Pakistan: Ahmadi community slams govt over killing of minority member

Pakistan: Ahmadi community slams govt over killing of minority member

Malik Mabroor Ahmad had survived another bid on his life in 2008 but no action was taken by the local authorities to protect him from the extremists.

LAHORE: Representatives of the Ahmedi community and human rights activists have slammed the government over religiously motivated killing of an Ahmedi advocate, Malik Mabroor Ahmad, while demanding immediate action against the culprits.

Jama’at Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson Saleem ud Din stated on Tuesday that the well-known Ahmedi lawyer was assassinated in a religiously motivated attack on the night of July 11 in Nawabshah (Sindh) as he arrived outside his office for work.

He was shot point blank by an unidentified assailant who managed to escape from the crime scene. Upon hearing the noise of gunfire, his brother, Malik Waseem Ahmad, rushed to the scene only to discover that the victim had already succumbed to his injuries.

Malik Mabroor Ahmad was a peaceful and law-abiding citizen and a renowned lawyer. He was 50 at the time of his death and is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters. Saleem ud Din said that such violence results from the continuing hatred that is being spread throughout Pakistan against Jama’at Ahmadiyya.


“We cannot condemn this enough. I call upon the government to dispense swift justice against the perpetrators of this crime,” he added. He said that Malik Mabroor Ahmad had survived another bid on his life in 2008 but no action was taken by the local authorities to protect him from the extremists.

He added that district chief of Jama’at Ahmadiyya Nawabshah, Muhammad Yousaf was also assassinated in 2008 while a well known Ahmedi doctor Abdul Manan Siddique also fell prey to the target killers in Mirpur Khas. But it is unfortunate that not a single killer has been arrested so far.

The spokesperson stated that violent assaults against Ahmedis that are carried out in the name of religion are all too often premeditated and well organized. These attacks serve only to blemish the name of Islam and spread discord and strife amongst the general population.

He said that it was most unfortunate that all possible means of mass communication are being used in order to incite the sentiments of people against Ahmedis and inflame the already raging fire of sectarianism in the country. Leading rights activist and director of Centre for Human Rights Education Samson Salamat has strongly condemned the brutal killing of Malik Mabroor Ahmed in Nawabshah. He said that another killing in the name of religion is the failure of the state machinery and has raised the threat for the persecuted religious minorities in the country.

Samson demanded the state should take its responsibility as a guardian of the security of its people seriously and undertake strong measures to curb violence in the name of religion, which has taken the lives of renowned leaders like Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti. The perpetrators involved in the killing of the senior lawyer and others should be exposed and brought to justice. “We also demand that all stakeholders including the state, political parties, elected public representatives, citizens and civil society should stop compromising with the religiously motivated violence and should raise their voices,” Samson concluded.


Read original post here: Ahmadi community slams govt over killing of minority member
Monday, July 11, 2011