ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: The United States urged Pakistan on Thursday to take action over the killing of an American national in a crowded courtroom as he faced trial for blasphemy.
Tahir Ahmed Naseem was shot multiple times at close range as he appeared in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday.
"We urge Pakistan to take immediate action and pursue reforms that will prevent such a shameful tragedy from happening again," the US State Department said in a tweet.
As Naseem's arraignment began before the judge, a young man in the room pulled out a handgun and shot him in the head, officials and witnesses said. The young man was arrested on the spot.
On Thursday, supporters of a hard-line Islamist group held a protest rally in Peshawar calling for the release of the suspected shooter, saying he had defended his religion.
The aftermath of the killing, captured on video and shared on social media, showed Naseem slumped over in a chair beside the judge's bench, as other shackled prisoners, some with bloodied clothes, were taken from the room.
"The young man who shot him had no remorse," Latif Afridi, who heads the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, told Reuters.
Afridi questioned how the man managed to get a gun into the court given that all visitors are checked thoroughly at three different points.
"It is likely someone who can go without being checked, perhaps a police officer or a lawyer, handed the shooter the gun after he entered," he said.
According to the charge sheet against Naseem, seen by Reuters, the American was in contact with a student at an Islamic school in Pakistan on Facebook and told him he was a messiah sent by God.
Naseem later met the student in Peshawar, after which police arrested him and charged him with a number of crimes, including blasphemy, which can bring the death penalty in Pakistan.
US urges Pakistan to act after American charged with blasphemy shot in court
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US urges Pakistan to act after American charged with blasphemy shot in court
- The US State Department asks Islamabad to 'pursue reforms that will prevent such a shameful tragedy from happening again'
- Tahir Ahmed Naseem claimed to be a 'messiah sent by God' while talking to a seminary student on internet
Pakistan saw up to 17% drop in cross-border attacks after Afghan border closure — think tank
- CRSS calls 2025 the deadliest year in a decade with 3,417 violence-linked fatalities nationwide
- Violence remained concentrated in the western provinces as security forces killed 2,060 militants
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded a sharp decline in cross-border militant attacks and violence-linked fatalities in the final months of 2025 after it closed its border with Afghanistan in October, even as the country endured its deadliest year in a decade overall, according to an annual security report released by a local think tank on Wednesday.
Pakistan has frequently accused Afghanistan of sheltering proscribed armed factions, such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), in the past, while also pointing a finger at the Taliban administration in Kabul for “facilitating” their attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces.
The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said in its report that terrorist attacks fell by nearly 17% in December, following a 9% decline in November, after Pakistan shut the border on Oct. 11. It noted that violence-linked fatalities among civilians and security personnel also declined in the final quarter of the year, falling by nearly 4% and 19% respectively in November and December.
“Pakistan recorded a significant drop in cross-border terrorist attacks and violence-linked fatalities after it closed down the border to Afghanistan,” CRSS said.
Despite the late-year decline, the think tank said 2025 “went by as the most violent year for Pakistan in a decade,” with overall violence surging nearly 34% year-on-year.
Fatalities rose from 2,555 in 2024 to 3,417 in 2025 — an increase of 862 deaths — extending a five-year upward trend in violence that coincides with the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the report said.
“2025 marked another grim year for Pakistan’s security landscape,” it added, noting that violence has increased every year since 2021, with annual surges of nearly 38% in 2021, over 15% in 2022, 56% in 2023, nearly 67% in 2024 and 34% in 2025.
REGIONAL CONCENTRATION
Violence remained heavily concentrated in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces, which together accounted for more than 96% of all fatalities and nearly 93% of violent incidents nationwide.
KP was the worst-hit region, recording 2,331 fatalities in 2025 — a 44% increase from 1,620 deaths in 2024 — accounting for more than 82% of the net national rise in violence.
Balochistan saw fatalities rise from 787 to 956, an increase of nearly 22%.
In contrast, Punjab and Sindh recorded relatively low levels of violence, together accounting for less than 3% of total casualties, which CRSS said pointed to “relative containment of violence despite the provinces’ large populations.”
The report also flagged the spread of violence into previously calmer regions, with Azad Jammu and Kashmir recording 15 fatalities in 2025 after reporting no violence a year earlier.
MILITANT DEATH TOLL
CRSS said 2025 was also the deadliest year in a decade for militant groups, with outlaws accounting for more than 60% of all fatalities.
“2025 turned out to be the deadliest year for outlaws in a decade,” the report said, with 2,060 militants killed during at least 392 security operations, surpassing the combined fatalities of civilians and security personnel.
Security forces, however, remained the primary targets of militant groups.
The army and Frontier Corps recorded 374 fatalities, including 22 officers, while police suffered 216 casualties.
The TTP claimed responsibility for the largest share of attacks on security personnel, followed by the BLA, the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and Daesh’s regional chapter.
