Karachi shooting: Three Ahmadis survive gun attack

Police not sure whether it was a targeted attack or attempted robbery

KARACHI: Three members of the Ahmadiyya community survived a gun attack in the metropolis Sunday night.

Saleem Rafaqat and his two nephews – Maaz Ahmad and Shahmir Ahmad – were returning home in Block 6, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, after offering Isha prayers at a worship place when gunmen shot at them.

They were shifted to a local hospital where Rafaqat and Shahmir were admitted for treatment of their bullet wounds, while Maaz, who had only suffered an abrasion after a bullet grazed his head, was discharged after first aid.

The police did not immediately register a case, saying they were waiting for the complainants to record their statements. “We are not sure whether it was a targeted attack or attempted robbery,” said Gulshan-e-Iqbal SHO Farooq Sanjrani. He added that while investigations were under way, the situation would clear once the victims recorded their statements.

However, the Ahmadiyya community in a statement called it a targeted attack.

Read: Lucky escape: Lawmaker survives gun attack

“The anti-Ahmadiyya community literature is continuously being published and distributed which endangers the lives of community members,” said Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan’s spokesperson Saleemuddin. He demanded the assailants be arrested immediately and punished according to the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2015.