Gunman Kills Gastroenterologist in a Targeted Attack Following the Friday Prayers
(Sargodha, Pakistan) – Dr Sheikh Muhammad Mahmood, a 58-year-old Ahmadi gastroenterologist, was shot and killed outside Fatima Trust Hospital in Sargodha on 16 May 2025, weeks after two other Ahmadis were killed in Karachi and Kasur, and amid a longstanding pattern of targeted violence against Ahmadi doctors in Pakistan.
The attack took place shortly after the Friday prayers. Dr Mahmood arrived at the hospital at approximately 2.35 pm with his wife and driver. As he entered the hospital grounds, a gunman wearing the uniform of the Saaf Suthra Punjab government sanitation initiative approached from behind, drew a pistol, and shot him twice in the back.
Both bullets passed through his body. The attacker fled on a motorcycle with an accomplice who had been waiting nearby.
Dr Mahmood’s wife and driver rushed him to Civil Hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.
Witnesses said the gunman had been seen near the emergency ward earlier in the day and had specifically asked about Dr Mahmood’s schedule. Police registered a First Information Report at Shahid Shaheed Police Station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Dr Mahmood had previously been forced to resign from a private hospital after being threatened for his faith. According to local reports, the hospital owner had warned that employing an Ahmadi doctor could invite pressure from religiously motivated groups.
He was widely known in the area for his charitable medical work and had no known personal disputes.
His killing has heightened fear within the Ahmadi community in Sargodha, where residents have reported increasing hate speech, threats, and legal harassment aimed at restricting Ahmadis from practising their faith.
Medical professionals have been repeatedly targeted in attacks against members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan. In many parts of the country, particularly in areas with limited healthcare infrastructure, doctors hold positions of public trust and social prominence. Their visibility and regular contact with patients across religious and social divisions have made Ahmadi physicians especially vulnerable in an environment shaped by institutional hostility toward the community.
Since the enactment of Pakistan’s anti-Ahmadi laws in 1984, at least 30 Ahmadi doctors and medical professionals have been killed because of their religious identity.
Dr Mahmood was killed less than a month after Laiq Ahmad Cheema was lynched outside an Ahmadi mosque in Karachi on 18 April and 19-year-old Muhammad Asif was shot dead in Kasur on 24 April, marking the third killing of an Ahmadi in less than four weeks.