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Ahmadi man shot dead in Karachi

Dawood Ahmad was gunned down because of his religious beliefs, Pakistan's Ahmadiyya community says
Ahmadi man shot dead in Karachi

This 2014 file photo shows an angry mob setting fire to household items belonging to a minority Ahmadi Muslim resident in the low-income Arafat colony in Gujranwala, Pakistan. The mob torched the neighborhood killing a woman and two girls in a row over blasphemy, police said. (Photo by AFP)

Published: May 27, 2016 11:43 AM GMT
Updated: May 27, 2016 11:44 AM GMT

A man belonging to Pakistan's Ahmadiyya community has been killed in a drive-by shooting in the southern city of Karachi, members of the religious minority said May 26.

Dawood Ahmad, 55, was shot multiple times outside his home in the Gulzar Hijri area of Karachi May 24 because of his religious beliefs, community members said in a statement.

"He was waiting for a friend outside his house when two men pulled up on a motorcycle, opened fire and fled," the statement said.

Saleemuddin, an Ahmadiyya community spokesman who only goes by one name, said the killing was the result of a hate campaign being waged against Ahmadis, a Muslim sect that other branches of Islam consider as heretics and non-Muslim. 

Unlike Shi'ites and Sunnis, Ahmadis believe the Prophet Muhammad was not the final prophet. Ahmadis are banned by Pakistani law.

Father Abid Habib former president of the Major Superiors Leadership Conference of Pakistan condemned the killing.

"It's pity that Ahmadis are considered worse than kaafir (infidel) by most Pakistanis. Among all religious minorities, this community faces the most apathy from government," he said.

Mansha Noor, executive secretary of Caritas Pakistan Karachi also expressed similar sentiments. "Do we have a law of the jungle? Banned organizations have been targeting Ahmadis and other minorities for years," he said.

"The community has been living in hiding ever since the government declared them as non-Muslims. But they are equal Pakistani citizens and the state must protect them," he said.

Saleemuddin pointed out that "Thirty Ahmadis have been killed in Karachi [since 1984] and not a single murderer has been brought to justice. Consequently extremist elements feel encouraged to kill us."

Police said they have launched an investigation into the attack, saying it was too early to establish a motive for the killing.

The Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan is frequently targeted and face the worst discrimination, rights groups say.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported earlier this month that Pakistan continued to experience chronic sectarian violence targeting Shias, Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus.

"Despite positive rulings by the [Pakistan] Supreme Court, the government failed to provide adequate protection to targeted groups or to prosecute perpetrators and those calling for violence," the commission said in its annual report.

It said Pakistan's "repressive blasphemy laws" and anti-Ahmadi laws "continue to violate religious freedoms and to foster a climate of impunity."

The blasphemy laws "target members of religious minority communities and dissenting Muslims," the report added.

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