A Muslim man has been lynched by a charged mob after being accused of blasphemy during a political gathering in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mardan district on Saturday, according to multiple reports.
In a series of gory videos posted online, several people can be seen beating the lifeless body of the man, believed to be in his 40s, in the Sawal Dher area of Mardan district, in the conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan's northwest. A video first shows a crowd from far away, which appears to be accosting a man. Other videos show men kicking and beating the body of another man, while they shout religious slogans.
The lynched man, identified as Deobandi cleric Maulana Nigar Alam, was accused of telling the crowd at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally that he respects PTI chairman Imran Khan like a prophet, as he is an honest man. However, it has now transpired that Maulana Nigar Alam made this reference to another local Mardan politician, Saeed Khattak, who is also alleged to be his relative though such rumours have yet to be confirmed.
https://twitter.com/Info_Balochistn/status/1654924893975347201
The alleged statement soon stirred the anger of the people at the scene, who were there for the PTI's solidarity rally. Some reports state that police arrived to push the crowd back, but as they were holding negotiations with some elders, the people gathered there attacked Maulana Nigar and wrested him away from law enforcement, to exact a brutal punishment on him which is now etched in the national consciousness of Pakistan, along with many other mob lynchings and extrajudicial murders of alleged blasphemers.
Provoked lynching
Meanwhile, reports are also suggesting that prior to the incident, some clerics belonging to the Deobandi school of thought had demanded that a case be filed against Maulana Nigar Alam on the charges of blasphemy.
It has been suggested that the incident was instigated by the kind of public provocation where religious sentiments of the Pakistani masses are riled up on the sensitive issue of blasphemy, which led to the brutal mob killing of this man as well.
Yet another episode of vigilante justice in pious Pakistan
Just a few months ago in February this year, a blasphemy accused in Nankana Sahib was forcibly taken out of the police station by an angry mob of people and tortured to death.
The unfortunate incident took place in Warburton area, where the accused, a Muslim male, was detained by police in on charges of ‘blasphemy’ and ‘witchcraft’ by using pictures of his ex-wife. He was also accused of burning pages of the Holy Quran. He had recently been freed after spending two years in jail.
The mob attacked the police station where the accused was locked up, while the SHO of the police station and other employees of law enforcement escaped for their lives. Sources say the crowd dragged the accused out of the lockup, and tortured him to death before setting his body ablaze.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered an investigation into the incident. He had questioned as to why police did not stop the violent crowd, saying rule of law must be ensured at all costs.
In a series of gory videos posted online, several people can be seen beating the lifeless body of the man, believed to be in his 40s, in the Sawal Dher area of Mardan district, in the conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan's northwest. A video first shows a crowd from far away, which appears to be accosting a man. Other videos show men kicking and beating the body of another man, while they shout religious slogans.
The lynched man, identified as Deobandi cleric Maulana Nigar Alam, was accused of telling the crowd at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally that he respects PTI chairman Imran Khan like a prophet, as he is an honest man. However, it has now transpired that Maulana Nigar Alam made this reference to another local Mardan politician, Saeed Khattak, who is also alleged to be his relative though such rumours have yet to be confirmed.
https://twitter.com/Info_Balochistn/status/1654924893975347201
The alleged statement soon stirred the anger of the people at the scene, who were there for the PTI's solidarity rally. Some reports state that police arrived to push the crowd back, but as they were holding negotiations with some elders, the people gathered there attacked Maulana Nigar and wrested him away from law enforcement, to exact a brutal punishment on him which is now etched in the national consciousness of Pakistan, along with many other mob lynchings and extrajudicial murders of alleged blasphemers.
Provoked lynching
Meanwhile, reports are also suggesting that prior to the incident, some clerics belonging to the Deobandi school of thought had demanded that a case be filed against Maulana Nigar Alam on the charges of blasphemy.
It has been suggested that the incident was instigated by the kind of public provocation where religious sentiments of the Pakistani masses are riled up on the sensitive issue of blasphemy, which led to the brutal mob killing of this man as well.
Yet another episode of vigilante justice in pious Pakistan
Just a few months ago in February this year, a blasphemy accused in Nankana Sahib was forcibly taken out of the police station by an angry mob of people and tortured to death.
The unfortunate incident took place in Warburton area, where the accused, a Muslim male, was detained by police in on charges of ‘blasphemy’ and ‘witchcraft’ by using pictures of his ex-wife. He was also accused of burning pages of the Holy Quran. He had recently been freed after spending two years in jail.
The mob attacked the police station where the accused was locked up, while the SHO of the police station and other employees of law enforcement escaped for their lives. Sources say the crowd dragged the accused out of the lockup, and tortured him to death before setting his body ablaze.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered an investigation into the incident. He had questioned as to why police did not stop the violent crowd, saying rule of law must be ensured at all costs.