Pakistan: Second Attack on Ahmadi Muslims in Three Days

By CAP Liberté de Conscience Sept 2026

Two days after the shooting of a father and son in Sargodha, an Ahmadi Muslim was stabbed near his home in the Faisalabad district. CAP Freedom of Conscience is alarmed by this rapid succession of attacks and calls on the Pakistani authorities to protect the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, to investigate without delay and to break the cycle of impunity.

Stabbed while returning home

On Monday 21 September 2026, at around 5:15 PM, Hamid Javed was attacked with a knife near his residence in Chak No. 194 RB, in the Lathianwala area of the Faisalabad district, in the Punjab province. According to the police report, he was returning home when an unidentified man, estimated to be between 40 and 42 years old, approached him and attacked him. Javed raised the alarm and tried to defend himself; residents responded to his cries and the assailant fled. The victim was injured during the assault. His family reported that he was returning from a butcher’s shop when he was attacked.

A police case, without mention of religious motivation

The case was registered on the following day, 22 September, at approximately 4:30 PM, at the Khurrianwala Police Station, as FIR No. 1670/26, under Sections 324 and 337 F(i) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which cover attempted murder and a category of hurt. The investigation has been assigned to Assistant Sub Inspector Muhammad Akram. The police report does not identify the attacker and, at the time of writing, no arrest has been reported.

Significantly, the police report does not mention any religious motivation. It was the Ahmadiyya Muslim community itself that stated that the attack was motivated by the victim’s faith. In an official statement, the community condemned what it described as a cowardly assault and recalled that it was part of a broader pattern of violence and hostility directed against Ahmadis in the Punjab. The community called on the authorities to act immediately against those responsible and to ensure protection for Ahmadis.

The second attack in three days

This stabbing is the second attack against Ahmadi Muslims in the Punjab in three days. On Saturday 19 September 2026, Malik Mahmood Mubarak, 70, and his son Ayaz Mubarak, 40, were shot and injured in Sargodha by two men on a motorcycle. It follows the killing of Mirza Safdar Mahmood, 65, shot dead on 2 September in the Mandi Bahauddin district, and the display of hateful banners in Sargodha at the start of September. CAP Freedom of Conscience described this escalation in a statement published on 22 September 2026.

No government response to the Faisalabad attack has been reported at the time of writing. This silence contrasts with the alarm expressed on 7 September 2026 by United Nations human rights experts, who called on Pakistan to end the persecution of the Ahmadiyya community and to break the pattern of impunity.

CAP Freedom of Conscience denounces this new attack and recalls that the registration of a criminal case is only a first step. The investigation must establish the motive with full impartiality, including the religious motivation alleged by the community and by the victim’s family, and those responsible must be prosecuted and punished.

The repetition of assaults in such a short period demonstrates that condemnation is not enough. CAP Freedom of Conscience calls on the Pakistani authorities to guarantee the physical safety of Ahmadi Muslims, to ensure that complaints are investigated effectively and impartially, and to bring its legislation and its practice in line with its international human rights obligations, in particular freedom of religion or belief and the right to life and security of person.

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