Shopkeeper charged with spreading hatred

LAHORE: The police on Monday charged a shopkeeper with spreading religious hatred after he banned the members of Ahmadi minority from entering his shop — a rare bid by authorities to protect the minority group.

The Lahore shopkeeper was charged with spreading religious hatred, officials said, citing the National Action Plan (NAP).The move comes just two days before the first anniversary of the assault on the Army Public School, Peshawar, which shocked and outraged Pakistanis already scarred by nearly a decade of attacks.

Aabid Hashmi, the owner of a computer shop in the city’s upmarket commercial region, displayed a poster outside his shop banning Ahmadi customers from entering. “The arrest was made under the National Action Plan (NAP) for spreading religious hatred,” Haider Ashraf, a senior police official, told AFP.

A spokesman for the Ahmadi community, Amir Mehmood, welcomed the move as the “first drop of rain”. Senior columnist and former lawmaker Ayaz Amir said the move was “significant” and could help reduce persecution of Ahmadis.