Pakistan: Tourist lynched, set on fire by a mob in Swat over accusations of blasphemy
- In Reports
- 05:50 PM, Jun 21, 2024
- Myind Staff
A man was lynched by a mob of enraged Muslims in the Madyan area of Swat district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after being accused of desecrating the Quran.
According to reports, the victim, who hailed from Sialkot district in Punjab province, was visiting Swat as a tourist. The mob alleged that he had burned some pages of the Quran, using this accusation as justification for the lynching.
Initially, the Swat police had detained the accused on blasphemy charges to prevent any potential law and order issues. However, an angry mob stormed the police station, forcibly removed the victim, and carried out the lynching.
"People set fire to the police station and a mobile vehicle," Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Dr. Zahidullah Khan said in a statement regarding the incident to Dawn. Eight persons were hurt in all during the attack.
After then, the victim was lynched and his body was burned (torched). On Thursday night, June 20, a video of the unsettling encounter went viral on social media.
In order to restore peace and order and calm down after the tragedy, a large police force was sent to the Madyan area. A Muslim appeal for peace has been made by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who has acknowledged the issue.
Along with directing SDPO Dr. Zahidullah Khan to take quick control of the issue, he has also requested a report on this matter.
An enraged Muslim mob killed an elderly Christian man named Nazir Masih in May of this year on the spurious charges of Toheen-e-Mazhab (blasphemy). The incident happened in Pakistan's Punjab province's Mujahid Colony in Sargodha.
Masih was set on fire by the Muslim mob after they stole from his factory, vandalized his home, and claimed he had burned Quranic chapters. The victim lost his life because, in truth, he was behaving kindly.
In an interview with Swarajya, Tariq Sajid, the victim's nephew, revealed that during the night of May 24–25, a powerful storm passed over their neighborhood.
Consequently, there was an accumulation of debris on Mujahid Colony's streets, making it challenging for residents to commute. Unaware that the box containing pages from the Quran was inside, the elderly Christian man was collecting trash and sweeping the roadway next to an electricity pole.
Then Nazir Masih set fire to the trash. Observing the victim burning the debris, a Muslim bystander deduced that he had torched the holy Islamic literature on purpose. This led to a rumour that the man was a Christian who had blasphemed on purpose.
"You see what happened to my uncle? He was just trying to clean the street, but see what it did to him," Sajid said to Swarajya. He went on to say that during the storm, the box containing the Muqaddas Quran must have unintentionally fallen into the trash.
In Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a hardline Islamist organization, is alleged to have placed boxes on street corners for people to store abandoned holy texts rather than throwing them in the trash.
Sajid said that the Muslim mob had been incited by a jealous wife who had falsely accused wealthy Christian Nazir Masih of blasphemy.
Image source: ANI
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