A man was killed by an angry mob in the Swat district of Pakistan’s scenic northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday after they accused him of desecrating the Holy Quran, and eight others were injured in the ensuing unrest, police said.
Swat’s District Police Officer (DPO) Zahidullah said a man from Punjab’s Sialkot district was suspected of burning several pages of the Quran in Swat’s Madian tehsil on Thursday night.
The suspect was detained and taken to Madian Police Station. A mob had gathered outside the station, demanding that the suspect be handed over to them. When the police refused, the mob opened fire, and the police retaliated. One person was seriously injured in the shootout and was taken to Madian Hospital, the police chief said.
The mob then set the police station on fire, after which some people entered the building, shot the suspect dead and dragged his body to Madyan Adda, where they hung him, Zahidullah said.
Eight people were injured in the chaos that ensued from the incident, he said, adding that police had been deployed heavily in Madyan and efforts were underway to bring the situation under control.
KPK Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has taken notice of the blasphemy incident and asked the provincial police chief for a report.
The Prime Minister directed the Inspector General of Police to take urgent steps to control the situation and urged the people to maintain calm and peace.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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