Forced to flee Pakistan

When Zakria Nasrullah Khan heard the third gunshot, he realized it wasn’t a tire bursting or a car backfiring.

It was two men shooting at him and his mosque, the one that his father and 6-year-old son had just entered. The one he and other security volunteers were guarding, unarmed. The one the terrorists barricaded from the inside as they shot worshippers.

“I haven’t felt more desperate than that point in time,” he said.

The May 28, 2010 attack in Lahore, Pakistan lasted for hours, complete with grenade and suicide bomb explosions. More than 60 people were killed, including Khan’s father and several friends. His son, now 8, survived with no injuries.

A month later, Khan received death threats: one text message was two mock headlines announcing his death and his acceptance of mainstream Islam.

The message ended with: “Now you choose which headline you want to become.”

Another time, a gunman chased him and shot at his car. He barely readmore...

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Few years after father’s murder, Ahmedi lawyer shot in Nawabshah

KARACHI: Tragedy struck an Ahmedi family in Nawabshah once again when the son was shot at by an unidentified man only a few years after his father was killed. The victim A*, who is a lawyer, was at his brother’s shop – taking a break from his morning work at the district courts – when a man walked up to him, opened fire and disappeared into the crowd. The incident took place at Liaquat Market Road on April 2, according to the victim’s cousin, K. “I heard a gunshot and when I reached on the spot a few people were trying to take him to the hospital in a rickshaw,” the cousin recalled. “He might have been targeted because of his religious beliefs as he had no personal enmity.” Initially, A was rushed to Civil Hospital, Nawabshah, but was later moved to Karachi. “The bullet pierced his liver and the doctors have removed the affected part in a surgery,” said MA Khan, a spokesperson for Ahmediya community, “The bleeding hasn’t stopped until now.” The doctors feel, however, ...

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