By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – Christians said Friday their “hearts are heavy” after police in northwestern Pakistan confirmed that an angry mob had killed a man questioned there for allegedly “desecrating” the Koran.
Police announced a case against hundreds of people who burned the police station in Madyan, a popular tourist town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and killed the suspect.
The murdered man, identified as Mohammad Ismail, was a tourist from the eastern Punjab province who stayed at a hotel in Madyan when an angry crowd accused him of burning pages from the Koran, deemed a holy book by Muslims, according to investigators.
Police official Zahid Khan said the man was later “being questioned” by law enforcement when the mob attacked the police station and clashed with officers. The mob snatched Ismail, killed him, and burned his body on Thursday, he said.
“The crowd, which had turned big by then, followed the police vehicle, and they broke into the police station after they overpowered the police.[They] then took the accused to a nearby bridge where they burnt him after badly torturing him,” added the police official.
The angry mob also set fire to the goods and vehicles in the police station, while 11 people were also injured, apparently by stone pelting, several sources said.
HARDLINE GROUP
Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reportedly ordered a report on the attack from the provincial police chief.
The scenic mountainous Madyan area in Swat district where the attack occurred was once under the control of the hardline Islam-imposing Pakistani Taliban group in late 2007 until the Pakistani military reclaimed it in 2009.
Thursday’s attack underscored broader concerns about blasphemy legislation in Pakistan, a heavily Islamic republic, explained advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s founder president, told Worthy News in a statement, “Our hearts are heavy with the news of yet another extra-judicial killing following an accusation of blasphemy in Pakistan.”
He said, “We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the victim and call on the police to ensure that all those responsible for his murder are brought to justice.”
Blasphemy is a highly controversial subject in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even accusations without evidence can trigger an angry mob, which often leads to violence, torture, and sometimes lynching of the accused.
CHRISTIAN KILLED
Christians are among those being targeted, and several spent years in prison on charges of “blasphemy” against Islam, which carries the death penalty.
Thursday’s incident came shortly after 73-year-old Christian businessman Lazar (Nazir) Masih died following a May 25 attack by Muslims accusing him of burning Koran pages.
Following the violence in the Mujahid Colony of Sargodha District in Pakistan’s Punjab Province, he passed away in the local Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi on June 3, Christians recalled.
Thomas stressed that “Pakistan must do far more to prevent such horrific acts of violence, including by ending any impunity that surrounds those who take the law into their own hands.”
That includes “repealing the blasphemy laws which are incompatible with the country’s commitments to freedom of religion or belief,” he added.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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