A Presbyterian pastor who survived a September attack was shot dead by unknown assailants outside his home in Pakistan in front of his daughter last week, his family announced.
Gujranwala pastor Kamran Salamat was taking his 16-year-old daughter to college on Friday (December 5) when an unidentified motorcyclist opened fire with a pistol, hitting him in the right wrist, left ear and lower abdomen, said the victim’s brother-in-law, pastor Shahzad Salman. Pastor Salamat was 45 years old.
“My brother-in-law succumbed to his injuries three hours later at the hospital,” Pastor Salman told Christian Daily International Morning Star News.
It added that the attacker fled the scene unharmed.
Pastor Salamat’s body was buried on Saturday (December 6) in the presence of a large crowd of Christians. He was a resident of an Islamic colony in Gujranwala district of Punjab.
Pastor Salman said the deceased was a father of three minor children and had previously been shot in the leg in Islamabad in September.
“Pastor Kamran was a dedicated missionary, but he never shared the details of his missionary work with his family,” said Salman, who is also a lawyer. “In fact, when he was attacked in September, he refused to pursue the case and told police he had forgiven the unknown assailant. Even after the incident, he did not reveal to us who was threatening his life.”
The deceased pastor moved to Gujranwala with his family after the Islamabad shootings and ran a sewing center for poor Christian women.
“We have no idea who was behind the attack on Pastor Kamran,” Pastor Salman said. “Gujranwala police are trying to trace the gunman from CCTV footage collected from the scene, but he has not been identified so far.”
He added that the assailant was suspected to have been accompanied by two other men.
Officials said Salamat had conducted several aid operations in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where he preached the gospel to Muslim tribesmen in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
One church leader said, “There is a good chance that he was martyred because of his missionary work.” “The truth will only come out when the police arrest the perpetrators.”
Pastor Ruben Kamal, head of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, condemned the assassination and called for a thorough investigation and immediate arrest of the assailants.
“We mourn the heinous murder of Pastor Kamran Salamat, a faithful servant of God,” Kamal wrote on Facebook. “His death is not only a personal loss, but also another wound for Christians in Pakistan. We remain hopeful in our sorrow, rejoice in Jesus’ victory over darkness, and share peace and love in this hostile world.”
Pastor Naeem Nasir, a prominent Pentecostal preacher, said Pastor Salamat was killed to stop the preaching of Christ.
“Extremists were chasing him and threatening him everywhere he went,” Pastor Nasir said on Facebook, citing a phone call he had with the slain pastor’s mother-in-law. “He moved from Islamabad to Gujranwala, but they were still not satisfied. They wanted to stop his passion for preaching the Gospel.”
Pastor Salamat’s killing comes three months after one Catholic was shot dead and another injured during a trip to a pilgrimage site in Punjab province. Aurangzeb Peter, a member of the travel group, said Afzal Masih and his cousin Haris Tariq Masih, from the Samnabad area of Lahore, Punjab, were among a group of Catholics in a van headed to the annual Nativity festival in Mariamabad, Sheikhupura district, when they were attacked by Muslims with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Pakistan, where more than 96 percent of the population is Muslim, was ranked eighth out of the 50 most difficult countries to be a Christian on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List.
