December 2014: Man from Ahmadi religious minority killed in Pakistan after Muslim leader calls them ‘enemy’
Gunmen in eastern Pakistan shot dead a member of the Ahmadi religious minority on Saturday, an Ahmadi spokesman said, five days after a Muslim leader denounced Ahmadis on a popular Pakistani television talk show. Reuters reports that Luqman Ahmad Shehzad was shot in the back of the head near Bhiri Shah Rehman village, a small community of Ahmadis in the Gujranwala district.
He is the eleventh person killed for being Ahmadi in Pakistan this year. Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but believe that a prophet came after the Prophet Mohammed, who in Islam is revered as the last of God’s messengers. In 1984, a Pakistani law declared them non-Muslims and made it possible to jail Ahmadis for “posing as a Muslim” or “offending a Muslim’s feelings”.
They are often denounced and targeted by violent extremists. Some clerics promise that killing Ahmadis earns the killer a place in heaven and distribute leaflets listing their home addresses.
In advance of a debate on April 25th on how UK aid is used to support minorities in Pakistan, Government responds to my Question on why Ahmadi Muslims were not included on the single electoral list with all other voters in the recent elections in that country
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign,...