LAHORE: Unidentified armed men opened fire at the worship place of Ahmedis at Ganjbakhsh Bazaar in Mughalpura Police Station precincts on Thursday. No one claimed responsibility for the shooting but according to police, some drunkards had carried out the firing.
Police officials told Pakistan Today that the firing was result of a scuffle between two groups who had carried out aerial firing in the area saying that the attack was not in line of the attacks on worship places of Ahmedis in May this year.
Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the accused and two persons have been arrested in this regard.
Civil Lines Superintendent of Police (SP) Umer told Pakistan Today that no casualties were reported in the incident. He said that the incident did not occur due to sectarianism and after a fight started between two groups, around 10 people gathered there and one of them started firing at the worship place.
The SP said that the worship place guard also fired from the rooftop of the place in retaliation.
Umer said that after the guard’s firing, the people fled and police reached the spot after being informed about the incident.
On the other hand, the worship place’s spokesman expressed his concerns over the incident and said that it could have been an attempt to attack the worship place, as some threats had also been received in this regard. He said that 17 shells were found from outside the worship place and the unusual movement outside the place was monitored by CCTV cameras installed there.
The spokesman said that the incident occurred at 10:13pm and police reached the spot after 15 minutes. According to police, the men were drunk, as wine bottles were found from the spot. The armed men had carried out firing in other parts of the residential area as well. Police could not find any clue about the incident, as the wall of the worship place did not have any bullet marks.
Fear gripped that area after the incident occurred. Ahmedis have been targeted in Pakistan on some occasions. In May 2010, 93 people were killed when armed men stormed the worship places of Ahmadis at Model Town and Garhi Shahu in Lahore.
