Minority man killed in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Gunmen shot and killed an 82-year-old Ahmadi man, officials said Monday, the fourth-such apparently targeted killing of a member of the minority group in recent months, foreign media reported.

The attackers shot Mahmoob Khan on Sunday as he stood at a bus terminal, said Saleem Uddin, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community. Police confirmed the shooting took place, but declined to offer any motive.

Our correspondent adds: Pakistan Ulema Council chairman, special representative to prime minister on religious harmony Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, meanwhile, said it is responsibility of the state to ensure protection of rights of the citizens. “Khyber Pakhtunkwa government has been assigned to take prompt action against killing of Ahmadis in Peshawar,” he said in a statement.

Ashrafi said the leadership of all the religious organisations and different religious schools of thought have always raised voice to ensure protection of lives and properties of citizens irrespective of their faith identities. He also underlined that extra-judicial killings of Ahmadis in Peshawar can’t be justified and termed right. He said the Constitution and law of Pakistan have categorically defined rights for Muslims and non-Muslims living in the country. “It is responsibility of the government to ensure protection of the rights, lives and properties of the people of Pakistan,” he added.

KP government has been instructed to ensure transparent investigations on instances of killings of Ahmadis in Peshawar during last few months, he added. He said the leadership of different religious schools of thought has announced categorically that extra- judicial killing of any Muslin or non-Muslim can’t be allowed.

He said it is responsibility of the KP government to arrest the killers of Ahmadis and public the objectives of these elements involved in killing of Ahmadis in Peshawar. Ashrafi also announced that Interfaith Harmony Councils are being established all over the country and their inter-coordination will be strengthened after November 16, to address issues relating to interfaith dialogue and inter-religious harmony.