The slain, Advocate Latif, was a local leader of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya in Nankana city.
He was going to a local court on a motorcycle along with his son Advocate Farhan, when unknown persons carried out an attack and killed him.
Advocate Malik Saleem Latif and his son Advocate Farhan were on their way to court when unidentified men fired at them, killing Latif on the spot.
Speaking to South Punjab News, a duty officer at Nankana city police station said, Latif was killed as a result of the attack near Beri Wala Chowk. He added that no application for the registration of an FIR has been filed thus far.
According to Javmaat-e-Ahmadiya spokesperson Saleemuddin, the father and son were on their way to court for the hearing of a case when the incident occurred.The spokesperson revealed that Latif, who was the president of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya, Nankana city, was also Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam’s cousin.
“Advocate Latif was killed because of his religious beliefs,” Saleemuddin said. One of the sons of the deceased is a civil judge in Lahore.
On Wednesday, an annual report was issued by the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya, claiming that at least six Ahmadis were killed in Pakistan in 2016 because of their religious beliefs. Saleemudin, the spokesperson for the group, cited Ordinance XX which later came to be known as the Blasphemy Law as the main reason behind targeted killings of Ahmadis. “Since its [Ordinance XX] imposition in 1984, so far 250 Ahmadis have been killed,” he complained.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya said the promulgation of the ordinance endorsed political, social and legal discrimination against Ahmadis. While news reports of the Ahmadi community being targeted appear regularly, the group accused the local media of holding its own biases against Ahmadis. It also accused state institutions of not properly investigating their killings.
