Ahmadi man killed in axe attack in Pakistan

Lahore, Dec 6 (PTI) A trader belonging to the Ahmadi minority community was axed to death allegedly for his faith in Punjab province of Pakistan, police said on Friday.

According to police, Tayyab Ahmad, 40, was present at the shop of his brother in Rawalpindi city, some 275 km from Lahore, when an unidentified man attacked him with an axe, leaving him critically injured.

He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

Police said during the initial investigation that it appears that Ahmad was killed for his faith. Quoting eyewitnesses, the police said.

"The young assailant during the attack kept on saying that “I have warned you Qadianis (Ahmadis) to leave this place”.

According to Ahmad's brother Tahir Qamar, a few days ago, a group of religious extremists had also attacked his shop by throwing stones and warned him to leave this place for being Ahmadi.

The deceased's family suspected that elements of radical Islamists, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), might be behind this heinous act. The TLP has launched a massive campaign against the Ahmadi community across the country destroying their worship places on the pretext that they are built on the pattern of a Mosque.

Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson Amir Mahmood said that Ahmadis continue to face violence at the hands of extremists.

"Yesterday in broad daylight in Rawalpindi, an Ahmadi (Tayyab Ahmad) was killed for his faith by an assailant. There has been no accountability of the culprits. These incidents defame Pakistan. The government must put an end to hate speech and violence against the Ahmadi community," Mahmood demanded. PTI MZ AMS