Hours before Imran Khan raked up Kashmir issue, Ahmadi man shot dead in Peshawar

Hours before Pakistan's Prime Minister spoke about Kashmiri people in his Independence Day message, an elderly man from the Ahmadi minority community was shot dead by assailants in Peshawar.

The incident, which took place late late on Wednesday, came ahead of Pakistan's 74th Independence Day, a country that shares a troubled relationship with its minorities like Shias, Ahmadis, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.

The deceased was identified as Mairaj Ahmad.

According to a report in The News International, the 61-year-old was from the Ahmadi community, which has been facing persecution in Pakistan for decades.

His son Yasir told police that he was returning home from his medicines shop in Dabgiri when someone told him his father Mairaj Ahmad had been shot dead by unidentified people.

According to Yasir, he rushed to the hospital where his father's body was lying. The complainant told police the family had no enmity, reported The News International.

The Ahmadi community in Pakistan doesn't have basic rights like the right to practice religion freely. In Pakistan today, anti-Ahmadi Muslim sentiment is as strong and violent as ever.

A 168-page report by UK-based All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Ahmadi Muslim Community revealed details about the discrimination Ahmadi community has been facing in Pakistan, an Islamic Republic country.

Published recently, the report titled "Suffocation of the Faithful - the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan and the rise of International Extremism" categorically says that persecution against the peace-loving community intensified following the partition of the Indian subcontinent and the formation of Pakistan.

Minorities in Pakistan are subjected to various forms of oppression with tacit support from authorities. In recent years, several incidents of forced abduction and conversion of girls from minority community in the country have come to light.

( With inputs from ANI )