Pakistan University Student Beaten To Death For Promoting Ahmadi Faith On Facebook

The evil face of Pakistani extremism comes out clearly in this video where a 23-year-old student of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan was killed and another seriously injured by a vigilante mob for allegedly "publishing blasphemous content online" and practicing the Ahmedi Faith. Ahmadi Muslims have been subject to various forms of religious persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889. The Ahmadiyya stream of Islam emerged from the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all the five pillars and articles of faith required of Muslims. Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims since they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the movement, to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah awaited by the Muslims. Ghulam Ahmad's messianic claims are rejected by mainstream Muslims.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan and Ordinance XX declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and further deprive them of religious rights. Hundreds of Ahmadis were killed in 1953 Lahore riots, 1974 Anti-Ahmadiyya riots and May 2010 attacks on Ahmadi mosques in Lahore. The 1974 riots resulted in the largest number of killings of Ahmadis.

In this latest incident which occurred within the University premises, a student was killed mercilessly. The campus was shut down following the incident until further notice and its hostels vacated to avoid a further escalation of violence.

No case had been filed against the two students prior to the incident and police had not been investigating the two on blasphemy charges.

The mob instead seems to have been incited by rumours circulating among the university's student body.

He was attacked by a large group of students and appears to have succumbed to a gunshot wound, the DIG said.

An eyewitness at the scene of the incident said Mashal and Abdullah, two Mass Communication students, were attacked because they were believed to be "promoting the Ahmadi faith on Facebook".

The eyewitness said a mob of university students first surrounded Abdullah and forced him to recite verses from the Holy Quran. Although he repeatedly denied the accusation that he was an Ahmadi, the students beat him nonetheless.

The police, when alerted, reached the site of the attack and rescued Abdullah, after which the mob set its sights on Mashal, who was in the hostel at the time, the eyewitness said.

Mashal was beaten and shot by the mob and succumbed to the injuries he received.

After watching this video and hearing about the news, a lot of Muslims in India are thankful that they are born in India and can practice a peaceful version of Islam than the extremist one being promoted by Pakistan. This makes India's case of Kashmir very strong too because there are many Muslims in Kashmir who practice Ahmedia faith and they will be subject to this torture and death by Pakistanis if they go to Pakistan.