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.
Government quizzed on whether a percentage of aid to Pakistan will be allocated to improving the living conditions of people from religious minorities, including the provision of fresh running water and electricity, and the creation of primary schools; on education for destitute girls; and on whether religious minorities in Pakistan will be included in the list of marginalized communities prioritised for UK aid.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign,...