According to details made available by local sources, the victim, an Ahmadiyya Imam - whose name and location are being withheld for safety reasons - was struck dozens of times with knife and razor blades by attackers who were reportedly hiding inside his house.
Reports say Ahmadiyya religious leader was surprised by four men hiding behind the door of his home. Attackers reportedly ripped off victim's clothes and started slashing him with metallic objects including knives and razor blades.
The attack comes at the heels of another attacks on an Ahmadi business and a mosque 12 days ago in Jhelum, a city in the Punjab.
In Jhelum, on November 20th, an Ahmadi-owned wood factory was set ablaze by an enraged mob followed by an attack on an Ahmadiyya mosque in Kala Gujran area of Jelum. The incident, started on false rumors of Quran burning, had left hundreds unemployed and homeless after the factory fire and razing of the adjoining homes.
The Punjab province has seen the highest number of anti-Ahmadiyya and anti-minority extremist incidences that some claim has direct correlation with the provincial government's long-standing ties with several banned terrorists groups.
Most anti-Ahmadi Islamist extremist groups such as Majlis Khatim-e Nubuwwat, Pakistan Ulema Council, and Sunni Tehreek (ASWJ) are based in Punjab and headed by individuals known for continuous anti-Ahmadi campaigns in province neighborhoods, in the media and in social media.
Although a crack down on terrorism and legal action against all persons who spread hatred was called for in the National Action Plan established by the Government of Pakistan on January 2015 in the wake of the terrorist attack on school children in Peshawar, there hasn't been a visible let up in crimes against Ahmadiyya community.
If anything, says Imran Jattala, chief editor of Ahmadiyya Times, an increase has been observed in the anti-Ahmadiyya activities, specially in the Punjab. "Not only in physicals attacks against the Ahmadis, but there has been an explosion in streaming of hatred in social media.
"Pakistani mullah Tahir Ashrafi, for example, who is well known for befriending banned terrorist group leaders, chairs the very influential Pakistan Clerics Council, while he also plays full-time cheerleader for the campaigns spreading anti-Ahmadi hatred in the social media," Jattala said.
The name of the victim and location of the crime are being withheld by Ahmadiyya Times pending an official conformation by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, Pakistan.
-- Pakistan: Ahmadi missionary attacked, tortured with razor blades, in Srai Alamgir, Punjab
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