PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – A young Pakistani Muslim shot and killed an Ahmadi homeopathic doctor at his clinic in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, police and a minority group spokesman said.
The attacker on Dr. Abdul Qadir, 65, was immediately arrested by the residents and handed over to the local police.
Saleem Uddin, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community, issued a statement condemning the attack and saying that members of his community were constantly targeted because of their faith.
Raiz Khan, a police officer, said he was still interrogating the man who shot and killed the doctor. The reason for the death was not yet known.
The Ahmadi faith was established in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, whose followers believe he was the messiah promised by the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan’s parliament declared non-Muslim Ahmadis in 1974. An Ahmadi faces up to 10 years in prison for declaring himself a Muslim.
Since then, members of the community have been repeatedly targeted by Islamic extremists in the Muslim-majority nation.