Pakistan: targeted killing of Ahmadiyya Muslim

A homeopathic doctor belonging to the Ahmadiyya community was shot dead in his clinic in Karachi on 20 June.

Mr Chaudhry Khaliq Ahmad was shot by unknown assailants, while he was attending to patients at his clinic in Sikandar Goth. He was shot multiple times but died on his way to a nearby hospital.

Mr Ahmad is the latest victim in a spate of killings in which three Ahmadis have been murdered in the past five weeks. On 5 June, another Ahmadi doctor, Hameed Ahmed, was shot dead outside his house in Darul Islam Colony in Attock by two unidentified men. On 25 May, Daud Ahmad was killed near his home in the same Karachi neighbourhood because of his religion.

These targeted killings are the latest development in ongoing attacks against Ahmadi Muslims. The Ahmadiyya community was declared ‘non-Muslim’ in Pakistan’s 1974 Constitution and as a result of the anti-Ahmadi Ordinance XX (20), it became a criminal offence for them to call themselves Muslims. This has resulted in Ahmadis being routinely targeted because of their faith.

The spokesperson of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan, Salim ud Din, said, “I am shocked and saddened at the news of Chaudhry Khaliq Ahmad’s murder. Words cannot describe the sorrow felt not only by myself, but all Ahmadis in Pakistan and throughout the world on account of this heinous act. It seems that there is no respite for Ahmadis even in the holy month of Ramadan. It appears that Ahmadis are being targeted in a clear and methodical way. The authorities need to act quickly to put an end to these indiscriminate murders.”

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said, “CSW extends our heartfelt condolences to Mr Ahmad’s family. We continue to be dismayed by the relentless targeting of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan and the environment of impunity which promulgates such attacks. We urge the police to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of this and other attacks. We also urge the government of Pakistan to amend discriminatory legislation and to take proactive steps to reduce the vulnerability of the Ahmadiyya community and other religious minorities in Pakistan.”