Lahore: A young man from the Ahmadi community was shot dead while another critically injured because of their faith in Pakistan’s Punjab province, police said on Friday.

Muhammad Asif and Asnan Ahmad, who are in their 20s, were on Thursday night going home on a bike when some unidentified men opened fire on them in Kasur, some 50 kilometres from Lahore, a police official said.

Asif died on the spot, while Ahmad was moved to the hospital, where his condition is critical, the official said.

The families of the victims blamed religious extremist elements in their area, who had been harassing and threatening them for offering religious rituals at their worship places.

The extremists threatened to demolish their places of worship if they did not do so by themselves, their family members said.

Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP) condemned the attack and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.

It said the government seemed to have licensed a particular religious outfit to target the Ahmadis.

Last Friday, a young man from the Ahmadi community was lynched in Karachi by 400 Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) workers who stormed their place of worship in an attempt to prevent them from offering Friday prayers.

For the last year, there has been a rise in attacks on Ahmadis, their worship places, and graveyards by TLP.

The Pakistani government appears to have turned a blind eye to the TLP activities targeting the Ahmadis with impunity, the JAP said.

It said such religious extremists were ramping up their hateful campaigns against Ahmadis, leading to an increase in harassment at workplaces, job dismissals, and public calls for boycotting Ahmadi shopkeepers.