KARACHI: A 50-year-old homeopathic doctor, belonging to the Ahmadi community, was shot dead in his clinic in the Abul Hasan Isphani area of the metropolis on Monday evening.

It is the second such attack in the same vicinity within a month, police and a community spokesman said.

“Dr Chaudry Abdul Khaleeq was gunned down in an attack on his clinic,” confirmed Malir SSP Rao Anwar.

The police official added the clinic was located in the slum area of Sikander Goth, in the limits of Sachal police station.

“He sustained a single bullet wound to his head,” added Anwar.

There was no electricity in the area at the time of the attack. The officer was of the opinion that it was a targeted attack.

A Jamaat Ahmadiyya spokesperson confirmed while talking to Dawn that the deceased belonged to their community.

"This is the second attack on our community in the same area," the spokesperson added.

Earlier in May, a member of the same community was gunned down in a suspected targeted attack in the Metroville-II area of Karachi.

Dawood Ahmad, 55, was sitting outside his home with a friend, Shamsher, because of an electricity breakdown in the area, when two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on them as they rode by.

The victim had sustained five bullet wounds to different parts of the body and was taken to a private hospital, where he succumbed to injuries during treatment.

Minorities persecuted

Ahmadis have faced persecution at the hands of religious extremists and right wing forces. The state jumped into the fray in 1974, when the then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced a constitutional amendment declaring them non-Muslim to ward off pressure from right-wing forces.

The subjugation of Ahmadis started soon after Independence in 1947. Led by Jamaat-i-Islami, right-wing groups spearheaded anti-Ahmadi campaigns. The first such violent movement erupted in Punjab, in 1953, leading to the imposition of martial law in the province.

Then, military dictator Ziaul Haq furthered the agenda by passing an ordinance making it unlawful for Ahmadis to identify themselves as Muslims. They were also barred from calling their worship places mosques.

In 2010, in Lahore, 86 Ahmadi worshippers were brutally murdered by the Punjabi Taliban. Over the years, speaking out on ‘sensitive’ issues such as religious discrimination has become increasingly dangerous – highlighted by the murder of the then Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer.