Pakistan lynching news: In yet another appalling incident in Punjab's Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, a violent mob dragged a blasphemy suspect man from a police station and lynched him outside the cell on Saturday, February 11. According to senior police official Babar Sarfaraz Alpa, a man identified as Waris had been taken into custody for desecrating the pages of a copy of the Quran -- the holy book of Islam.
He claimed that Waris had glued pictures of himself, his wife, and a knife on various pages of the book, displayed them, and threw them about in the rural district of Nankana. Alpa also said that the Warburton police station was attacked by a furious mob of hundreds, some of whom scaled a wall using a wooden ladder and unlocked the main gate.
Angry mob ransacks police station
Alpa said the group ransacked the entire police station and took Waris from his cell. According to him Waris was arrested in 2019 on a previous blasphemy charge and was in prison until mid-2022. Waris again desecrated the Quran on Saturday morning (February 11) and people who saw it grabbed him and started beating him. However, police rescued Waris and took him into custody.
“By the time police reinforcement could reach the scene the mob lynched the man and were about to burn his body. But police with the help of saner people in the area foiled their attempt,” he said.
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Pakistan PM condemns the incident
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif condemned the incident and asked the Punjab police chief to take action against officers who failed to protect the suspect while in custody.
Mohsin Naqvi, the caretaker chief minister of Punjab, has also sought a report from the IG on the incident, directing an investigation from every aspect. He ordered immediate action against the culprits, reported Geo News.
Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has condemned the incident, saying killing and burning someone accused of blasphemy was a cruel act. "Inhuman torture and killing the person, accused of blaspheming the Holy Quran in #Nankana Sahib and attacking at the police station is regrettable and condemnable (sic)," he wrote on Twitter.
Blasphemy offences carry death penalty
Charges of blasphemy carry the death penalty under Pakistani law. Usman Anwar, the Punjab police chief, suspended the police station chief and the area deputy superintendent for negligence in duty and failing to prevent the attack on the police station as well as the killing of the suspect.
International and Pakistani rights groups say accusations of blasphemy have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores. Pakistan’s government has long been under pressure to change the country’s blasphemy laws, something the Islamists strongly resist.
(With inputs from AP)
