Kin of Nobel Laureate Killed

Malik Saleem Lateef, a relative of Pakistan’s Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Abdus Salam, and a lawyer, was shot dead on March 30 in the city of Lahore while he was proceeding to the Court complex in the Nankana Sahib town of Pakistani Punjab province, in the outskirts of Lahore. The Al-Alami faction of Islamic State-linked Lashkar e Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the murder. Lateef’s son Awais attributed his father’s murder to his being an Ahmadi, a sect declared non-Muslim in 1974 by the Bhutto Government under the pressure from Islamist groups. A report published by the Ahmadi community has reported six individuals belonging to the community being killed last year because of their beliefs.