Fri Apr 18 18:21:59 UTC 2025: ## Pakistani Mob Kills Ahmadi Muslim in Karachi Attack

**KARACHI, PAKISTAN** – A member of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community was lynched by a mob in Karachi on Friday, April 18, 2025, after hundreds of radical Islamists attacked their place of worship. Police reported that the mob, comprised largely of members of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, chanted slogans and violently attacked the Ahmadis during Friday prayers. One Ahmadi was killed, beaten with sticks and bricks, while approximately 25 others were taken into protective custody by police.

The attack, witnessed by an AFP journalist, highlights the ongoing persecution faced by the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. The group, who number around 10 million worldwide, are considered heretics by the Pakistani government and have been subjected to increasing threats and intimidation in recent years. While they consider themselves Muslims, their belief in a different messiah has led to them being declared non-Muslims and facing legal restrictions on their religious practices, including the prohibition of calling their places of worship mosques.

A local resident, Abdul Qadir Ashrafi, stated that he joined the mob to pressure police into arresting the Ahmadis. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the attack, citing the state’s complicity in the systematic persecution of the Ahmadiyya community. The incident underscores the volatile nature of blasphemy accusations in Pakistan, where such allegations frequently incite mob violence. This attack follows a pattern of violence against religious minorities in the country, including the ransacking of dozens of churches in Jaranwala in 2023. The Ahmadiyya community reports that six of their members were killed in 2024 alone, and over 280 since 1984.

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