LAHORE: A mob in East Pakistan stormed a police station on Saturday and lynched a man in custody and charged with blasphemy, police said, in the latest episode of religion-linked violence in the Islamic republic.
The country has witnessed numerous instances of vigilante actions by mobs against people accused of blasphemy, one of the most notable being the lynching of a Sri Lankan, manager of a garment factory, in 2021.
On Saturday, Muhammad Waris, a man in his early 20s, was taken into police custody after a mob attacked him for allegedly desecrating the Koran, the Muslim holy book, police spokesman Muhammad Waqas told Reuters.
However, the crowd stormed the station, located in the city of Nankana Sahibhe took Waris off the premises, beat him to death and attempted to set him on fire, Waqas added.
“The police could not resist as a handful of officials were present in the police station,” he said, adding that police reinforcements were able to stop the mob from setting fire to the body and were preparing the action against the crowd.
A video of the incident, shared on social media and confirmed as authentic by police, showed a man dragged through the streets by his legs, stripped of his clothes and punched with sticks and metal bars.
International rights groups have long criticized the Pakistani authorities for not doing enough to stem the lynchings over blasphemy allegations, which are frequent in the Muslim-majority country. Blasphemy is also a crime under Pakistani law, which can carry the death sentence.
Six men have been sentenced to death for lynching a Sri Lankan garment factory manager in a mass trial involving some 89 suspects after the matter sparked national and global outrage. However, other cases rarely see similar action.
A number of police officials have been suspended due to their failure to stop the crowds, a police statement said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took note of the incident and ordered an inquiry, the government said.
The country has witnessed numerous instances of vigilante actions by mobs against people accused of blasphemy, one of the most notable being the lynching of a Sri Lankan, manager of a garment factory, in 2021.
On Saturday, Muhammad Waris, a man in his early 20s, was taken into police custody after a mob attacked him for allegedly desecrating the Koran, the Muslim holy book, police spokesman Muhammad Waqas told Reuters.
However, the crowd stormed the station, located in the city of Nankana Sahibhe took Waris off the premises, beat him to death and attempted to set him on fire, Waqas added.
“The police could not resist as a handful of officials were present in the police station,” he said, adding that police reinforcements were able to stop the mob from setting fire to the body and were preparing the action against the crowd.
A video of the incident, shared on social media and confirmed as authentic by police, showed a man dragged through the streets by his legs, stripped of his clothes and punched with sticks and metal bars.
International rights groups have long criticized the Pakistani authorities for not doing enough to stem the lynchings over blasphemy allegations, which are frequent in the Muslim-majority country. Blasphemy is also a crime under Pakistani law, which can carry the death sentence.
Six men have been sentenced to death for lynching a Sri Lankan garment factory manager in a mass trial involving some 89 suspects after the matter sparked national and global outrage. However, other cases rarely see similar action.
A number of police officials have been suspended due to their failure to stop the crowds, a police statement said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took note of the incident and ordered an inquiry, the government said.
