Two gunmen burst into the office of a lawyer from a small Islamic sect and shot him to death in what officials said Wednesday appeared to be a religiously motivated killing.
Mohammed Iqbal, 50, was shot in the head late Tuesday night in his office in Rajanpur, said Walayat Hussein, deputy superintendent of police in the town, 300 kilometers (185 miles) west of Multan.
Iqbal had converted to the Ahmedi sect, which most mainstream Muslims revile as heretical to Islam. The group is not banned in Pakistan, but followers are forbidden under the constitution from calling themselves Muslims.
One of Iqbal's brothers, a Shiite Muslim, was in the office with him when the gunmen arrived. The men took the brother into a separate room before killing Iqbal, Hussein said.
Before fleeing, the attackers fired shots into the ceiling of Iqbal's office and a ricocheting bullet hit and injured the brother, Hussein said.
Iqbal was known in the area for only taking cases involving Ahmedis and had recently succeeded in getting an Ahmedi exonerated of charges that he was spreading religious hatred, Hussein said.
"The attack seems to be linked with that case," he said.