A Muslim spiritual chief killed after his speech at an opposition get together’s rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was deemed blasphemous.
A Pakistani man has been overwhelmed to loss of life for allegedly making blasphemous remarks throughout an opposition get together rally within the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an area police official informed Al Jazeera.
Nigar Alam, an area Muslim spiritual chief, was requested to offer a speech at a rally organised by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) get together within the village of Sawaldher in Mardan district.
Alam was killed by the group after he “handed some blasphemous remarks that angered folks”, an area official, requesting anonymity, informed Al Jazeera.
The police initially managed to carry Alam to security in a close-by store, however the crowd broke by means of the door, forcibly dragging him out and beating him with batons. He died on the scene.
Video of the lynching has been shared extensively on social media, with police seen vainly attempting to cease a frenzied mob from beating the person.
Alam’s physique was taken to hospital for additional proceedings and an investigation is beneath approach, the official stated.
“We’ve filed a primary data report the place police itself is the complainant, however as a result of sensitivity of the matter, the FIR is sealed,” he added.
Blasphemy is a massively delicate situation in Muslim-majority Pakistan, the place even unproven allegations can stir mobs and violence.
In February, an offended mob entered a police station in Pakistan’s japanese metropolis of Lahore, snatched an individual accused of blasphemy from his cell and killed him.
In December 2021, a Sri Lankan nationwide, Priyantha Diyawadanage, who was working as a manufacturing facility supervisor in Pakistan, was beaten to death and set ablaze by an offended crowd over allegations of blasphemy.
The then Prime Minister Khan had publicly criticised Diyawadanage’s killing, calling it a “day of shame for Pakistan”. Months later, six folks had been sentenced to death for his or her roles within the vigilante killing.
The identical occurred to Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old pupil who was lynched on his college’s campus following a debate about faith.
Worldwide and Pakistani rights teams say accusations of blasphemy have usually been used to intimidate spiritual minorities and settle private scores. Pakistan’s authorities has lengthy been beneath stress to vary the nation’s blasphemy legal guidelines, however different political forces within the nation have strongly resisted.
In accordance with the Centre for Social Justice, an unbiased group advocating for the rights of minorities, greater than 2,000 folks have been accused of committing blasphemy since 1987, and at the very least 88 folks have been killed by mobs after related allegations.
