A gunman today managed to enter a police station and allegedly shot dead a blasphemy accused from Pakistan's minority Ahmadi community in custody in Punjab province.
Police said Muhammad Salim visited the Sharqpur police station at Sharqpur village, some 70 kilometres from Lahore, to meet 65-year-old blasphemy accused Khalil Ahmed.
"Salim hid a pistol in the food box which he pretended to deliver him for lunch. After clearing the securing check, he opened fire on Khalil in the lock-up, killing him on the spot," police official Shamshar Ali said.
Also Read
He said those deployed for the security of Khalil had been taken into custody for investigation.
The Jammat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan has alleged that Khalil had been killed in connivance with the police.
A couple of days ago, the Sharqpur police had booked six Ahamdis under the blasphemy law for allegedly tearing up an Islamic calender.
According to FIR, registered under the blasphemy law, six Ahmadis including Khalil - Ghulam Ahmad, Israr Ahmad, Mubashir Ahmed and two others - on May 13 had torn an Islamic calendar hanging on the wall of shopkeeper Riaz Ali during a heated religious debate with him.
A large number of Al-Sunnat Wal Jamaat activists held a demonstration and blocked the Lahore-Sharqpur road for several hours to protest against the Ahmadis following the reported incident.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya Pakistan spokesman Salimuddin said that it was a petty quarrel between the victim and the shopkeeper who used the 'blasphemy weapon' against him to settle the score.
"Blasphemy law has become a deadly weapon used by religious extremists against minorities and the government does not seem to be interested to check this trend," he said.
Salimuddin said the clerics incited the emotions of the people in the village against the Ahmadis who are extremely vulnerable and were forced to leave their residences and businesses.
He also demanded security for the minority community and an impartial investigation into Khalil's killing.
Pakistan's Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim but were declared non-Muslims through a constitutional amendment in 1974. A decade later, they were barred from proselytising or identifying themselves as Muslims.
Some 1.5 million Ahmadis live across the country.
Human rights groups have also called for a review of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law so that it is not misused to settle personal enmity or disputes or for persecution of religious minorities.
