October 10, 2025
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
An unknown man entered the vicinity of the Ahmadiyya community neighbourhood in Rabwah on Friday, and opened fire on some people standing near Bait-ul-Mahdi, the Ahmadi ibadatgah. As a result six Ahmadi youths received bullets, while two were critically injured. Later one of the two individuals was declared out of danger.
According to details, the man wearing a backpack, dressed in shalwar kameez, and sporting a beard, walked towards Bait-ul-Mahdi at 1:22 PM. The man who till now appears to be a lone attacker, had a pistol in his hand. As he approached the Ahmadi centre, he fired at the Ahmadi volunteers on duty near the gate, wounding six. As a response an armed guard near the ibadtagah also fired at the attacker who died on the spot.
Two police officers who were meant to be on duty were not present at the situation while the community members were inside the place of worship engaged in prayer.
Amir Mahmood, spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya community strongly condemned the act of terrorism in Rabwah, adding that hateful speeches and writings against innocent and peaceful Ahmadis continued without check across Pakistan.
“The public is incited to target Ahmadis,” he said while speaking to Voicepk. “A campaign of economic and social boycott has been waged against Ahmadis, accompanied by poisonous propaganda; fabricated and false allegations are made about the beliefs of the Ahmadiyya Community. Fatwas exist that encourage the public to kill Ahmadis wherever they are found. Today’s incident is another fruit of that campaign of hatred. We demand that the hate-based campaign against Ahmadis in Pakistan be stopped immediately, that those responsible be brought to justice, and that effective measures be taken to protect the lives and property of Ahmadis in Pakistan.”
Mehmood said it is absolutely necessary to ascertain who the attacker’s facilitators were and who radicalized him. He added that Ahmadis do not feel safe anywhere in Pakistan, and now they were terrorised in their safe place of Rabwah. He said it was essential to end this hate campaign against the Ahmadiyya community and to punish those responsible severely according to law.
Community senior Qamar Suleman, whose nephew was one of the two critically injured, said that the police was investigating and that it was still unknown whether the man was working with a larger group, or whether he was a lone wolf.
He said that the man’s car a Lancer, was found parked nearby, and his CNIC was also found on his person. His address was registered as Lahore while he belonged to Rajanpur.