Cousin of Nobel laureate Dr Salam gunned down

ISLAMABAD: A prominent member of Pakistan’s minority Ahmadi community and relative of its first Nobel Prize winner was gunned down on Thursday in an attack claimed by banned militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Malik Saleem Latif, a cousin of Dr Abdus Salam, who shared the physics Nobel Prize in 1979, was shot just yards from his home in Nankana Sahib, said Saleemuddin, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community.

Latif was going on a motorcycle to work with his son when a gunman opened fire, said Saleemuddin, who goes by only one name.“Threats against Ahmadis are common in the area and Latif was a prominent member of the community and a well-known lawyer,” he added.

“Saleem Latif was spreading Ahmadi beliefs in the region,” the militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, said in a statement claiming the Thursday’s attack.It was the latest in a series of sectarian incidents in Pakistan, where security forces have battled groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for years.

“We have three teams investigating and searching for the assailants and trying to apprehend them,” district police officer Shahzada Billa Umer told Reuters.Dr Salam, who was Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate until Malala Yousafzai shared the peace prize in 2014, remains a contentious figure because of his religious background.