KARACHI: A Union Council chairman affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was among the six suspects identified for Friday’s lynching of an Ahmadi man in Karachi’s Saddar area, police said on Saturday.
Laeeq Ahmad Cheema, a 46-year-old businessman, was beaten to death when hundreds of TLP supporters stormed a hall belonging to the Ahmadiyya community to prevent them from observing religious rituals.
TLP workers allegedly thrashed Cheema, who was supposedly recording a video of the mob, near the auto parts market at some distance from the worship place. He was later taken to the Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
South Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told media that in a crowd of around 15-20 persons, six culprits who beat Cheema to death and were seen in CCTV footage of the crime, have been identified.
DIG Raza said one of them was the sole elected UC chairman of Kharadar. He added that the suspect had contested and won on a TLP ticket.
He said the three other suspects were nominated in a previous vandalism case against TLP in 2023, with Cheema being the only eyewitness to the incident.
The South DIG said raids were under way in different parts of the city to nab the identified suspects. “The rest shall be identified as video analysis gives any further leads,” he added.
Meanwhile, Preedy Police Station House Officer (SHO) Shabbir Husain visited the residence of the deceased and met with his family members. The police are trying to convince the family to register a first information report of the incident.
According to SHO Husain, around 45-50 Ahmadis were inside their place of worship when the mob besieged them, adding that a prison van was called to shift them to a safe place.
Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said the deceased received multiple injuries all over his body, with death occurring due “to hard and blunt impacts on the head, leading to fractures and bleeding”.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was “appalled” by the incident, which it denounced as a “failure of law and order” that was a “stark reminder of the continued complicity of the state in the systematic persecution of a beleaguered community”.
It said the perpetrators of the attack in Saddar must be swiftly traced, arrested and prosecuted “without caving in to pressure from the far right to release those responsible”.
In a report last month, the HRCP said it had observed a growing trend of mob-led attacks on homes of families belonging to religious minorities, as well as their places of worship.
The report, titled ‘Under Siege: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2023-24’, said over 750 persons were in prison on charges of blasphemy, as of October last year. It documented at least four faith-based killings, three of which targeted the Ahmadi community.
HRCP observed an “increasing weaponisation of blasphemy laws against Ahmadis”, with cases often initiated by law enforcement officials themselves. It also spoke of Ahmadis’ “arbitrary detention”, “desecration of their graves” and the “vulnerability of Hindu and Christian women” to forced conversion.
