Lahore, February 22: A 70-year-old Norwegian doctor, who was of Pakistani origin and belonged to the minority Ahmadi community, was shot dead in Punjab province allegedly because of his faith, police said on Wednesday.

The incident happened on Tuesday when Rasheed Ahmad was seeing a patient at his clinic when two armed men entered the premises and opened fire killing him on the spot. Pakistan: Ahmadi Woman Denied Burial in Graveyard in Punjab Province.

Police Inspector Tariq Mahmood said that the suspects have been identified as Babar Walayat and Hafiz Inamul Haq. "The deceased was a Norwegian national of Pakistani origin. The members of his immediate family are living in Norway," Mahmood said. Hindu Girl, Pooja Oad 18-Year-Old Shot in Pakistan After Resisting Abduction.

He said one of the suspects Haq has an association with a radical Islamist party. An official of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Amir Mahmood told PTI that Rashid was killed only because of his faith.

"Dr Rashid's only crime was that he was an Ahmadi," Mahmood said and urged the government to take measures to stop religious extremists from promoting violence against Ahmadis.

Meanwhile, an elderly Ahmadi community leader was harassed by a mob of over 100 men outside the community's worship place in Kasur, some 50 kms from Lahore.

"The mob comprising workers of the extremist outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) forcibly stopped the minority community members from offering prayers and threatened to occupy the worship place if they go ahead with it," Mahmood said.

He said that the mob asked the community leader to also remove ‘Muhammad' from his name. The mob however was dispersed on arrival of police. Since the start of this year, as many as five worship places of the persecuted religious community have come under attack in Punjab province.

In two such incidents, local administration was directly involved in destroying the minarets of a worship place, as per a report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)