Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar from Ohio was on vacation.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: An American doctor of Pakistani origin was shot dead in the very country he once called home.
Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar (50), a cardiologist from Ohio, was shot and killed on Monday while visiting a graveyard in Chenab Nagar, a province in the country’s Punjab province. Qamar was with his wife and three year-old son at the time of the shooting, which was perpetrated by unidentified gunmen riding on a motorcycle. According to The New York Times, Qamar was shot 10 times, succumbing to his wounds on the spot.
Although a specific motive has not yet been unveiled, many believe that Qamar was killed simply because he was in a part of the town typically dominated by a religious minority known as the Ahmadi. Murders of people within the Ahmadi community have grown recently, and while it is possible that Qamar was targeted for some reason, it’s more likely that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Ahmadi community has spoken out about the violence aimed at their community, saying that the government does little to protect them and prosecute these crimes. While police have no suspects in custody, it is widely believed that the shooters were members of the Sunni Muslim community, which dominates Pakistan’s religious makeup.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Qamar immigrated to Canada in the early 1990s, where he lived for several years before settling down in Ohio about a decade ago. He held dual citizenship for Canada and the US, but visited Pakistan frequently, often for humanitarian reasons. He volunteered at local hospitals and shelters, and was apparently aware of the risk he faced being in the Ahmadi neighborhood at the time of his death.
Qamar also volunteered in his local Ohio community, too. He was also an adjunct professor at Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (a subsidiary of Ohio University), reports local WOUB News, and was working at the Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, Ohio, where he was a full-time staff member. Mehdi had taken a three-week leave of absence from that job in order to visit Pakistan.
Qamar’s death was confirmed by the US Embassy in Islamabad, which issued a statement saying that “express their deepest condolences to his family and friends.”