July 14 – 20, 2014

July 14: Man sentenced to death over blasphemy charges

A man in Lahore was sentenced to death by a sessions court after being found guilty of writing blasphemous remarks against the Prophet Muhammad (P) on the wall of a park. The original complaint had been made in 2008 by local resident Syed Najamul Hasan. Dawn

July 15: Ahmadi man killed in Nawabshah

38-year-old Imtiaz Ahmad, a local Ahmadi youth leader, was killed while he was at a shop he owned in Trunk Bazaar. Although it wasn’t confirmed if the victim was murdered for his faith, his family had been targeted by sectarian killers previously. His uncle, Seth Mohammad Yousaf, was murdered in 2008 after a TV program called for the murder of Ahmadis across Pakistan. Daily Times

July 17: Two ASWJ workers gunned down in Rawalpindi

Two activists of the extremist political party Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) were killed at Chakri Road in Rawalpindi on Thursday. The two men, Qari Saifullah and Aslam Shakir, were riding a motorcycle when they were targeted. Saifullah, 36, was the treasurer of the ASWJ Rawalpindi chapter while the 22-year-old Shakir worked as a khateeb and was affiliated with the party. A large number of ASWJ workers blocked Murree Road to protest the incident. The party has seen its workers be repeatedly targeted in Rawalpindi over the past few weeks. Dawn

July 19: ASWJ leader’s office attacked in Islamabad

Armed men attacked the Islamabad offices of ASWJ Islamabad-chapter secretary-general Maulana Abdul Rehman Muavia. The attack took place after Muavia had left for home, although it was speculated that the attackers’ had sought to target the ASWJ leader himself. Dawn