A doctor belonging to the Ahmadi community was shot dead while his father and two uncles were injured when a teenage boy opened fire on them in their home in Punjab's Nankana Sahib district on Friday.
Police said the Ahmadi family were offering prayers on Friday afternoon at their house in Murh Balochan area of Nankana when they heard a knock on the door.
One of the family members, Dr Tahir Mahmood, 31, went to open the door where a teenage boy carrying a pistol opened fire on him.
According to police, the victim suffered bullet wounds and fell on the ground, while his family members rushed to the door on hearing the gunshots.Police officials said the suspect also opened fire on them and injured Dr Mahmood’s father, Tariq, and uncles Saeed and Tayyab.
Residents of the area subsequently nabbed the attacker.
The injured were taken to a nearby hospital where Dr Mahmood succumbed to his injuries while his father was in critical condition. The deceased's two uncles suffered bullets wounds in their legs.
Saddar Sanghla Station House Officer (SHO) Muhammad Shamshair told Dawn that the suspect was armed with a pistol and had knocked the Ahmadi family's door to attack them.
He said the suspect was taken into custody who "confessed to having attacked the family over religious differences".
SHO Shamshair said an investigation team was constituted that will thoroughly investigate the incident and will also check whether the suspect had attacked the house acting on his own or he was following somebody's instructions.
Saleemuddin, the Ahmadi community's spokesperson, confirmed that the incident took place when the members of the family were gathered for prayers inside their home.
“Ahmadis are not even safe inside their homes. They cannot perform their religious obligations inside the four walls of their home,” he said.
The spokesperson said Ahmadis were being murdered at their doorsteps but the state had failed to provide them with any protection.
He said the attack was a direct result of "a hate campaign being run unchecked in the country" against the community.
Attacks targeting members of the Ahmadiya community have seen an uptick in recent months.
Last month, an Ahmadi professor was shot dead in a targeted attack in Peshawar, allegedly over his religious beliefs.
In July, an American national, Tahir Naseem, was shot dead by a teenager in a Peshawar courtroom. It later turned out that the deceased had reportedly left the Ahmadi community.
On August 12, Meraj Ahmed, an Ahmadi trader, was shot dead by attackers in Peshawar's Gulbahar area.
On September 10, a mob besieged the residence of an Ahmadi in the Phandu area of Peshawar and the family was rescued by police. However, one of the family members was arrested and charged with blasphemy.
Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims in Pakistan through a constitutional amendment passed on September 7, 1974, during the tenure of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
