Islamabad, Sep 5 — Karachi-based International Human Rights Committee (IHRC) has called for immediate justice and accountability in the assassination of Mirza Safdar Mahmood, a local leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. Mirza Safdar Mahmood, aged 65, was shot dead in the town of Mandi Bahauddin, reported Spanish media outlet 'Atalayar'. IHRC is an organisation focusing specifically on the rights of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
“Targeted killing: Ahmadi local official gunned down in Pakistan. Mirza Safdar Mahmood, 65, was shot dead while travelling to an Ahmadi place of worship in Mandi Bahauddin.IHRC calls for immediate justice and accountability,” IHRC stated on X, sharing a detailed report.
IHRC stated that the targeted killing of Mahmood cannot be viewed in isolation as it comes amid a ‘deeply disturbing’ backdrop of ‘persistent anti-Ahmadi hatred, incitement and threats’ across Pakistan.
“Representatives of the Ahmadiyya Community stressed that the victim had no personal disputes or prior animosities, pointing squarely to a targeted killing motivated by religious intolerance. Mahmood is survived by his wife and two children; his funeral and burial arrangements were subsequently conducted in the city of Rabwah,” the report in Atalayar revealed.
It noted that the assassination took place amid the escalating incitement and hate speech targeting Ahmadis across the district of Mandi Bahauddin.
“In recent weeks, regional religious figures had issued virulent threats, including public death threats against a local police officer on account of his Ahmadi faith, as well as explicit intimidation directed at pregnant Ahmadi women. This pattern of lethal violence has direct operational precedents in the immediate area: on 8 June 2024, two members of the Ahmadiyya community were shot and killed in separate armed ambushes carried out on the same day in the locality of Sadullahpur,” the report highlighted.
It noted that the Pakistani state is legally bound to guarantee the right to life, personal security, and freedom of religion for all citizens without distinction, in accordance with the charter provisions of the United Nations (UN) and fundamental principles upheld by the European Union under international human rights treaties monitored by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
“Consequently, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community calls upon the federal government in Islamabad to launch an exhaustive, swift, and impartial judicial inquiry to bring both the perpetrators of Mahmood's murder and the intellectual instigators of sectarian hatred to justice, while deploying robust protective measures to prevent future hate crimes across the province,” the report emphasised.