Pakistan: 50 arrested over lynching of man in custody over blasphemy charges
At least 50 people have been arrested in Pakistan after a mob stormed a police station and killed a man suspected of blasphemy while he was in custody.
The incident took place on Saturday when the victim, identified as Muhammad Waris, was dragged out of the police station in the Nankana Sahib city of eastern Pakistan, said officials.
Waris was reportedly in police custody for desecrating the Quran, according to police spokesperson Muhammad Waqas.
On Monday, district police chief Babar Sarfraz Alpa said police arrested at least 50 people for participating in the attack.
He said more raids are underway to arrest other alleged participants.
Earlier, he had said that the mob had accused Waris of pasting images of himself, his wife and a knife on pages of the book and displaying and throwing them on the streets.
Waris, was arrested in 2019 on a blasphemy charge and was in prison until mid-2022, according to authorities.
While blasphemy is a capital offence punishable by death under Pakistani law, the country is yet to carry out a death sentence.
Authorities said Waris again desecrated the Quran, and added that some witnesses grabbed and beat him.
Police then took him into custody, but the mob later attacked the police station and killed him.
Videos of the incident on social media showed the man being brutally dragged through the streets, stripped naked and thrashed with sticks and metal rods.
Authorities said the area’s police station chief and deputy superintendent have been sacked for negligence in failing to prevent the attack.
The incident has sparked outrage on social media with several commentators and activists calling upon the Pakistani government to change blasphemy laws.
Pakistan’s blasphemy law is a black law that is used to blackmail, harass and kill innocent citizens. Mob violence over blasphemy allegations will end only if the blasphemy law is abolished
— Ailia Zehra (@AiliaZehra) February 11, 2023
Religious extremists scare me. There’s zero human security in Pakistan. All someone has to do to ruin you and potentially kill you is to accuse you of blasphemy. Thats it! You’re ruined forever. And worse is when people justify it.
— Ariha Fatimah Arain (@arihafatimah) February 11, 2023
I have written how this pattern isn’t coincidental; the proliferation of blasphemy laws correlates to terrorists and mob syndicates committing crimes with impunity: https://t.co/bHfJMajsDN https://t.co/4gKiiyR5bB
— Amjad Mahmood Khan (@AmjadMKhanEsq) February 12, 2023
The #Pakistan parliament recently amended the #Blasphemy laws to make them even tougher. Recently, Ahmadi mosques have been attacked as have Christian worshippers. Now,
a man arrested on allegations of desecrating a Quran has been lynched to death by a crazed mob. #Blasphemy https://t.co/KA5OMtxAAp— Farahnaz Ispahani (@fispahani) February 12, 2023
Activists said the law is often used to settle personal disputes.
Additional reporting by agencies
