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ASI murders Ahmadi ‘infidel’

By Ali Waqar

LAHORE: An assistant sub-inspector of police shot dead an Ahmadi, after accusing him of being an “infidel” in the Qadarabad police precincts, Mandi Bahauddin, on Thursday.

The ASI shot Muhammad Ashraf when the latter was having breakfast at a hotel in Seera village near Phalian, killing him instantly. “You are an infidel, and are preaching an infidel creed in the area,” the ASI shouted before shooting Ashraf.

The ASI then went to a police station and turned himself in. A case has been lodged against him under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Police told Daily Times that the killer had confessed to the crime, and had called himself an “extremist” Muslim.

Station House Officer Nazir Ahmed said the ASI had gone on leave because of illness. He said the ASI told police that he killed Ashraf for changing his faith from a Sunni Muslim to an Ahmadi.

Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya spokesman Saleemuddin told Daily Times that the victim converted eight years ago – the only one to have done so in a family of eight brothers. He said that Ashraf’s wife had not converted, but was living with her husband along with three daughters.

The spokesman said that Ashraf initially kept his conversion a secret, but when he disclosed this, “extremists” started threatening him and some local mosques also delivered speeches against him.

According to a press release, the Jamaat has strongly condemned the incident, and asked the government to take stern notice of such incidents, which were on the rise. The statement said that Ahmadis were being victimised, but the government was not paying attention to the matter.

On October 7, 2005, some assailants attacked an Ahamdi mosque in the same district, killing eight people and injuring 18 others.

According to an annual report by Ahmadis, 79 Ahmadis have been killed between 1984 and December 2005.

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