PAKISTAN: In the most recent murder connected to religion in Pakistan, a crowd stormed a police station in the country’s east on Saturday, took a Muslim man accused of blasphemy from detention, and killed him.
A mid-30s man named Muhammad Waris was being held by the police in Nankana Sahib, Punjab province, for defiling Qur’anic pages.
According to Waqas Khalid, a police spokeswoman, said, “the angry mob attacked the police station using a wooden ladder, dragged him out, and beat him to death.”
“After the lynching, they were still not satisfied and tried to burn his body,” he added.
The most well-known instance of an angry mob killing someone on blasphemy charges occurred in the Muslim-majority country of Pakistan in 2021, when a Sri Lankan national was lynched.
In Pakistan, blasphemy is a very touchy subject; even untrue accusations can incite violence. Blasphemy offenses in Pakistan are punishable by the death penalty.
A police station was surrounded by hundreds of young people in a video of the incident that was shared on social media. The video showed a man being stripped naked, dragged down the street by his legs, and then beaten with metal rods and sticks.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, denounced the act and mandated an investigation. “Why didn’t the police stop the violent mob? The rule of law should be ensured,” he remarked.
International and Pakistani rights groups say that blasphemy claims are usually made to scare religious minorities and get back at people who have wronged them.
In a report last week titled “A Breach of Faith: Freedom of Religion or Belief” in 2021–2022, HRCP expressed concern about the growing blasphemy issues.
“The threshold of evidence regarding blasphemy accusations must be raised in the country. It must be ensured that people do not weaponize the laws in question to settle personal vendettas, as is so often the case,” the group said.
According to the report, Pakistan’s police have reported at least 585 blasphemy cases, most of which are in Punjab province.
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