. You can find out more information about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.

Cookies are widely used in order to make sites work or to work more efficiently.

We use cookies to enhance the online experience of our visitors (for example, by remembering your visits and/or page preferences) and to better understand how our site is used. Cookies may tell us, for example, whether you have visited our site before or whether you are a new visitor.

Cookies can remain on your computer or mobile device for different periods of time. Some cookies are ‘session cookies’, meaning that they exist only while your browser is open. These are deleted automatically once you close your browser. Other cookies are ‘permanent cookies,’ meaning that they survive after your browser is closed. They can be used by the site to recognize your computer or mobile device when you open your browser and browse the Internet again.

Why do we use cookies?

We use cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites and/or App to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Websites and/or App. Third parties serve cookies through our Websites and/or App for analytics and other purposes such as Google Analytics. In particular, we use forms related cookies which when you submit data through a form such as those found on contact pages or comment forms cookies may be set to remember your user details for future correspondence.

How can you control cookies?

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies and we have explained how you can exercise this right below. However, please note that if you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of our site.

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.

How often will we update this Cookie Policy?

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please, therefore, re-visit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.