UB-linked doctor slain in Pakistan
Led sect persecuted by traditionalists
By Jay TokaszNEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 09/12/08 8:15 AM

A Pakistani physician who did part of his medical residency in Buffalo was killed Monday in what some groups called a religiously motivated attack.

Dr. Abdul Mannan Siddiqi, a resident in family medicine and later internal medicine at the University at Buffalo Medical School from 1991 to 1992, was shot by multiple assailants after completing rounds at the hospital he operated in Mirpur Khas, about 135 miles northeast of Karachi, according to Pakistan media reports.

UB records show he had left the program before completing his residency.

Siddiqi, 48, was a leader in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a sect that has long been a persecuted minority in Pakistan, where most residents adhere to traditional Islam.

The day before the attack was the 34th anniversary of a Pakistani government edict declaring that Ahmadis could not refer to themselves as Muslims.

In commemoration, a popular television channel in Pakistan aired a special program featuring a fundamentalist Muslim religious leader who repeatedly called for killing Ahmadis, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, which issued an urgent appeal.

Siddiqi’s assassination was followed by the shooting Tuesday of another Ahmadi leader in Nawabshah, northwest of Mirpur Khas.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also condemned the killings and called for an end to “hate-preaching through the media.”

While Ahmadis follow the main tenets of Islam, they also believe in a promised messiah who lived in the Punjab region of India from 1835 to 1908 and founded the faith.

The theological differences have made them a target of violence by some radical Muslims.

Siddiqi was the 93rd Ahmadi in Pakistan killed since 1984; 15 of them were medical doctors, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.

Siddiqi left Buffalo in 1993 and practiced medicine in Baltimore before returning to Pakistan in 1995 after the death of his father, said Zaki Kauser, a spokesman for the U. S. national office of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

“He visited off and on. Buffalo was the first place he came to in the United States, so he called it home,” Kauser said.

Siddiqi returned to Pakistan to run the hospital founded by his father, who also was a doctor. He often provided free medical care to those who could not afford to pay, according to Abid Khan, Ahmadi international spokesman.

“The murder of Dr. Abdul Mannan Siddiqi is a grave tragedy. He was a true servant of mankind and lived his life according to the Ahmadiyya motto, ‘Love for All, Hatred for None,’ ” Khan said. “His death was simply due to his being a peace-loving member of the Ahmadiyya Community.”

Three other people, including a Siddiqi bodyguard, were injured in the attack. Siddiqi left a wife, son and daughter.

In honor of Siddiqi, the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which consists of about 80 members, will pray individually at 1:30 p. m. today.

jtokasz@buffnews.com

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