Religious Hatred: Ahmadiyya Community Official Shot Dead in Pakistan’s Mandi Bahauddin

Lahore (Terror Monitor) — A local official affiliated with the Ahmadiyya community was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Mandi Bahauddin district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, allegedly on the basis of religious hatred.

The Ahmadiyya community said in a statement that one of its local officials was shot dead in Mandi Bahauddin.

According to the statement, the incident occurred on September 2 within the jurisdiction of City Police Station, when Mirza Safdar Mahmood, a local Ahmadiyya official, was shot dead by unidentified assailants near the entrance of an Eidgah.

A first information report (FIR) has been registered on the complaint of the victim’s son.

According to the FIR registered at City Police Station in Mandi Bahauddin, the complainant said that at around 6:42 p.m. on Wednesday, he was at Overseas Hospital to visit his mother-in-law when he received a call from an employee at his workshop.

The employee informed him that someone had opened fire on his father near the Eidgah gate.

The complainant said that when he reached the scene, his father was lying on the ground beside his motorcycle, covered in blood, and had already died.

The FIR states that the victim used to travel by motorcycle every day to the local Bait-ul-Zikr, or place of worship, to offer the Maghrib prayer.

The victim’s son told police that his father had no personal enmity with anyone and alleged that the killing was motivated by religious hatred and was intended to create fear and insecurity among members of the Ahmadiyya community.

Police have registered a case under murder and anti-terrorism provisions and launched an investigation into the incident.