Plainclothes law enforcement officials study burnt furnishings that was set on fireplace by a Muslim mob in an assault, in Madyan, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Friday, June 21, 2024. | Picture credit score: AP
On Thursday, June 20, 2024, a Muslim mob in northwestern Pakistan stormed a police station, seized a person who was detained there, after which lynched him over accusations that he had desecrated Islam’s holy guide, the Quran.
Learn: Editorial | Within the title of God: on how dangerously sectarian Pakistan is
The attackers additionally set fireplace to the station in Madyan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and burned police autos parked there, in response to native police officer Rahim Ullah.
The murdered man, Mohammad Ismail, was a vacationer staying at a lodge within the metropolis when some locals turned on him and accused him of blasphemy.
Ullah stated law enforcement officials took the person to the police station to guard him, however the mob elevated and chased them. The mob then attacked the station, grabbed Ismail, beat him to dying after which burned his physique and deserted him on the street.
Extra police forces have arrived in Madyan to regulate the state of affairs, Ullah stated.
It was not instantly recognized if any of the attackers had been arrested.
Assaults on folks accused of blasphemy are widespread on this conservative Islamic nation the place blasphemy fees can carry the dying penalty.
A device to settle private scores?
Home and worldwide rights teams say blasphemy accusations have usually been used to intimidate non secular minorities and settle private scores.
Final month, a mob in Pakistan’s jap Punjab province attacked a Christian, Nazir Masih, 72, after accusing him of desecrating pages of the Koran. He later died in a hospital.