A man was violently lynched by a mob in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province for allegedly desecrating a copy of the Quran. The victim, identified only as a tourist from Punjab, was initially detained by police but was later forcibly taken away by the mob and killed.
The incident, which occurred in the Swat Valley on Thursday night local time, began when the suspect was handed over to police in Madian district, the UK-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide said in a statement to The Christian Post.
According to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, an announcement played over a loudspeaker at the mosque incited a mob to gather and storm the police station, capture the man, set fire to the station and police vehicles, shoot him dead and set his body on fire, killing him.
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Swat district police officer Zahidullah Khan said eight people were injured in mob violence and claimed heavy police presence had been deployed to quell the unrest.
According to Reuters, Pakistani authorities have launched an investigation to identify and arrest those involved in the lynching.
Graphic videos on social media verified by police showed horrific scenes of the lynching, sparking outrage among Pakistani social media users and reflecting the brutal reality of mob justice in the country.
Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal condemned the act in parliament on Saturday, accusing the government of using religion to justify vigilante and mob justice, the news agency reported.
Iqbal said mob justice had pushed the country into a crisis and stressed the importance of respecting all dead bodies in accordance with Islamic teachings, criticizing the practice of burning bodies as part of mob killings.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores or target minorities, leading to mob violence, CSW said.
“Pakistan must do more to prevent such horrific acts of violence, including by ending all impunity surrounding its own law enforcers and repealing blasphemy laws that are incompatible with the country’s commitment to freedom of religion or belief,” said Marvin Thomas, founder and chairman of CSW.
In his speech, Minister Iqbal recounted his experience of surviving an assassination attempt and deplored the weaponization of religion in Pakistan, calling for sincere reflection and action from the government to address these repeated violent incidents. He proposed the formation of a committee to address these issues and ensure that Pakistan does not slide into anarchy.
This lynching is not the only incident in Pakistan: similar incidents have occurred in Jaranwala and Sargodha in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab, where mobs have lynched individuals on charges of blasphemy.
The pattern has drawn international scrutiny of Pakistan’s handling of blasphemy allegations and mob trials.
In Pakistan, mob action is often preceded by legal proceedings based on rumors and complaints, and many of these cases have not brought serious consequences for perpetrators, as noted in a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which criticized frequent impunity in such cases.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws carry the death penalty for insulting Islam and have no provisions for punishing false accusers or those who give false witness.
In 2011, Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, was assassinated by his bodyguards for speaking out against blasphemy laws.
That same year, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges, sparking international outrage, but was acquitted in 2018 after spending eight years on death row.
